The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-30 00:00:00

MR. SMITH O'BRIEN 1N EXILE.

The Nation of Saturday publishes the subjoined ad-
dress from Mr. W. Smith O'Brien to the nobility, clergy,
members of Parliament, corporate bodies, and gentlemen
who have memorialised in favour of the Irish State pri-
soners now living in penal exile in Van Diemen's
Land :

"My Lords and Gentlemen,—During the last four
years I have been induced by various considerations to
abstain as much as possible from every sort of appeal to
public opinion ; but I feel that I should be justly charge-
able with ingratitude if I were now to refrain from offer-
ilia my best acknowledgments for the generous sympathy
which has spontaneously prompted you to endeavour to
procure for the Irish State prisoners restoration to our
homes and families. Nor am lat liberty to leave wholly
unnoticed the language which has been applied to us by
the Viceroy of Ireland in answer to your memorial. It
is difficult for me at so great a distance to understand
fully the impulses of public feeling in Ireland ; but I
believe that I am not mistaken in supposing that the
memorialists may, for the most part, be divided into two
distinct classes of persons. The first is composed of
those who concurred in many of our sentiments with
respect to the grievances of our country, but thought
that a resort to arms for the purpose of obtaining redress
was either not justifiable or not expedient. It is not
unnatural that our lot should engage the sympathies of
this class of our fellow-countrymen. The second is com-
posed of persons who concurred neither with our senti-
ments respecting the wrongs of our country nor with our
opinions as to the best mode of vindicating its rights and
averting its ruin. These men, though they now seek to
mitigate our sufferings, would have boldly encountered
us in the field, but, with true magnanimity, they do not
shrink from an avowal of their belief that we were im-
pelled to our unsuccessful effort by pure and honourable
motives. Nor are they so distrustful of the strength of
the institutions which they uphold as to believe that the
return of five men to Ireland can endanger those institu-
tions. I know not which of these two classes is most
entitled to the tribute of thanks which I am now desir-
ous to offer. I can admire a brave and generous foe as
much as I love a faithful and attached friend—as much
as I scorn a mean and vindictive enemy ; and I am
proud of my countrymen when I contrast their noble
bearing towards us with the petty malignity which has
been displayed by those who claim to be exponents of
the sentiments of the English nation. From the hour
when I was arrested to that in which Lord Eglinton
delivered his answer to your memorial, English states-
men have laboured to blacken the character of the Irish
patriots of 1848, either by personally imputing to them
the most unworthy motives, or (as in the case of
Lord Clarendon and Birch) by hiring calumniators to
defame them. In this ignoble warfare against men who
can no longer defend themselves they have been well
supported by the English press ; but the manifestations
of sympathy which have recently taken place in America
as well as in Ireland—manifestations unequalled in ex-
tent, and in some respects unprecedented in character in
the history of political offenders—signally evince that
they have utterly failed to accomplish their inglorious
' design. Leaving unnoticed the indications of this spirit
I which are to be found in the answer of Lord Egan-
' ton, I proceed to offer a few remarks upon the reasons
, which his Excellency has urged as grounds for the refusal
of your request.
if 'None of the peroons,'llo whose bohAlf my
- -

interference is solicited have expressed contrition for
their crimes, or manifested any sense of gratitude or
loyalty to the gracious Sovereign whom they have so
grievously offended, and to whose clemency some of them
are indebted for their lives.'

"To you, my lords and gentlemen, I have no hesita-
tion in admitting that the effort which I made in 1848
to excite an insurrection in Ireland was rash and inexpe-
dient. Events prove that I had miscalculated the
chances of success. I regret that effort, not so much on
acccount of the consequences which it has entailed upon
myself, as because I believe it to have been disastrous to
my country ; but, until my sentiments of patriotic duty
shall undergo such a change as I do not now contem-
plate, I never can be brought to express of it contrition
as for a crime. lam contented to rest the vindication
of my design upon the r_velations of the census of 1851.
I have rend in history of desolation occasioned by con-
quest, pestilence, famine, and civil war, but I can find
no case in which 2,000,000 of human beings have been
swept from their native soil, or consigned to a premature
grave, within a period of five years through the conduct
of their rulers. I conscientiously believe that this ap-
palling sacrifice of one-fourth cf the Irish nation, as well
as the general suffering with which it has been accom-
panied, might have been altogether prevented by wise
and benificent government Unler these circumstances
I may acknowledge that I committed a mistake
in supposing that I should b 3 supported by the
Irish people in the attempt to resist unconstitu-
tional legislation, and to avert national ruin by
an appeal to arms ; but I cannot express contrition
for sue% an attempt as if it were a crime. If it be a
crime to have loved the land of my fathers with fana-
tic affection—then lam a criminal. If it be a crime to
have devoted to the welfare of that land a life of unre-
mitting toil —than lam a criminal. If it be a crime to

have foregone for its sake every object of personal am-
bition, and, what I prize still more, the endearments of
domestic association in the happiest of homes—then I
am a criminal. If it be a crime to have encountered for

its sake every sort of obloquy and danger—then I am a
criminal. If it be a crime to have humbled myself for its
sake to political adversaries, beseeching them to unite
with me in a common effort to save our common coun-
try—then lam a criminal. If it be a crime to have

stooped for its sake to solicitations from the

Parliament, galling alike to personal and national pride
—then lam a criminal. If it he a crime, when I found
peaceful remonstrance unavailing, to have incited my
countrymen to appeal to that final arbitrament which
even England can honour in Hungarian failure and in
American success—then I am a criminal. If it be a

crime to have desired to win the freedom and indepen-
dence of my country with the least possible amount of
bloodshed, and with total abstinence from revolutionary
excesses—then I am a criminal. Were lin the pre-
sence of my Maker, I could not acknowledge as a crime
this devotion to Ireland. How, then, can I express
contrition for it to that Government which has been,

both directly and indirectly, both in _ times far remote'

and in the days of its resent calamity, the agent to
which it owes its oppression and desolation ? Compared
with the calamities of my beloved country, my own
own personal suffering is a matter of insignificance even
to myself. Yet I cannot find in the treatment which I
have experienced any grounds for that gratitude which
the Irish exiles are reproached for withholding. When
convicted at Clonmel, by a species of trial upon which I
am not now disposed to animadvert, I prepared myself
to expect that the sentence of death recorded against
me would be executed. I will not say that there might
have been some hazard in attempting to carry into effect
that sentence ; but it will not be forgotten that even the
British public was shocked at the idea that we should be
put to death by the same men who had invited Sir Wm.

Napier to take command of a rebel force for the purpose of
coercing an adverse party to pass the Reform Bill, and who,
at the very moment when we were convicted, were relying
upon the support of the Canadian rebels for the mainte-
nance of their influence in North America. Yet I was
_ _

prepared for this result. As the law then stood, the alter-

native penalty which I incurred was death or imprison-
ment in Ireland during the pleasure of the Queen.

Neither of these alternatives was applied in my case; but,
by ex post facto legislation, I was consigned, as a tran-
sported convict, to perpetual separation from my coun-
try, and my family—a punishment which I then consi-

dared, and still consider, worse than death. I refused,
in 1849, to accept such an ex post facto enactment as a

mitigation of lily sentence, and my experience during
the last three years still forbids me to consider this com-
mutation as an act of clemency. How, then, can I tes-
tify gratitude for what I deem to be wrong ? Neither
can 1 find any cause for gratitude in the treatment which
the Irish State prisoners have experienced in Van Die-
men's Land. It has been exceptional ; but it would
not be difficult to show that it has been exceptional
against us rather than in our favour. The efforts which
have been made by the local Government to annoy and
humililiate us evince. a spirit which I can characterise
only as dastard spite ; and, the proceedings of Sir Wm.
Denison having been sanctioned by the home Govern-
ment, it deserves to share the praise which he may claim.
Rulers may brand and punish patriotism as a crime, but
it is not in their power to induce mankind to "shrink
with abhorrence" from those who have been condemned,
because unsuccessful, for the exercise of this virtue.

Had we been treated as ordinary felons, such treatment
would, even in this country, have irritated public feel-
ing without withdrawing from us the sympathy of one
generous mind. I shall not waste your time nor my
own by recapitulating the various circumstances which

justify- me in holding this language. It is sufficient
that I should say, at this moment, after we have en
(lured four years of imprisonment, no convict who holds
a " ticket of leave" is subject to the restrictions which,
noWthstanding the exaction from us of a parole, have
been imposed upon all the State prisoners except Mr.
Mitchel. The case of Mr. Mitchel is also exceptionul,
and affords a striking illustration of the vindicative spirit
by which the British Government has been animated
towards the Irish exiles. In consideration of the
hardships which the convicts brought from Ber-
muda along with Mr. Mitchel, underwent while de-

tained on board the Neptune at the Cape of Good Hope
and on the voyage ,a conditional pardon was granted to
all on board, whatever might be their crimes, with the
single exception of the Irish patriot. In proceedings
such as these I can find no cause for gratitude. Lord
Eghnton proceeds to reproach us with having made no
professions of loyalty to the Queen. Had we expressed
respect for her Majesty we should probably have been
rewarded with banter and contempt. In my case, such
professions are as needless as they are unavailing. I
cannot remember that I ever in my life uttered a word
disrespectful to Queen Victoria. I never conspired
against her person ; nor, except inferentially, can it be
said that I conspired against her crown. Yet one of the
most prominent of modern British statesmen condes-

cruise,

tended, for the purpose of raising a prejudice against me,
to allege, upon no better authority than a story invented
by a hostile journalist, that I aspired to revive in my
own person that native royalty which was, during many
centuries, hereditary in my family. While I regarded
the inteference of the British Parliament in the affairs of
Ireland as a usurpation, I was willing to acknowledge
the Queen of Great Britain as both de jure and de facto
Sovereign of Ireland. Until the hour at which I insti-
gated the people of Ireland to take up arms in resistance
to an unconstitutional enactment of the British Parlia-
ment, I was prepared to adopt the ancient constitution
of my country. impersonated in The Queen, Lords, and
Commons of Ireland,' as the legitimate authority to
which I owed subjection. Had the abortive insurrection
which was occasioned by the misgovernment of the Bri-
tish Parliament been successful, a republic would pro-
bably have been established in Ireland ; but with me at
least such a result would have been a matter of necessity,
rather than of choice. I admire the republican institu-
tions of America, but I am by no means convinced that
a republic is the only form of government under which
nations can be free, prosperous, and happy. I have now
no new professions of loyalty to offer. I conceive that
allegiance is an obligation reciprocal with, and condi-
tional upon, good government. I conceive that re-
gard for the rights and welfare of our country is a
duty paramount to the respect which we owe to its chief
magistarate. Such are the principles to the maintenance
of which the family of Brunswick owes its seat upon the
throne of England, and by the due observance of which
the crown may be best preserved for its present possessor
and her descendants. In concluding this address, I will
not conceal from you that I.have been disappointed in
the result of your intervention in our favour. Though I
expected little from the magnanimity of English politi-
cians, I yet thought that motives of expediency would
probably lead to compliance with your request. Be-
lieving that a general and unconditional amnesty in re-
gard to the insurrectionary proceedings of 1848 is dic-
tated not less by policy than by generous feeling, I
thought it probable that Lord Derby's Administration
would have made a graceful concession to the wishes of
the most high-minded portion of the Irish nation and to
the universal voice of North America. I was the more
inclined to indulge this belief when I found that three of
the most eminent of my counsel—Mr. Whiteside, Mr.
Napier, and Sir F. Kelly—have become law advisers of
the Crown under the new Ministerial arrangements. As
these functionaries, not only in their professional capa-
city, bat also as private gentlemen (and in the
case of
Sir F. Kelly by an extra-forensic proceeding which is, I
believe, without precedent), protested that I was not
tried according to law, I thought that, unless they
be the most contemptible of mercenaries, they would, as
Government officials, maintain the same opinion which
they had delivered in the proceedings connected with my
defence. sThese expectationshave been disappointed. If
I were disposed to cherish resentment against England,
I should console myself with an assurance that the day
will arrive, though perhaps I may not see it, when the
British Government will regret that they refused you'
repuest. But I find a purer source of consolation in the
consciousness that the penalties which have been in-
flicted upon me by British legislation have been merited
only by my devotion and fidelity to the land of my
birth.
" I have the honour to remain, your obliged and
faithful servant,

" WILLIAM S. O'BRIEN.
"New Norfolk, Van Diemen's Land, Sept. 14, 1852

THE LONGWOODS OF THE GRANGE—A Novel, by the
Author of " Adelaide Lindsay."—The Long woods are a
family group in the story of whose life as told by the
successful delineator of "Adelaide Lindsay," even bla:e
romance readers will find a charm and an interest simi-
lar to that which attends the annals of the " Vicar of
Wakefield"—arising froni the homeliness of the scenes,
the reality of the type of character, and the clear possi-
ble plot. In the very simplicity of the story, and the
characters contriving to sustain eager reading to the
end—and, at the end, to live as familiar acquaintances.
The test of the novel writer's creative capacity, will be
perceived proof that the writer is an artist--and artistic
conception and consistent finish aro the traits of the
sketch. Our readers will find in " The Longwoods" a
novel worth reading and worth remembering,,--Daily
EOM

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

PORTSMOUTH, MARCH 29.
Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane, K.C.8., the Com
mander-in-Chief at this port, visited the Highflyer, 21
screw-frigate, Captain Heathcote, yesterday afternoon,
after the departure of Rear-Admirals Berkeley and Fan-
shawe, and Captain Sir Baldwin Walker, the Surveyor of
the Navy. The Highflyer seems quite an object of interest
in the harbour. Her gallant captain will be superseded
on Friday by Captain Moore, son of the late Admiral
Sir Graham Moore, and nephew of the late Lieutenant-
General Sir John Moore. Captain Heathcote is super-
seded merely because he has not studied steam, whereas
Captain Moore took deep interest in the fitting of the
Highflyer for commission, so much so that it was ex-
pected he would have been appointed to her. His last
command was the Harlequin, 12, in the Mediterranean.
Captain Mat' cote intends to qualify for the command
of another steam-ship by studying steam at Woolwich
dockyard.

Commander Joseph Bickford, recently promoted from
First-Lieutenant of the Cumberland, 72, flag-ship on the
West India station, and lately appointed Commander to
the Albion, 90, in the Mediterranean, is appointed to
supersede Commander Kynaston in the Cumberland, the
latter officer returning to England.
The London, 90, Captain Mundy, was inspected at
Spithead yesterday by Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Coch-
rane.

The Cruiser, 14, screw-sloop, Commander the Hon.
C-. H. Douglas, is refitting alongside the Blonde hulk.
She seems to have met with rough weather in her late

No information has been received here yet regarding
the fate of the leaking and insufficiently-manned barque
Duncan Ritchie. Captain Haan, of the galliot Agneta
Juliana, parted from her when she was about 40 miles
south-south-east of Scilly, and, as the wind blew in that
direction, he considered she would go there. A cutter
was in company with her when last seen. The barque
registered 508 tons, and was launched at Aberdeen in
1843.

A court-martial, consisting of Rear-Admiral Arthur
Fanshawe, C. 8., President ; Captains Sir T. Maitland,
C. 8., of the Agamemnon ; E. H. Scott, of the Neptune ;
W. H. Henderson, C. 8., of the Blenheim ; J. Shepherd,
of the Victory ; G. W. D. O'Callaghan, of the Encoun-
ter; Francis Scott, of the Odin; W. Crispin, of
the Victoria and Albert ; E. Heathcote, of the
Highflyer ; and Mr. G. L. Greetham, Deputy.
Judge-Advocate of the Fleet, assembled this morn-
ing at nine o'clock, on board the flag-ship Victory,
in this harbour, to try a seaman gunner of the Excel-
lent, named Robert Bing, for desertion. Captain
H. D. Chads, C. 8., of the Excellent, prosecuted for the Ad-
miralty. The prisoner entered the Excellent on the 13th
of September, 1851, and, having acquired the gunnery
science, deserted on the 23d of December following.
He was apprehended in London on the 16th inst., by
William Cutler, a quartermaster of H.M.S. Crocodile, a
vessel stationed in the Thames for the reception of
volunteers for the navy, under the command of Lieu-
tenant Greet. Cutler finding the prisoner not provided
with a man-of-war certificate, or a mercantile regis-
tration ticket, took him before Lieutenant Greet,
before whom he admitted he was a deserter from the
Excellent at the time named in the charge. Lieu-
tenant Greet sent him down to this port, where Cap-
tain Chads and the master-at-arms of the Excellent
recognised him. The evidence established the charge,
The prisoner offered no defence, and threw himself on
the mercy of the Court, but called upon Captain Shep-
herd, one of the members, to speak as to his character,
he having served with that strict officer in H. M. S.
Inconstant. Captain Shepherd at once testified as to
his character having been " very good" during the time
he was in his ship ; and the prisoner must have been a
deserving, good man to have merited that testimonial at
his (Captain Shepherd's) hands. In consequence of this
testimony the Court only awarded the prisoner twelve
months' imprisonment in the County Gaol at Win-
chester.

SHEERNESS, Milica 29.

The Conquestador, 50-gun frigate (razeed from a 74,
and one of the advanced ships), has this day been
brought down from her moorings and taken into the
fitting-basin to be prepared for immediate commission.
The African and the Myrtle, steam towing-vessels left
here to-day for Chatham, for the purpose of towing the
screw steam-frigate Imperieuse, 60, Captain Rundle B.
Watson, down alongside the cool depot Fortitude, where
she is to take in 500 tons of Welch coals preparatory to
her departure. _ _

WOOLWICH, MARCH 29.
APPOINTMENT.
Second Master John W. Read to the Prince Regent,
90, at Plymouth.

IMPROVEMENTS IN EXTRACTING GOLD AND
SILVER FROM THEIR ORES ( BAGGS' PATENT).

These improvements, but recently introduced, and
already adopted by some of the leading gold companies,
are not based upon any untried or theoretical notions
with regard to the extraction of the precious metals, but
are founded upon the well-known results of extensive
practical experience. Mercury is used in these arrange-
ments as before, but under circumstances eminently cal-
culated to extract the gold or silver with great rapidity
and completeness. In the ordinary process of amal-
gamation the two objects aimed at are-Ist, the sepa-
ration of the mercury into innumerable small globules,
so as to present an extended surface for the exercise
of chemical attraction ; and, 2dly, to aggregate these
globules into one mass, and so separate the metal from
the quartzose debris which has been stripped of its auri-
ferous treasure. These two operations, as at present con-
ducted, consume a very great amount of time in the first
place ; and they are always attended with a considerable
loss of gold, as well as of mercury, from the difficulty of
fulfilling the conditions upon which the success of
the process depends. In California, where the sys-
tem of gold mining is extensively practised, shaking-
tables are employed, which require to be made with the
greatest exactitude, to produce anything like a profitable
result. But in every instance the operation is tedious, and
the result imperfect, and attended with loss. If gold,

ke iron, could only be endowed with the property of
attracting and being attracted by some subtle force
operating at sensible distances, like that of a magnet,
the process of extraction would be comparatively easy ;
or if, without destroying the liquidity of mercury, we
could only cause it to assume the form of a sieve (which
appears at first sight to be a physical impossibility), and
then cause the material upon which we are operating,to
pass over and over again through the meshes of that
sieve, it is obvious that we should realise the de-
sideratuM of an enormous surface of action, and
multiply the points of contact between the com-
bining substances to an extent hitherto deemed un-
attainable. Now, every chemist knows that when a
fluid body acts upon a solid, the action is limited to the
points of actual contact ; so that if a globe of mercury
were made to act upon gold quartz, the surface would be
exercising its power of affinity, while the interior of the
sphere would be practically inactive ; and though we
are aware that the globules of mercury, in the ordinary ,
process of amalgamation, are mechanically small, yet,
chemically considered, they are very large, and hence
there results a great waste of power, time, and material.
The idea of a mercurial sieve, to which we have
just adverted, forms the leading feature of the
present invention. Taking into account the num-
ber, length, and diameter of the cylindrical wires
which compose each of the sieves, the total service pre-
sented to action is upwards of 160 superficial feet ; and
if we only suppose the barrel to make 100 revolutions to
begin with, in the short time so occupied the materials
which it contains will be brought into close and intimate
contact with no less than 16,000 square feet of mercuri-
alised surface a surface incessantly renewed by the
percolation of falling mercury, and •as continually
presenting its powerful attraction to the fine parti-
cles of gold which are made to pass through its
meshes. Considering the nature of these arrangements,
we are not surprised at the statement of the inventor,
that the process of amalgamation may thus be accom-
plished in one-tenth of the time usually occupied in effect-
ing it, and that 90 per cent. of the mercury ordinarily
required is saved. Not that a smaller per centage of this
metal is added to each charge, but that ten consecutive
operations may be performed in the time now occupied
in the reduction of a single charge ; so that's given
weight of mercury does ten times the work it has done
hitherto. In a cheaper form of amalgamation, under
this patent, the sieves are dispensed with, and replaced
by amalgamated balls of copper, thrown loosely into the
cask with the quartz ore, and a proper quantity of
metallic mercury.
When the necessary combination has been effected
by either of_ the above means, it becomes necessary to
separate the auriferous amalgam from the refuse mate-
rial with which it is now associated. This is a pro-
cess which commonly occupies time, and to take silver
as an illustration, it is the practice in the European
method of producing an amalgum of this metal from the
rock, to cause the barrels in which the chemical union
epffeerc tme tuot
eb, e
inr es
tdeuacde do nf
m sapkei en dg t
aso apbrevouta u
88 r y
hvaoslubtieoenn-s
from 20 to 25. By this means the' minute globules o
mercury are aggregated into one mass ; but the opera-
tion is not effected under two hours, and even then a
portion of the metal is lost.
In addition
haveaddit bioneteon tataAdllyiaandtedceopCompany, these improve-
ments by the Anglo-Califor-
' nian and A.nglo-Australian Gold Companies ; and great
results are looked forward to from their application in
California and the antipodes.—Mining Journal of Sa-
turday.

SHIP-BUILDING ON THE CLYDE.—There are at present
100 vessels in course of construction on the Clyde, and
of these only six are timber-built—all the rest being
built of iron. It is also notable that these iron vessels
consist both of steam and sailing vessels, though the
former class preponderates. The aggregate tonnage
of the ships now in course of construction on the Clyde,
amounts to upwards of 60,000 tons. The engines of
the steam part of this great fleet have an aggregate of
more than 14,000 horse power. The probable value of
the whole, though the estimate is necessarily inexact,
cannot be much short of two millions sterling ! Yet in a
few mouths, this enormous amount of shipping will be
off the stocks, and its place supplied by a new produc-
tion, equally valuable. The number of workmen em-
ployed in building the vessels and making the machinery
is about 15,000. The number of hands employed in
raising the raw materials from the basin of the Clyde,
within a circle of 20 or 30 miles, for these and similar
great works, is still more immense. Another most gra•
tifying feature of the ship-building trade of the Clyde is
that the employers in nearly all the establishments were
working men themselves within the last 30 years. Most
of them had attained the period of middle life before they
turned their attention to iron boat-building at all. The
men are not only the architects of their own fortunes,
but the creators of a new branch of industry.--North
kVA MA