The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-29 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

OSBORNE, Aua. 28.

The Queen and Prince, the Prince of Wales and
Prince Alfred, the Princess Royal and Princess Alice
attended Divine service at Osborne yesterday, which
W.'S performed by the Rev. G. Prothero.
The Ladies and Gentlemen in Waiting and the House-
hold were also present.
The Duchess of Kent attended the service at Whip-
pingham Church in the afternoon.

Despatches were received yesterday at the Colonial-
office from the Governors of the North American Pro-
vinices.

re are sorry to announce the death of Major-General
Bush, 1(.11., which took place from the prevailing epi.
derhic, at his residence in Sloane-street on Monday even.
. General Bush was at the head of the London Re.
cruiting district, and was promoted to the rank of Major.
General in the last Brevet.

We regret exceedingly to have to announce the death,
after a few days' illness, of Mr. Ralph Bernal, father of
Mr. Bernal Osborne, M.P. Mr. Bernal represented
Rochester for many years previous to the general elec-
tion of 1852, and, during several Parliaments, was Chair-
man of Committees of the House of Commons, the
onerous and delicate duties of which office he discharged
in a manner that earned for him the respect of all
classes of politicians. He himself was a consistent
Liberal. In matters of art and taste Mr. Bernal's
judgment was justly esteemed as one of the best in Eng-
land.

On the 20th inst., at Ragaz, in Switzerland, diel Pro-
fessor Schelling, at the age of 79, a contemporary of
Kant, Fichte, lnd Hegel, and last living representative
of the great school of defunct philosophy.
THE LATE FATAL ACCIDENT AT CROYDON.--INQUEST
THIS DAY.—Mr. Payne held an inquest this morning at
the. Town-hall. Southwark, to inquire into the circum-
stances touching the death of Mrs. Harrison, aged 42,
who expired last night from the injuries she had re-
cei'ed. The house surgeon, St. Thomas's Hospital,
haying proved that the cause of death was exhaustion
from having the right leg amputated, and from other
injuries received, the jury retureed a similar-verdict to
that given yesterday, and also adding the same addenda.
The inquiry then terminated.
130R0UGH OF LAMBETIL—Henry Onslow, Esq., the
retfirning officer for this borough, under the provisions
of the Corrupt Practices Prevention Act, 1854, has ap-
pointed John Clutton, Esq., of 32, Newington-place,
Newington, in the county of Surrey, to be the auditor
of election expenses for the borough of Lambeth for the
year ensuing.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL DECLINES AN INVITATION.—
The Westmoreland Gazette says :—" We understand that
Lord John Russell, during his late sojourn at Low Wood
Hotel, was waited upon by gentlemen on behalf of the
Kendal Mechanics' Institute, the Christian Institute,
and the Working Men's News Room, to solicit his lord-
-hip to give a lecture in connection with the objects of
these institutions. His lordship received the deputation
most courteously, but expressed an apprehension that a
compliance with the request would create a troublesome
precedent, and pleaded that he required rest and retire-
ment rather than additional labour and excitement at
this time."

ACCIDENT ON THE NORTH LONDON RAILWAY.—On
Sunday morning, about a quarter to 7 o'clock, John
Blincoe, a fireman to the passengers' train, which came
into collision with the goods' train on the night of Mon-
day, the 14th inst., near the Highbury Station of the
North London Railway, after suffering very great agony,
died at the German hospital, Dalston, in consequence
of the severe injuries he received on that occasion. He
had been in the service of the company nearly five years,
and was a young man of very meritorious character in
his department of life. He has left a widow and one
child to lament his loss. His parents are very respect-
able tradespeople in a country town in Nottingham.
;hire. As one of the consequences of these calamitous
occurrences, the mother of the young man, who was
only in his 24th year, has been obliged to leave her business
and her home for the last fortnight to watch at the bed-
side of her dying son, at an expense most inconvenient
to a person in her station of life ; for although," she
observed, "we are respectable, still we are very poor."
An inquest on the body will be held by Mr. Baker, the
coroner, on Wednesday next.

DISTRESSING SUICIDE AT HOUNSLOW.—During the
last week quite a gloom has been cast over the town of
Hounslow, by the suicide of Mr. David Thomas Morriss,
a surgeon, and. the principal visiting-assistant of Messrs.
Frogley and Hall. Deceased, who was only 28 years
of age, was widely known and much beloved among
all classes in the locality, where he had practised for
three years. He had been married about five years,
and resided with his wife, two children, and a female
servant, in a house contiguous to his employers. Hav-
ing been very severely worked of late on account
of the prevailing epidemic, he went to London on Sun-
day, the 20th instant. During his absence a discovery
had been made by his employers of an alleged improper
intimacy between the female servant above named and
deceased, which caused them to signify to him on his
return on Monday that his engagement with them would
terminate at an early date. Deceased immediately went
home to his wife, and telling her he had something serious
to communicate mentioned the fact of his impending dis-
missal, and that, having then no means of maintaining his
family, lie should put an end to his existence. He then
asked Mrs. Morriss to call the servant maid, and speak to
her about the discovery which had been made. Durino-
tlie interview that followed-Mrs. Morriss became excited',
and boxed the ears of the girl. Suddenly Mr. Morriss
drew a phial of prussic acid from his pocket, and, exclaim-
ing to himself "This is trouble indeed," (frank it off in
their presence, and though assistance was summoned
immediately he expired in a few minutes. It was
Town at the inquest, held yesterday, before Mr.
\Vakley, that deceased when at any time much de- '
pressed in mind, would converse about suicide,
and that lie was frequently low in spirits, thinking
that he was not making his way in the world so fast as
he ought to have done. His professional duties were
very heavy, and Mrs. Morriss deposed that their pres-
sure had, she believed, tended to impair his mental
powers. The jury returned a verdict of "Temporary
insanity," the Coroner remarking that deceased was uni-
versally respected in Hounslow. The funeral, which
took place last evening, was attended by an immense
c3ncourse of people.

HOW TO SUBDUE SMOKE.

Referring to our five preceding articles on this
subject, in proof of the fact that there exists a
ohoice of means for suppressing the smoke nuisance,
and among them more than one that produces at
the same time very important savings in the cost
or consumption of fuel—which appliances, too,
have been adapted to a' great variety of furnaces,
from the smallest to the largest, and of every
legally contemplated form for land purposes—wo
proceed to inquire why it is that no such desir-
able result appears to have been attained on board
our river steamers, and particularly those that
come under the operation of the new law. Were
a searching examination entered into as to the
causes of failure, whether alleged, merely, or un-
doubtingly admitted, in such cases on shore as
are exceptions to the rule, we venture to assert
that the true reasons would be found in the in-
efficient power of the steam-boiler, the radically
insufficient draught of the flue or chimney, or the
obstinate or hostile feeling of the engineer or
stoker having charge of the furnace. To show
that such obstacles have so prevailed, one instance
of each will suffice. On certain premises in the
City, a boiler calculated to drive a 16-horse engine,
but to which machinery was from time to time
added, requiring at least twice as much motive power,
had a patent furnace applied to it, which failed
of giving satisfaction, simply because it was
at least one half too small, and could
not, with the pre-existing arrangements,
be made any larger ; but more boiler power hav-
ing been erected—that is to say, steam-producing
apparatus equal to the required work—the same
invention succeeded beyond any dispute. Iu
another establishment, a new boiler had that in-
vention applied to it, at first unsuccessfully, the
draught being very bad indeed ; for some time
the teal cause of mischief was sought for in vain,
but at length it was discovered that the flue of the
boiler furnace terminated in that of a small house
chimney, the very limited aperture of which had
previously done pretty well for a boiler and
furnace of just one-third the size of the new one.
As a matter of course, an adequate chimney was
the only remedy for such an absurd condition of
affairs. And at another place, the engineer, who
was opposed to the invention referred to, and
interested in favour of another (which other,
however, failed, in despite of his unfair advocacy),
tried all the tricks of his craft—we mean of the
small and dishonest portion of an otherwise intel-
ligent and upright• calling--to effect a failure, by
improper management of the water supply to the
boiler—by allowing steam secretly to escape—and
by loosening the bricks in the main flue, so as to
permit the heat to pass off uselessly between them;
but his knavery was made manifest by an unex-
pected trial of the quantity of water evaporated
per pound, of coal (efficient smoke prevention
being admitted), in the midst of "important manu-
facturing operations, which had already been seve-
ral hours on hand ; and he thus stood convicted
of the fraud. We wish we could add, for the
credit of his employers, that he was immediately
turned out of the engine-room. It is relative
to the first of the difficulties mentioned
that the success of inventions of even the highest
ascertained merit have mainly to depend, in ap-
plication to the above-bridge river steamers.
Boldly, then, we lay it down as indisputable pre-
mises, that these steam-boats, without any excep-
tion of which we are aware, are not fitted with
boilers of sufficient capacity ; and that their fur-
naces are not large enough even in proportion with
the boilers ! If it were not, indeed, for their re-
peated stoppages to land and take in passengers,
during which intervals the force and volume of
steam is increased, these steam-boats would he
found rapidly to fall off in speed, by the reduced
number of revolutions of the engine shaft and pad-
dle-wheels per. minute. This may be ascertained
by any observant passenger on board a steamer of
this description when engaged in a long pleasure
trip up or down the river. Now, with such im-
perfect means of producing steam power, it" is not
strange that the introduction of a smoke-prevent-
ing apparatus into the furnace, although occupy-
ng but about seven or eight inches of the length
of the fire-place, by still further reducing its al-
ready limited space, should make the balance yet
more delicate iu the poise, when deciding the
question of more or less steam. Add to this the
consideration that at least three of the superin-
tendents or chief engineers of companies whose
steam-boats ply above-bridge have ineffectually
tried plans of their own, and it will be readily
understood that it is the policy of other inventors
to wait until the feeling of all parties—proprie-
tors, officers, engine• drivers, and stokers—sha

be unequivocally and warmly in favour of
their general success, or of the satisfactory
preference for one or other. of the best-tested sys-
tems. Unfortunately, however, for the public,
and we think equally so for the proprietors of
those steamers, instead of the latter setting about
to find means (and such means are at hand) to
improve the steam production of the boilers, con-
currently with the use of smoke-preventing fur-
naces, they appear to deprecate the idea of there

being a possibility of attaining such desirable re-
sults, and raise a grievance cry against the Go-
vernment, as if they were a grossly injured class
of persons. For the present we must, in conse-
quence, expect the substituted use of Welsh for
the cheaper but more bituminous and smoke-
evolving coals from the north, or from the mid-
land counties. We ought, however, to protest
againstthe assumption that the alternatiVe adopted
meets either the requirements of the law or the

just demands of society. The existing nuisance
is less offensive than before, but it is still too
great for endurance ; and this part of cur exami-
nation would be incomplete if we were not to
adduce some proof that, in marine boiler furnaces,
smoke can be prevented, and fuel economised.
Mr. Robert Galloway, the superintending engineer
to the London and Westminster Steam-boat Com-
pany, tried certain experiments in the Moss Rose,
comparative effects between the
ordinary furnace and that of Lee Steven's, the
to ascertain the
fire-space in both
honourably cases being precisely the
the result of his own personal trial, that,
same ; and he very
besides reducing the smoke within the limits
certified, as
. _

of the Act, with West Hartley steam coals,
the latter (the patented) system evaporated,
within a fraction, lilbs. of water to the lib. of

fuel consumed more than the other; i.e., produced
correspondingly more steam than the common fur-
nace ! Had we data, of the same charactq re-
specting similar experiments on the Thames with
any other inventions, we should very cheerfully
publish it ; for it is in no invidious spirit that
we have more than once mentioned the practical
demonstrations of the efficient system of a parti-
cular inventor. All we have said has been in sus-
tainment of the proposition that smoke may be
satisfactorily and economically subdued ; and in
doing justice
in some degree to Lee Stevens, we
have to thank him also for eliciting, in the pro-
gress of
his invention, experiences of so much
weight in our argument and of value to the public.
Before we dismiss the subject, we think it may
be of some
interest to our readers to be informed
why smoke-preventing plans have to be modified
when used with fuel of dissimilar kinds ; and
what are the
peculiar characteristics of different
descriptions of fuel consumed in manufacturing
and motive-power appliances in the metropolis.

Mon RUSSIAN
FRlZES.—Yesterday public notice
was given on the Royal Exchange by Evan Jones, Esq.,
High Marshal of the Court of Admiralty, that within
20 days from that date the Russian ships Concordia,
prize to her Majesty's steamer Conflict, likewise two
schooners name unknown, also prizes to the Conflict,
would be condemned and sold for the benefit of their
captors ; also that within the same date the Russian
ship, Cristine, seized in the port of Liverpool by the
officers of Customs, would be condemned as a Crown
droit, the same being the property of the Queen's ene-
mies.

NEW ACT ON THE INCLOSURE OF LAND.—An act o
Parliament has just been issued (17 and 18 Vic. c. 97)
to amend and extend the acts for the enclosure, exchange,
and improvement of land. By this act, which extends
to 21 clauses, lands about to be enclosed may be ex-
changed. Common rights are to be ascertained, nd
until decided the money to be paid into the Bank. The
Inclosure Commissioners are to ascertain the interests of
the several parties.
THE Poon.LAW BOARD.—By an act pas'zed in the late
session, the Poor-law Board, from the 23d July last, is
continued to the 23d July, 1859, and thenceforth till the
end of the session.

LATEST NEWS.

THE WAR.

THE BALTIC.

COPENHAGEN, Monday.—On the 26th inst. a
motion was made in the Swedish House of Yeomen
that the Chambers should petition the King to
take steps to insure that Aland never again be-
comes Russian.

Vessels belonging to Aland now sail under the
French flag.

Madvig persists in refusing to enter the illegal
Supreme Council.

The following extracts from letters from officers
employed at Bomarsund have been kindly handed
to us :

" We got over 42 cwt. guns, by hand, five miles, on
sledges made by ourselves ; our sailors hauled them.
It is wonderful to see the small effect Russian shot
and shell produced fired against us. We have only had
one Englishman wounded of 800 who have been under
tire for six days.
"We got our guns into a most wonderful place. The
French General said, when he was there, 'No people
except English sailors would have thought it possible.'
Our English engineers gave us five hours to get one gun
Up from the camp; we did it in one hour and a half."

THE AIISTRO-PRUSSIAN CONVENTION

OF APRIL.

The following telegraphic announcement has
been received :

VIENNA, Monday Evening.—There is a question
of an additional article to the Austro-Prussian
convention of April, which will perhaps place
Prussia on a better footing with England, France,
and Austria.