The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-06 00:00:00

consented to visit the Hotne as often as his other
dutif,s would allow him.
A vote of thanks to the Chairman concluded th©
b _siness of the meeting.:

DANIEL WEBSTER on HUNGARY.
The f ,Ilowing is an extract from a speech delivered
I.llr. Daniel Webster at the New Hampshire Fes-
tival
" Then, gentlemen, there is another aspect. We
have all had our sympathies much enlisted by the
Hungarian effort for liberty. We thought we saw a
more favourable chance for establishing independence
in Hungary than in any other part of Europe where
the question has been in agitation within the last 12
months. But despotic power from abroad intervened
to suppress it. And, gentlemen, what will come of
it Ido not knew. For my part, at this moment, I feel
more indignant at recent events connected with Hun-
gary than at all those which pissed in her struggle
for liberty.—(Tremendous cheering.) I see that the
Emperor of Russia demands of Turkey that the noble
Kossuth and his companions should be given up.—
(Shan.e, s'mtne.) And I see that this demand is
in derision of the established law of nations. Gen-
tle men, there is something on earth greater than
arbitrary or despotic power. The lightning has
its power, and the whirlwind bas its power,
and the earthquake has its power. But there is
something among men more capable of shaking
despotic power than lightning, whirlwind, or earth-
quake—(Overpowering outbursts of applause)--
that is the threatened indignation of the whole civi-
lized world.—(Renwed cheers.) Gentlemen, V- e
Emperor of Russia holds himself to be bound by
Ole law of nations, from the fact that he treats with
nations—that he forms alliances ;he professes, in
fact, to live in a civilized age, and to govern an en-
lightened nation. I say that if under these circum-
stances he shall perpetrate so gross a violation of
natural law as to seize these Hungarians and to exe-
cute them, he will stand as a criminal and malefactor
in the view of the law.—(Loud huzzas continued for
some minutes.) The whole world will be the tribu-
nal to try him, and he must appear before it, and hold
up his hand and plead and abide its judgment.—
The Emperor of Russia is the supreme lawgiver
in his own country, and for aught I know, the exe-
cutor of it also. But, thanks to God, he is not the
supreme lawgiver or executor of the national law,
and every offence against this is an offence against
the rights of the civilized world—(Hear, hear)—and
if be breaks that law in the case of Turkey, or in
any other case, the whole world has a right to call
him out and to demand punishment.—(Right.) Our
rights as a nation are held under the sanction of
national law—a law which becomes more impor-
tant from day to day—a law which none who
profess to agree with it, are at liberty to violate.
Nor let him imagine, nor let any one imagine, that
mere force can subdue the general sentiment of man-
kind. It is much more likely to extend that senti-
ment, and to destroy that power which he most de-
sires to establish and secure. Gentlemen, the bones
of poor John Wickliffe were dug out of his grave
seventy years after his death, and burnt for his heresy,
and his ashes were thrown upon a river in War-
wickshire. Some prophet of that day
.said—
"The Avon to the Severn runs
The Severn to the Sea,
And Wickliffe's dust shell spread abroad,
Wide as the waters be."
Gentlemen, if the blood of Kossuth is taken by an
absolute, unqualified, unjustifiable violation of
national law, what will it appease—what will it
pacify ? It will mingle with the earth—it will mix
with the waters of the ocean—the whole civilized
world will snuff it in the air, and it will return with
awful retribution on the heads of those violators of
national law and justice.—(Great enthusiasm.) I
cannot say when, or in what form, but depend upon
it that if such an act take place, thrones and princi-
palities and powers must look out for the conse-
quences.—(Overpowering applause.)

INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.
JOSHUA FIELD, Esq., President, in the chair.
Dtc. 4.—1 he discussion was continued on Mr.
Paton's description of the Southend Pier, and the
ravages of the " Teredo Navalis," and other marine
worms, and was extended to such a length as to
preclude the reading of any original communication.
Numerous specimens were exhibited, and com-
mented on, of timber thoroughly perforated by
worms ; whilst beside them, under the same circum-
stances, the " Jarrow wood," from Australia, was
shown to have remained completely free from injury.
The reference to the age of Homer, as an instance
of the ancient ravaging habits of the "Teredo," in-
duced a return to geological questions ; and it was
shown, that in the London clay, remains had
repeatedly been found, of timber perforated by sea
worms. The oolite and greensand formations also
exhibited petrified wood, filled with boring moluscm.
This led to the consideratien of the formation most
likely to withstand the attack of the " Pholps;" and
it was ;hown, that the Portland stone was, from the
quantity of silica it contained, least liable to be
attacke 1.

The "Pholas" was shown to have been in active
operation upon certain rocks from the earliest periods,
but never upon Portland stone. Hence it was
argued this' kind of stone should bo used for break-
waters and other works exposed to the action of the
sea.

The early state of the " Teredo" was noticed •
when escaping from the egg, in the shape of a free
swimmer, it was drifted about with the tide until it
met w i:h a log, a pile, or the side of a ship, to which
it attached itself, and making an inroad into it, be-
came a non locomotive animal of different form and
habits, never again to leave the habitation it had
burrowed for itself in the body of the timber. The
question of as hether the boring operation of the
marine worms was carried on by chemical or
by mechanical means, was lengthily discussed. The
thin shell, covered by its delicate membrane, was in-
stanced as not possessing strength enough to cut away
timber; but it was on the other hand shown that the
shape of the two shells, forming the extremity of the
animal, admirably adapted them for powerful cutting,
or rasping tools, when moored rapidly in a circular
direction, as was evidently the case, from the uni-
formly cylindrical character of the holes.
The shells of the " Pholas" were also showat o be
used in that manner, and the opinion appeared gene-
rally to lean to a mechanical cause, for the effects
observed.

This bearing of the discussion naturally induced
remarks upon the ravages of the white ant of India,
which, however, appeared to have been little studied,
and less understood, as far as atta•mp!ing to arrest or
to prevent its inroads.

The various materials, such as Ryan's corrosive
sublimate of mercury, Sir W. Barnett's chloride of
zinc, Margary's salts of metals, Payne's combination
of muriate of lime and sulphate of iron, forming in
the timber an insoluble compound, and Bethell's
creosote, or oil of coal tar, were discussed. All
had their partisans, and were stated to have suc-
ceeded and failed under certain circumstances. Spe-
cimens of piles from Lowestoft harbour, whose waters
were notoriously full of worm, showed that timber
in a natural state was in a few months thoroughly
perforated by " Teredulin the centre, and " Litnno-
ria" on the surface ; but that piles, which had been
properly saturated according to Bethell's system, in
exhausted receivers, and subjected.to such pressure as
insured the absorption of about ten pounds' weight of
the creosote, or oil of coal
_tar, by each cubic foot of
the tin iser, were perfectly preserved from attacks of
marine animals of any kind.
In one instance a partially " creosoted" pile had a
notch cut into it, deeper than the impregnation had
extended ; a " Teredo ' made its entry, and was found
to have worked in every direction, until it arrived
within the reach of the creosote, when the animal
turned away and eventually left the pile.
Bethell's system was admitted, by all the speakers,
to be that which hitherto, after many years' experience,
had afforded the most satisfactory results.
Some most conclusive experiments, instituted by
Mr. Bendel at Southampton, were stated to have pro-
duced the same results ; and at Leith all the piles were
weighed before and after their saturation, to insure
their absorbing the full allowance of at least ten pounds
per cubic foot.

The discussion was interrupted by the monthly bal-
lot, when the following candidates were elected :—M.
Jones and T. C. Gunn, as members ; T. A. Iledley,
J. Allan, 11. 0. Bridgeman, and Captain J. Estridge,
8.E., as associates.
The paper announced to be read at the meeting f
Tuesday, December the 11th, was No. 818, " On the
facilities for Ship or
.Canal communication, between
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, through the Isthmus
of Panama." By Lieutenant-Colonel Lloyd, Assoc.
Inst. C.E.

Loss OF 1 TR'ETT7 ts. metancnoty accident,
which resulted in the sudden destruction of twenty lives,
occurred at the entrance of the Tyne on Tuesday morn-
lng last. It appears that the Betsey, of Little Hampton,
timber laden, trom the adtic, v as proceeding northward,
when she was compelled by stress of weather to mike
for Tynemouth Ilarb ur. On entering the harbour she
struck upon the Herd Sand, which stretches a consider-
able distance along the south side of the river. A life-
boat, with a crew of twenty-four persons, proceeded to
the stranded ship for the purpose of saving her crew. On
reaching the ship it is the practice to lash the life-boat
alongside the distressed vessel by means of a rope, both
from the stem and stern. In this instance, unfortunately,
only one end of the life boat had been so secured, when
she swung round with the tale, and a heavy sea taking
her in midships she was instantly upset, and the whole of
her crew, with the exception of !our persons, met with a
watery grave. Oily one of the bodies, that of a person
named Lancelot Robson, has as yet been discovered.
The disaster was observed from the shore, and two boats
put off to render assistance. They arrived in time to
save the four survivors, three of whom were picked off
the life-boat, and they also succeeded in saving the crew
of the Betsey. The vessA :4 vxpected to tic got off
without serious damage.