The Sun.
London, England, 1838-06-18 00:00:00

INQUEST ON THC SUFFERERS.

Saturdaymorning having been appointed for holding the inquest on the
bodies of the unfortunate sufferers whose deaths were occasioned by the
abave calamitous explosion, the large room of t he:Waterman 'e•A rms Ta-
vel n, Shadwcll Dock-stairs, Lower Shaheen, was crowded by gen-
tlemen connected with the vat ious steam-boat companies. The names
of the unfortunate men are Andrew Brown, Jamet Young, Wm. n_
lay, John M`Donnell, and George Clay, otherwise Hutchcroft.
A Juror said a gentleman was in the room who was a passenger on
board the Victoria at the time of the accident, and who wished to be
examined.
The CoaoNcw said it would perhaps be better to take his evidence
at once. He was accordingly calleil forward, when he stated his name
was William Charles Ellis, and said he had written down all that had
fallen under his own observation relative to the collision and the subse.
quent explosion, which he begged to be allowed to read. He then
handed in the document, which was read by Mr. Clarkson, and was to
the following effect :
" The Victoria left Hull on Wednesday, at hialf_past five o'clock,
and proceeded into the Thames without any accident having occurred.
She arrived near to the Shadwell entrance of the London Docks, and
having just rounded the point in the firer it appeared evident that she
eoul" .ot escase coming into contact with the outside of a tier of col-
liers. The order from the paddle_box was immediately given to stop
the vessel, which was done; a pilot called out to a man in the river,
abreast of the boat, to get out of the way, is hich he did. Just after.
wards the bowsprit of that vessel came in contact with the strainer,
which drove the paddle-box in with a tremendous crash. All was now
scene of the utmost confusion. I was standing at the head of the
st •amer, and saw the collision take place. I crossed to the other
side of the steamer, and looking upwards the masts of the brig rip-
j eared tottering, and ready to fall across the bows of the steamer ;
an I apprehending such to be the case, and not knowing what in-
jury the brig had sustained, I retreated towards the afterpart of
the vessel, and when abreast of the engine-room a dense volume of smoke
proceeded forth, and in an instant I was enveloped in darkness. I
groped my way towards the stern, expecting every moment to be blown
up, and upon looking back, saw an immense body of steam bursting forth
The passengers were filled with horror at their critical and alarming
situation. After a few minutes had elapsed, and seeing so rauch steam
esc spine, I considered the boilers had burst, and consequently no damage
could be now apprehended from an explosion. I passed my way through
the steam to the fore part of the vessel to ascertain the danger of our
situation, and just at that moment one of the engine-men was brought up
a rent awful spectacle. A second one was then laid upon the deck, and
after uttering two or three dreadful groans expired. A third and then a
fourth was brought upend laid on the deck. At that time the captain was
calling on persons to come down to the engine-room to assist in bringing
up the remainder of the sufferers. I had heard it mentioned by the
engineers that they were unable to get up the full power of steam dur-
hig the whole day, in consequence of an alteration in the furnaces,
which had prevented the fires from burning. The captain appeared to
he a very careful man, and frequently went below and examined the
engines. An opposition packet was close astern of the Victoria, but no
disposition was evinced by the captain to endanger the lives of the
passengers by causing additional pressure of steam, in order to enable
him to keep the lead ; on the contrary, it was asserted that it was a
matter of small importance if the vessel did get before the Victoria.
One circumstance it may be necessary to mention, and which adds a
great degree of horror to the alarming catastrophe, is the fact of many
of the firemen quarrelling and swearing in the most awful manner nearly
ail day."

By the CORONER—When off the coast of Suffolk the Victoria was ten
miles ahead of the other. I cannot tell what made the captain go be-
low. I think the accident was quite unintentional and unavoidable.
Richard Hopper, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, shipbuilder, examined—
was a passenger on board the Victoria, from Hull to London. I saw
the collision with the brig, and think the captain had no power to pre-
vent it. We did not go during the whole voyage very quickly. We
did not average seventeen strokes per minute.
The jury, accompanied by the Coroner, then proceeded in a steam
tug to view the vessel. Mr. Young, one of the jurymen, who is an en-
gineer and marine boiler maker, having divested himself of his upper
garments and put on a smock-frock and trousers, got into the furnace to
examine the fracture in the boiler. He found -a rent at the extreme
end of it, near to the flue, of twelve inches in length, the iron being
torn away near to the rivets. The lower part of the boiler
was forced outwards and the upper part inwards, from which
it appeared that a vacuum had been formed in the boiler, and that the
pressure of the atmosphere had consequently forced in the iron. The
attention of the Jury was now directed to the feed-pipes, which supply the
engines with water. From the present state of the bends, it would ap-
pear that the supply was nearly or quite cut off, and this was also assigned
as a probable cause of the accident. Captain Bell's opinion was, that
the men, having been disappointed in their expectation of getting, up the
usual supply of steam, had determined to do it somehow, and had cut
off the supply of water to the boilers, and had thus caused instant de-
struction. The Coroner said that that was highly probable from the
state of the supply-pipes; but he could not but observe that several
other parts of the boilers had bent and torn in such a way, as to appear
very dangerous. Captain Bell, in reply to this, said, " The rest were
going, and there is no doubt they were red hot when the other burst."
The Jury were then discharged on their own recognizances, in the
sum of 401., to prosecute the further inquiry on Tuesday week, when
they are to meet again.

His Excellency Sylvain Van de Weyer left town
on Friday morning for Brussels, whence he will return on the 25th inst.
NEFCASTLE AND CARLISLE RAILWAY.--We
have just received (Friday afternoon) a communication from the London
Road Railway Station, that a party of the Directors of the Newcastle
and Carlisle Railway, have traversed the whole of the line with locomo
tive power, and arrived at the London Read Station, after travelling from
Greenhead in 45 minutes. Monday next is fixed for the opening of the
whole of this important line of railway between the Eastern and Western
seas. Portions at each end of the line have been in full and successful
operation for some time. The middle portion, connecting the two ends,
is now completed, and will be opened on Monday first with great cere-
mony. The distance, it is expected, will be completed in about three
hours.—Carlisle Journal.

LONDON:
MONDAY EVENING, JUNE 18, 1838.

The Times of this morning is extremely anxious that
the affairs of Ireland should be looked at as a whole. That
is what we wish ; but our Contemporary, after breathing
forth this desire, apparently only to pass sentence of con-
demnation on its own remarks, immediately turns to con-
sider merely the influence of DANIEL O'CONNELL, and the
use he makes of it. The important question why DANIEL
O'CONNELL is able to get up agitation when he pleases—
why EMMET, and TONE, and HoLT could organize a re-

bellion and collect armies—why GRATTAN and CHAItLE-
MONT in their day were as powerful nearly as O'CONNELL
—and why Ireland has never been without its Captain
ROCKS and its DANIEL O'CONNELLS, since Ireland was
connected with England, is entirely and wilfully cast aside.
That would be looking at Irish affairs and at Ireland as a
whole ; and that neither the Tines nor any of the Tories
ever dream of doing, because it condemns their arrogant
and insulting conduct.
It is supremely ridiculous in Statesmen and public
writers to look only at O'CONNELL'S influence, and never
inquire into its cause. His eloquence must be superhuman
if he can sway unwilling hearts ; but the fact is, that his
countrymen, always outraged, always insulted, and always
trampled on, under one miserable pretext or another—
for when did a tyrant fail to find a pretext for his tyranny ?
—are always ripe for rebellion and ready to follow any
leader who promises them redress or vengeance. IVe
should like to see the man, however gifted, who was able
to stir up the Bench of Bishops to rebellion, or capable of
convincing them that they were a much mis-used and long-
suffering race, patient in tribulation, to whom it was a dis-

grace and a dishonour to acquiesce in the insults and in-
juries heaped on them by the law. To move them
from their well-assured ease, and well established power,
a far mightier than O'CoNNELL might try in vain. It is
not his eloquence then, but the injuries and insults which
Protestant England has heaped and continues to heap on
his countrymen, which is the source of his power. The
soul of Irish agitation is English tyranny.
Looked at as a whole, Ireland offers the spectacle of a
nation continually misused by another, first from rapacity,
or mere blind prejudice and anger, such as are common to
all men in a half savage condition, and then on the
wretched pretext that to misuse it was necessary for the
social welfare of the whole. She offers us the spectacle of
continually triumphing by one quiet civil victory after
another over her oppressor, who still persists, in spite of
experience and in spite of a succession of deep and morti-
fying. defeats, in fastening on her every badge and sign
and fetter of his own unholy wrongs. The great
and chief link still remaining is the Protestant—oh, how
unworthy of the name !—Established Church ; and they

whom the Catholics defeated in 1829, persist in 1838 i❑
denying them municipal franchises, in order to rivet, if
possible, a few years longer this insult on the Irish. Their
conduct looked on as mere worldly prudence or policy,
after so much experience of its mischief, is unspeakably
contemptible ; looked at as a question of morality it is in-
describably wicked. To take worldly wealth from the
Catholics, and give it to the professors of their own reli-
gion, they keep in the ground the roots of sedition and
rebellion, which through all the last century have con-
tinually produced a frightful crop of bloodshed, murder,
and all imaginable horrors. But turning from this view
as a whole, the Times and the Tories fix on Mr. O'CoN-
NELL'S inflnence as a -trange and inexplicable phenomenon,
and with as much folly as those who in former times believed
that comets shook.—

-From their horrid hair
Pestilence and war.
They ascribe all the e%ils of Ireland to DANIEL O'CON.

NELL being yet above the horizon.
The foolishness of Tory reasoning is kept in countenance
by the wickedness of Tory policy. No sooner do the Irish
meet in numbers to expresstheirdicsr.tisfaction with the To-
ries, than the latter are instantly filled with a dread of re-
bellion. By the observations which they made in the House
of Lords, on Friday, the Irish may know what they must
expect from the return of the Tories to office. Every
meeting would be prohibited—every assemblage would,
on some pretence or other, be declared illegal—and
every expression of public opinion, because it would, and
must be hostile to the Established Church, to tithes, and
to the Tories, would be suppressed. Ireland would be
goaded by them, in three months, into rebellion, and the
working heart of England, we can tell them, would not help
them to suppress it. If they can continue their unrighteous
policy by the help of a few hundred gentlemen, and a few
thousand parsons, they will perhaps he justified ; but the
masses in England, as well as in Ireland, are against them,
and before they can succeed they must conquer both.

A public meeting of the subscribers to the fund for
erecting a memorial of the naval achievements of Lord
NELSON, was held on Saturday, at the Freerilason's
Ta-
vern. The Duke of WELLINGTON was present at this
meeting, and made a speech remarkable for its grace and
propriety, in the course of which he alluded to the victories
of Lord NELSON—especially that crowning one at Trafalgar
—in the same animated style in which some future historian
will speak of Warerloo. It is highly gratifying to see
one great warrior thus coming forward to bear tes-
timony to the merits of another ; and speaking i❑
the most generous, and indeed unqualified, terms of the
incomparable services rendered by NELSON at Trafalgar,
just as if services of equal—we might almost say
superior—value had not been rendered by himself
on the field of Waterloo. We are, it is well known,
no very great admirers of his Grace as a statesman,
but on an occasion like the present, we dismiss all ideas of
politics—and this the more readily, when we bear in mind
that twenty-three years ago, at the very hour we are penning
these lines, the Duke of WELLINGTON was hotly engaged
in one of the most murderous, but glorious and decisive '
conflicts, that modern times have known. Long may his
Grace live to commemorate the anniversary of this remarka-
ble day ; and when, full of years and honours, he departs
from among us, may the same msnly and generous eulogium
be publicly pronounced on him, that he has himself pro-
nounced upon NELSON ! No worthier tribute of respect
can possibly be paid- him—no fitter epitaph be inscribed on
his tomb.

A Bill was brought into the House of Commons last
week, the object of which is to provide for the conveyance
of the mails by railways. This is a measure, ❑ot only of
great importance, but of absolute necessity. The public
interest demands that the commercial correspondence of the
country should be transmitted by as rapid a mode of convey-
ance as it is possible to obtain. It also requires that the whole
of the arrangements connected with the transmission of
letters through the post-office should be under the com-
plete controul of Government. Without such controul it
would evidently be impossible to secure that regularity of
communication which is fully as essential as rapidity to the
prosperity of a mercantile and manufacturing community. It
it by combining these two qualities with a third,namely, cheap-
ness, that the Inarimum of benefit is to be derived from a
Post-office establishment. The Bill will, in our opinion,
effectually provide for the first two requisites ; the third
we hope soon to see secured by the adoption of Mr. Row-
LAND HILL'S plan for reducing all postages to a penny
per letter.

The Government has been somewhat severely found
fault with for introducing this measure, on the ground that
it is an unwarrantable interference with private property.
We are not a little surprised at such a doctrine as this. It
surely is not meant to be contended that the Legislature
has given to railway Companies, powers and privileges to
be used against the public interest, when it is well known
that the strongest argument which all the projectors of these
undertakings have urged, in order to procure the assent of
Parliament to their schemes—.the main inducement which

they have held out to the guardians of the public interests to
empower them to interfere with private property—is the
benefit of the public. It is the merest extravagance to
imagine that the Legislature conferred such enormous
power on these Companies, actually suspending the opera-
tion of the laws of property in their favour, only for the
purpose of putting money in the pockets of the few indivi-
duals composing them. On the contrary, it must be
obvious to every unbiassed mind, that, not only has
Parliament the right to render the railways subser-
vient to the great national interests involved in the
transmission of letters, but that it is bound by the strictest
obligations of duty so to do. Nor is its sphere of duty
limited to this single department. Whenever and wher-
ever Railway Companies abuse their privileges and im-
pede the public convenience, by unnecessary restraints on
travelling, then and there it is the bounden duty of the Le-
gislature to interpose, and regulate the power which it
originally gave, so as most effectually to attain the great
object which alone it had in view—public utility. We
shall suppose that the fanatical party in the London and
Birmingham Railway Company had succeeded in putting a
stop to Sunday travelling. Would the Parliament have
endured such a gross abuse of the power vested in the
Company as this would have been ? Certainly not—for,
let it never be forgotten that one effect of the railway
system is to extinguish all other methods of travelling,
and consequently to place the public completely at
the mercy of the Railway Companies. And the
same party, or whatever other party may act on the
same principles, may rest assured that should such
a restriction as that alluded to ever be attempted to be
carried into effect, they would be made to feel the heavy
hand of the British Legislature.
We cannot be accused of any hostility to railways.
Our best exertions have all along been used in their behalf;
and we claim the merit of having commenced those
exertions for years before any other Newspaper thought
it worth while to take up the subject. But as
our impelling motive was the beneficial conse-
quences which we foresaw would result to the public
from the new mode of communication, so we shall never
shrink from pointing out whatever we may see defective in
the management of railways, or illiberal in the conduct of
those to whom their direction is entrusted.

The following, is a very carious petition from two thou-
sand apprentices, which was presented to the House
of Commons, by Mr. O'CONNELL, on Thursday even-
ing. It expresses very clearly the additional hardships
the apprentices are now made to undergo, and it is, we arc
informed, the composition of the apprentices themselves,
the Missionary who forwarded it: having only corrected
some of the orthography. The petitioners are more worthy
of freedom than their masters.

The Humble Petition of the Apprentices of the Parish of St. Catherine,
Jamaica, to the Honourable the Commons of Great Britain.
Humbly Fho weth

That your petitioners, the undersigned apprentices of the Parish of
St. Catherine aforesaid, humbly approach your Honourable House, to
lay before your Honourable House the great grievances your Petitioners
lay under.

When your Petitioners first heard of the great Loon of apprentice-
ship which Great Britain was pleased to promise to the labouring pepu.
lation on the Ist of August, 1834—that of giving your Petitioners
emancipation, and bringing them out of that state of cruel bondage in
which they were, and put them under better laws—your Petitioners and
all their Brethren were truly thanktul, and never done to praise a gra.
eious God and your Honourable House.

But your Petitioners now more especially beg your Honourable House
to look into the system, for that your Petitioners have been much
abused under it. Many of your Petitioners have been cruelly flogged,
and made to dance the treadmill, and punish in the dark hole, who were
never ill-treated in time of slavery.

Your Petitioners have also been much robbed of their time and
allowance: they used to have before, so that they find it very hard to
support themselves and their children ; and when they are sick, many
are locked up in the Tr3thouse, and nobody care to give them nourish-
ment.

Your Petitioners declare to your HOnourable House that their
bondage is very hard—that such is the ill treatment they have to endure,
that if it were not for religion, they know not how they should have had
patience to bear up against it so long—and yet your Petitioners hear
that they are not so bad oil as their poor Brothers and Sisters in other
Parishes, where the Special Magistrates are too cruel, and many of them
have no friends to see them righted. Thus your Petitioners have
humbly endearoured to lay their bitter complaint before your Honour-
able House*, but they want words—they want language to explain all
the hardships and sufferings they groan under : and as the house ser-
vants will be set at liberty in August this present year, and your Peti-
tioners the field apprentices will still be kept under the lash and severity
of the owners, and toiling without any comfort, and scarce the nece.,-
series of life, your Petitioner, most humbly and earnestly pray, that
through the great kindness of your Honourable Hou.se they may be
released from the two years which the fitld-people will have to serve,
so that they may all have their freedom and rejoice together, and which
your Petitioners further pray your Honourable House will not think
presumptuous.

Many of the white people hare raised the repent that the labouring
people will not work, or obey the laws, when once they are set free ;
but your Petitiouers humbly beg your Honourable House to put no
confidence in their words;. your Petitioners have no other desire than
to labour for their bread—to live in peace with all men--and to fear
God and honour the Queen, according to the commandments of our God
and Saviour, which is preached unto us.

So prays your humble Petitioners, and most earnestly hope they may
not be disappointed, as they have no other to c,.11 upon, neither to put
their trust in, for this great favour, but God and your Honourable

House.

And your Petitioners will ever pray, &c.
Here follow the signature,, upwards of 12,00 in number.

In another part of our paper will be found the Reverend
Dr. PooßE's account of the Canterbury tragedy. We are
struck with the meagreness of the information on which the
Reverend Gentleman issued his warrants. No complaint

:s set forth by any person insulted or injured ; no deposition
:s made that there was a single act of violence committed.
A match, not lighted, was found in a bean stack, and a
man who had followed Tnoat to see what was going on, saw
an elderly woman kiss him, and heard some words which
he did not understand. The Reverend Magistrate him-
self says, that Tnoat in returning. to Boughton committed
no act of violence, and harangued no mob. From the
moment of his addressing the people on Sunday, to.the
amount of two hundred, according to Mr. Fanatets's
statement, till Thursday, l:e appears to have been seen
by no Magistrate, and no Magistrate had personal cog-
nizance of his proceedings, or took any notice of them till
Wednesday. Colonel GROVE, of Boughton, told the Rev.
Dr. POORE a long story of THOM using language of the
most exciting description, but he only spoke from hearsay,
and declined making an affidavit of the particulars. Dr.
POORE tells Lord J. RUSSELL that he lives 14 or 1.5
from the scene of the affray, and from the scene of THOM'S
exploits, and he, therefore, is not to be blamed for his igno-
rance ; but the public will asl: if there were no Magistrates in
the neighbourhood—if there were no resident:Squires nearer
than Dr. PoonE ; and will particularly require to be in-
formed why the Reverend Gentleman, living so far from
the spot, could alone be found to issue a warrant, or inter-
fere judicially on the occasion. The public will ask also why
warrants were issued which were not to he executed. It was to
expostulate with THOM, not to apprehend him, though hehad
the warrants in his pocket, that the constable went to
THOM. It was considered unadviseable to attempt to ap-
prehend THOM without an adequate civil force ; but still
somehow or other, without any such civil force being
assembled, the constable with the warrants went to THO3I.
All these are matters which reflect, in our judgment, no
honour on the Magistracy of Kent, and we can only
pray that the people generally may be delivered
from the toils of the Magistracy if they, through
out the country, resemble the Magistrates of Kent.
We quite agree with the Reverend Dr. POORE, that
great care should be (have been) used to prevent any
fatal result ; but we venture to assert, that the absence
of all Magistrates from the actual scene of the disturbances
till Thursday—their want of personal cognizance of the pro-
ceedings—the absence of all efforts on their part between
Sunday and Thursday, to separate the deluded men from
THOM, and the sending constables with warrants which
were not to be executed, supply no proofs that great
care, or that any care, whatever, was taken. The public will
form their own judgment of this lamentable affair, and the
Magistrates and the Clergy will not come out of it with
honour.

By the packet ship S'zefjicld, which arrived yesterday at
Liverpool, we have received Now York papers to the 27th
ult. inclusive. They bring a melancholy and disgraceful
account of various outrages committed by the anti-slavery
abolitionists of the city of Philade!phia on the nights of the
16th, 17th, and 18th of May--outrages which, to the shame
of the Mayor and other authorities, might easily have been
prevented, had proper precautions been taken even after
their prebahl-: occurrence, in the course of a few days, were
foreseen by every citizen of Philadelphia. It appears from
the journals and private letters that the slavery abolitionists
had erected, at an expense of forty thousand dollars, a
magnificent ball for the purpose of holding meetings on the
subjects of slavery, and the education of the coloured race
throughout the union. This noble edifice was first opened on
the 14th, and solemnly dedicated to all purposes connected
with the physical, moral, and intellectual improvement of
the slave-population. On the 16th a female anti-slavery
meeting was held there, when an anti-abolition mob con-