The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-19 00:00:00

ITALY.

At the sitting of the Chamber of Deputies of Turin
on the 13th inst. the order of the day was read for
discussing the treaty of peace concluded with Austria.
The President having read the articles of the treaty,
Deputy Balbo proposed that a division should take
place on the resolution proposed by him on the 24th of
September that the report of the Commission should
be adopted. M. Buffs insisted that a resolution which
he proposed to move should have the priority. It was
to the effect that the treaty of peace concluded with
Austria should be considered as an accomplished
fact, and that, consequently, no division should
take place on the subject of the treaty. M. Balbo
demanded that his resolution should have the priority,
but M. Buffa was called on by the President to pro-
ceed. fie delivered a long speech, which he con-
cluded by observing that the treaty was now irre-
vocable, and that, even should the Chamber refuse to
ratify, Austria would not have the less right to insist
on its full execution. He, in consequence, moved the
following resolution :
First, That the Chamber considers the treaty con-
cluded between his Majesty the King and the Emperor
of Austria, at Milan, on the 6th August, 1849, as an
accomplished fact. Secondly, The Chamber will provide,
by special laws, for the regular execution of the treaty."
An animated discussion ensued, in which MM. Pi-
Sinco, D'Azzeglio, Brofferio, and Cabella took
part; after which the debate was adjourned.

ELECTION OF LORD RECTOR.—GLASGOW, Nov. 16.
—The Right Hon.T.Babiugton Macaulay was re-elected
Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow to-day, with-
out opposition. The Conservative students very pru-
dently resolved not to bring forward a candidate, and as
they issued a placard two or three days ago intimating
Visit resolution, and that they wished the former system
of triennial election (broken through last year and the
year pri-vious in the cases of Lard John Russell and
Colonel Muir, M.P.) to be reverted to, the affair passed
over without the slightest excitement.
DEPARTURE OF TUE CANADA.—The royal mail
steam ship Canais,.Captain Harrison, which sailed from
Liverpool, for Uslifax and New York, on
Saturday
forencon, bad a fair complement of passengers, and the
u ual mails fur Canada and the United States,
OFFICIAL APPOINTMENT.—We have learned with
very great pleasure that Mr. Michael Murphy has re.
ceired an important appointment under the new Bank.
rapt Act—that of
Official Assignee.
end a thorough hnow-
ee. If high and honour-
able' character, great intelligence,
ledge of general husinear, such as must come within the
coguizaneo of a Court of Ban P kru to', fit any man for a
position of great responsibility, surely our esteemed and
honoured fellow citizen is that man. Indeed, there is
not ono who knows Mr. Murphy but must respect him.o
for his genuine v% orth arid charity; there is not one who
will not sympathise in his mnited good fortune; and,
surely, there is net one who will not repose the pro-
founiest confidence in his impartial discharge of the
dutiei of his important office.—Cork Examiner.
IlLooli in thy heart and write. He that writes to
h ta,elf, writes to an eternal public.—Eliza Cook's
Journal

INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.
Nov. 13, 1849.
JOSHUA FIELD, Esq., President, in the Chair.
In accordance with the resolution of a special
meeting of members, the session of the ins itution
commenced on Tuesday evening, instead of, as here-
tofore, in the middle of January. This is a great
improvement, as it assimilates the routine of this
useful society to that of other scientific.: bodies ; it
will also prove very convenient to the country mem-
bers, give a greater number of meetings, and enable
the session to terminate brilliantly with the President's
conversazione.
The annual general meeting for the election of
the president, council, and officers will take place on
Tuesday, December the 18th.
The paper read was a "Description of the Coffer-
dam at the Grimsby Docks," by Mr. Charles N eate,
Assoc. Inst. CE. It commenced by briefly noticing
the importance of preliminary structures in all works
of hydraulic engineering, and the difficulties generally
attending their execution. The position of Grimsby,
on the south shore of the Humber, ;was the❑ de-
scribed ; its proximity to the sea ; the natural shelter
afforded by the opposite shore of Spurn Head; end
the various advantages it presented for the construc-
tion of extensive docks. _

A general description followed of the enclosure
made for the purpose of the dock-works, which com-
prised an area of 138 acres, and projected five eighths
of a mile beyond the margin of the high. water line of
the shore. It was explained that the flitnees of the
coast necessitated this great projection, as it was
requisite to found the new entrance locks in
the low-water channel of the river, in order
to secure, at all times, a sufficient depth of
water for large vessels. These conditions regulated
the position of the clffer-dam, which stood in a very
exposed situation, and was entirely self-supported; its
principal features were stated to b.! its extent, and the
form of its construction. The length of the coffer-
dam was 1,500 feet, supporting at high water a head
of water of 25 feet, whilst the excavation behind it was
carried to 11 feet below low-water. The form of th,-
dam was that of a circular curve, with a versed sine
of 200 feet, or nearly one fifth of the span.
Several of the constructive arrangements were
peculiar • the work consisted of a triple row of wholf
timber sheet piling, which derived interior support
from counterforts or buttresses of solid sheet piling,
driven at intervals of 25 feet throughout its length.

The long or through bolts were made to break feint
and terminate at the middle row of piling, so that no
water could pass along them through the dam. In
the middle row of piling, wrought-iron plating was
substituted for timber walings, which formed excellent.
longitudinal ties, and left an uninterrupted surface on
the piling, against which the puddle would lie
compactly.
It was stated that these arrangements had imparts d
an extraordinary degree of stability and tightness to
the structure, which had resisted the effects of storms,
and the pressure of the tides, in the most perfect
manner, during a period of fourteen months.
A portion of the ground betwcen the works and
the shore was descriied as being of a soft, silty clay,
probably the site of an old channel ; and as it wai
found, after all precautions, impossible to raise coy
solid structure upon it, the alternative was adopted 0,
displacing it completely by raising a bank of chalk-
stone rubble, which sunk down to the hard bed of
clay beneath. This method was successful in forming
a very fine embankment.
The abundantsupplyof water from Artesian wells in
Grimsby was adverted to, and referred to the vicinity
of the chalk hills.
The conclusion of the paper drew attention to the
magnitude of the masonry works now advancing at
Grimsby, and for the formation of which the coffer
dam was erected, and which, when completed, from
the designs of Mr. Rendel, the chief engineer, ansl
under the superintendence of Mr. Adam Smith, the
resident engineer, will form perhaps one of the moat
useful, as well as the most important, maritime works

of modern times.
The paper announced to be read at the meeting of
Tuesday, November the 20th, was " A Description 01
the Old Southend Pier Head, and the extension of
the Pier, with an inquiry into the nature and ravages
of the Teredo Navalis,' and the means hitherto
adopted for preventing its attacks," by Mr. John
Paton.

ST. GEORGE'S HARMONIC SOCIETY.—The secon
concert given by this society took place on Friday even•
ing, before a numerous and select audience. The mt
bers exhiLit a decided improvement every time we hear
them, and deserve an especial word of praise in that
respect. The principal vocalists were Miss Ellen Lyon,
who elicited a rapturous encore in " Let the bright
Seraphim" (tylr. Harper trumpet obligato); her sister,
Miss Eliza Lyon, also obtained an unanimous redemand
for " Charlie is my darling" (from Allmaun's selection),
which the sang with great feeling and spirit. Miss
Collins in " Oh, Araby," deserves special mention; she
has a fine contralto voice. Mr. Frank Dudley, in
" Philip the Falconer ;" Mr. Pelham, in " Ellen Lo •
Caine;" Mr. Mattacks, in " Nan of Battersea;" Mr. H.
Buckland, in " The Cavalier;" and last, but decidedly
not least, Mr. W. H. Seguin, in " Tne Sea Kings,"
rendered their respective songs with artistica! excellen e.
Mr. T. Harper performed " The Soldier tired" on the
trumpet superbly, and was tumultuously encored. 3.1.
Zerbini also played De Beriot's " II Tremolo" on she
violin, in which he was much applauded. Mr. J. C.
Beuthin and Mr. A. Jackson officiated et the pianoforte
very creditably. Mr. S. T. Lyon conducted.
DENIAL BY A PROTESTANT CLERGYMAN OF CHRIS-
TIAN BURIAL TO A ROMAN CATHOLIC.—It i.S our very
painful duty, this week, to record one of those outrages
upon the Christian character, which are alike revolting
to an intelligent community and a disgrace to that system
of religion by which they are sanctioned. The circum
stances of the case, as nearly as we can gather them, are
briefly these:—The family of John Gully, Esq., of Ack
worth-park, having recently been visited by a painful
bereavement, application was made to Mr. Kenworthy,
the clergyman, to have the deceased interred in the
churchyard of Ackworth, where a former branch of Mr.
Gully's family had been already buried. Permission was
given for the interment (which the Rev. Gentleman knew
he durst not refuse), but the deceased young lady having
been a Roman Catholic, he would not allow the corpse
to be taken within the precincts of the church. It was
not likely that a high-minded and honourable man like
Mr. Gully would submit to such an insult. What pa-
rent, with a heart bleeding under the loss of an amiable
child, could endure to have the mark of degradation
stamped upon the remains of that child, by being denied
the right of Christian burial ? And yet this most
undoubtedly would have been the case, had the par-
ties been without the means of providing another place
of sepulture. Happily this was not Mr. Gully's position,
and a remedy in his case was at hand, though the cir-
cumstances must have cost the mourning family much
additional sorrow. Ackworth-park being contiguou4 to
the churchyard, a spot was selected as near as possible
to the place where the other members of the family had
been buried; and this being by a Catholic clergyman
set apart as a place of sepulture, the remains of Miss
Gully were deposited there on Thursday morning last.
according to the rites of that church in whose faith she
died. The conduct of Mr. Kenworthy needs no c m-
went. Surely such a system will soon lack Cefenclers.
and will give place to one whose principles are more
equitable and just. We have no quarrel with episcopa
lianism as such, but we do object to a church being
called national, and beingirupported by national funds,
denying its citizens a right to its privileges.—Leeds
Mercury.
THEATRICALS AT WINDSOR CASTLE.—Her Ma-
jesty has expressed her entire approval of the arrange-
ments effected by Mr. Charles Kean relative to the en
suing theatrical entertainments at the Castle during the
Christmas holidays. Messrs. Grieve, Telbin, and their
assistants are now engaged in preparing the scenic and
decorative accesories for the pieces to be played. The
first pieca selected by her Majesty and her Royal consort
is the tragedy of Julius Ccesar, which will be very
powerfully cast, it being understood that Mr. Macready
will personate the noble Roman Brutus, and Mr.
Charles Kean, Mark Anthony. It is not at present ar-
ranged as to who will enact Cassius, probably Mr. Van-
denhoff, or Mr. James Wallack. The first representa-
tion is appointed to take place in the Christmas holiday
week—viz , Friday, the 28th of December. The first
part of Kitty Henry 1 W., in which it is said Mr.
Murray, the manager of the Edinburgh Theatre, will
play Falstaff, is also named amongst the repertoire of the
Court performances for the present season.—Sunday
Times.
AGONISING DEATH.—The Penang (Prince of
Wales's Island) Gazette of Juno 30th describes a most
distressing accident. A party of gentlemen from Polo-
Ticoose college were on a visit to Batu-Kawan, sonic of
whom went out to shoot, in the plantation of the jet,
Mr. A. M'lntyre, on the morning alluded to. The Rev.
Mr. Thivett, superior of the college, and another, had
separated themselves from the rest of the party, and ono
or other of these gentlemen having shot a bird, it fell;
but its wing only being broken, it attempted to escape
by running, and took the direction of a small inclosure,
at the only opening into which it entered, the two gen-
tlemen following in pursuit. Mr. Thivett was in ad-
vance, and immediately on crossing the entrance of this
inclosure he disappeared: his friend, who was close upon
his heels, had hardly time to check himself, and so escape
the cruel death Mr. Thivett suffered. His friend heard
him call out, " he was a lost man," but on approaching
the edge of the pit he could not see his person on ac
count of a quantity of grass and other rubbish which
covered him. The pit proved to be a trap carefully
disguised, covered with grass and attap leaves laid upon
slender sticks, set for tigers, about twenty feet deep, and
planted at the bottom with strong nebong spears, set
perpendicular, or slightly incl;ning towards the sides of
the pit, and rivetted in the soil so that they could not be
moved; on one of these the unfortunate gentleman had
of
pocket
fallen, which transfixed his body, maintaining him in the
position in which he fell upon it. A rope was procured, e
partyknife, the o
f wa
was
pnletnly
a down by means
of it, and with
instrument at hand, he suc-
ceeded in dividing the spear near where it was fixed to
• r
the ground. M T •
hivett died at three o'clock the fol-
lowing morning.
.ALDRORGUGH, Nov. 17.—The Olive Branch, of end
fur London, from Seabam, struck on S. wt 11 Bank this
morning and sank; crew got on board :schooner. Find
N. to'N N.E. strong.
VcrvENHoE, Nov. IB.—The Quebec Packet, of Ater-
deen, Archangel to London, grounded on the Guntleet
Sand yesterday-, but was assisted eff after discharging
part of cargo.

PUBLIC EXECUTIONS.

TO THE EDITOR. OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—When I wrote to you on Tuesday last I had
no intention of troubling you again ; but as one of
your correspondents has to-day expressed a reason-
able desire that I would explain myself more clearly,
and as I hope I may do no injury to the cause I
would serve by stating my views upon it a little more
in detail, I shall be glad to do so, if you will allow.

me the opportunity. _
My positions in reference to the demoralizing na-
ture of public executions are—
First, that they chiefly attract as spectators the
lowest, the most depraved, the most abandoned of man-
kind, in whom they inspire no wholesome emotions

whatever.
Secondly, that the public infliction of a violent death
is not a salutary spectacle for any class of people ; but
that it is in the nature of things that on the class by
whom it is generally witnessed it should have a de-
basing and hardening influence.
On the first head I must appeal again to my own
experience of the execution of last Tuesday morning ;
to all the evidence that has ever been taken on the
subject, showing that executions have been the
favourite sight of convicts of all descriptions ; to the
knowledge possessed by the magistracy and police of
the general character of such crowds ; to the police
reports that are sure to follow their assemblage ; to the
unvarying description of them given in the news,
papers ; to the indisputable fact th,.t no decent
father is willing that his son, and no decent master
is willing that his apprentices or servants, should
mingle in them ; to the indisputable fact that all
society, its dregs excepted, recoil frum them as
masses of abomination and brutality. (That there
were not more robberies committed at this last exe-
cution was not the fault of the assembled thieves,
~-hone numbers on the occasion the Home Secretary
may easily learn from the Commissioners in Scotland-
' yard, but the merit of the police, whose vigilance was
beyond all praise.)
On the second head, after a passing allusion to the
hardening influence which familarity even with na-
tural death produces on coarse minds, I must again
refer to my own experience. Nothing would have
been a greater comfort to roe—nothing would have so
such relieved. in my mind the unspeakable terrors of
the scene, as to have been enabled to believe that any
portion of the immense crowd—that any grains of
sand in the vast moral desert stretching away on every

side—were moved to any sentiments of rear, repent-
ance, pity, or natural horror by what they saw upon
the drop. It was impcsihle to look around and rest
in any such belief. With every consderation and
respect for your suggestion that the concourse may
gave been belying their mental struggles by frantic
exaggerations, lam confident that if you had been
there beside me, seeing that I saw, and hearing what
I heard, you could never have admitted the thought.
Such a state of mind has its signs and tokens equally
with any other, and no such signs and tokens
were there. The mirth was not hysterical,
the shouting,s and fightings were not the efforts
of a strained excitement Seeking to vent itself in any
relief. The whole was unmistakeably callous and
bad. As the ferocious woman who was charged on
the same day with threatening to murder another in
the midst of the multitude, proclaiming that she had
a knife about her, and would have her heart's blood,
and he hanged on the same gibbet with her namesake,
Mrs. Manning, whose death she had come to see—as
she had her evil passions Excited to the utmost by the
scene, so had all the crowd. I believe this was the
whole and sole effect of what they had come to see,
and I hold that no human being, not being the better
for such a sight, could go away without being the
worse for it.
To prevent such frightful spectacles in a Christian
country, and all the incalculable evils they engender,
I would have the last sentence of the law executed

with comparative privacy within the prison walls.
Before I state how, let me strengthen this proposal
with some words of Fielding on this subject, to whose
profound knowledge of human nature you, I know,
will render full justice :
" The execution should be in some degree private. And
here the poets will again assist us. Foreigners have
found fault with the cruelty of the Engish drama, in re-
presenting fr.( quent murders upon the stage. In fact
this is not only cruel, but highly injudicious; a murder
behind the scenes, if the poet knows how to manage it,
will affect the audience with greater terror then it it
was acted before their eyes. Of this we have an in-
stance in the murder of the king in Macbeth, Terror
ha►h, I believe, been carried higher by this single in-
stance than by all the blood which hath been spilt upon
the stage. To the poets I may add the priests, whose
politics have never been doubted. Those of Egypt in
pa:ticular, where the sacred mysteries were first devised,
well knew the use of hiding from the eyes of the vulgar
what they intended should inspire them with the greatest
awe and dread. The mind of man is so much more
capable of magnifying than his eye, that I question
whether every object is not lessened by being looked
upon, and this more especially when the passions are con-
cerned ;for those are ever apt to fancy much more satisfac-
tion in those objects which they affect, and much more
,:f mischief in those which they abhor, than are really to
he found in either. If executions, therefore, were so
contrived that few could be present at them, they would
be much more shocking and terrible to the crowd with-
' out doors than at present, as well as much more dreadful
to the criminals themselves."
From the moment of a murderer's being sentenced
to death, I would dismiss him to the dread obscurity
to which the wisest judge upon the bench consigned
the murderer Rush. I would allow no curious visi-
tors to hold any communication with him; I would
place every obstacle in the way of his sayings and
doings being served up in print on Sunday mornings
for the perusal of families. His execution within the
walls of the prison should be conducted with every
terrible solemnity that careful consideration could de-
vise. Mr. Calcraft, the hangman (of whom I have
some information in reference to this last occasion),
should be restrained in his unseemly briskness, in
his jokes, his oaths, and his brandy. To attend the
execution I would summon a jury of 24, to be
called the witness jury, eight to be summoned on
a low qualification, eight on a higher, eight on a
higher still ; so that it might fairly represent all
classes of society. There should be present, likewise,
the governor of the gaol, the chaplain, the surgeon,
and other officers, the sheriffs of the county or city,
and two inspectors of prisons. All these should sign
a grave and solemn form of certificate (the same in
every case) that on such a day, at such an hour, in
such a gaol, for such a crime, such a murderer was
hanged in their sight. There should be another cer-
tificate from the officers of the prison that the person
hanged was that person, and no other; a third, that
that person was buried. These should be posted on
the prison gate for 21 days, printed in the Gazette,and
exhibited in other public places; and during the hour of
the body's hanging I would have the bells of all the
churches in that town or city tolled, and all the shop 3
shut up, that all might be reminded of what was being
done.

I submit to you that, with the law so changed, the
public would (as is right) know much more of the
infliction of this tremendous punishment than they
know of the infliction of any other. There are not
many common subjects, I think, of which they know
less than transportation ; and yet they never doubt
that when a man is ordered to be sent abroad
he goes abroad. The details of the commonest
prison in London are unknown to the pub-
lic at large, but they are quite satisfied
that prisoners said to be in this or that gaol are really
there and really undergo its discipline. The " mys-
tery of private executions is objected to; but bas
not mystery been the character of every improvement
in convict treatment and prison discipline effected
within the last 20 years ? From the police van
Norfolk Island, are not all the changes changes
that make the treatment of the prisoner mysterious ?
His seclusion in his conveyance hither and thither
from the public sight, instead of his being walked
through the streets, strung with 20 more to a chain,
like the galley-slaves in Don Quixote (as I remem-
ber to have seen in my school-days), makes a mys-
tery of him. His being known by a number in-
stead of by a name, and his being under the rigor-
ous discipline of the associated silent system—to
say nothing of the solitary, which I regard as a
mistake—is all mysterious. I cannot understand
that the mystery of such an execution as
I propose would be other than a fitting
climax to all these wise regulations, or why, if
there be anything in this objection, we should not
return to the days when ladies paid visits to high-
waymen, drinking their punch in the condemned
cells of cewgate, or Ned Ward, the London spy,
went upon a certain regular day of the week to Bride-
well to see the women whipped.
Another class of objectors I know there are, who,
desiring the total abolition of capital punishment, will
have nothing less ; and who, not doubting the fearful
influence of public executions, would have it protracted
for an indefinite term, rather than spare the demorali-
zation they do not dispute, at the risk of losing sight
for a while of their final end. But of these I say
nothing, considering them, however good and pure in
intention, unreasonable, and not to be argued with.
With many thanks to you for your courtesy, and
begging most earnestly to assure you that I write in
a deep conviction that I incurred a duty when I be-
came a witness of the execution on Tuesday last, from
which nothing ought to move me, and which every
hour's reflection strengthens,
I am, Sir, your faithful servant,
CHARLES DioaExs.
Devonshire-terrace, Saturday, Ncv. 17.

SHOCKING OCCURRENCE.—Yesterday morning a
hog pig, the property of Mr. John Boardman, gardener,
Lower-read, Deptford, rubbed open the stye door and
made its way into the parlour, where the animal at-
tacked a male infant, about five months old, lying asleep
in the cradle. The cries of the child alarmed Mrs.
Boardman, who was in the kitchen a(joining, and with
much difficulty she beat off the beast, which also bitLher
severely in the leg. The child was shockingly lace-
rated, the left foot being entirely gnawed off. It is not
expected to survive. The animal was at once destroyed.