The Sun.
London, England, 1849-04-19 00:00:00

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111

i LONDON, THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 1549.

One of the most important of our great national
undertakings was yesterday inaugurated under cir-
cumstances of peculiar interest by his Royal High-
ness the PRINCH CONSORT. The foundation-stone of
the Great Grimsby Dock was, on that occasion,
deposited in its resting-place by the august visitor of
Lincolnshire. As an appropriate indication of the
magnitude of these extraordinary works, this stone
was of unusual magnitude, weighing no less than
ele►en tons. Nor was that indication in any respect
hyperbolical ; for the enterpriSe which has been
now formally adventured upon by the Dock Com-
pany is evidently destined to influence in a very
remarkable manner the internal and maritime traffic
of our gigantic empire. It must effect immeasurably
more than the transformation of an obscure fishing
village into a thriving seaport for, on the
completion of the establishment, it will draw into it
not only the whole of the steam-packet business of
the Hfimber, but will command the entire of the
trade in timber and manures with NorthernEurope—
it will imbibe int.) that estuary the enormous come
merce of the :Crgianlon Ocean— it will communieate
inland by railways directly with the agriculttihi
counties of Lincoln, of Norfolk, of Cambridge,. of
:Northampton, of Leicester, and of Nottingham, with
the extensive manufacturing towns of Nottingham, of
Leicester, of Sht ffield, and of Manches•er, with -the
collieries of Yuikshire, with the salt mines of Chee
shire, and with the great port of Liverpool, command-
ing the trade of the Atlantic. The establishment of a
new seaport destined to accomplish so much
is something more than an ordinary exploit, and it
was coast quently but a fitting mode of enhancing the
pomp of the celebration, that of obtaining the pre-
sence of the illustrious PRINCE, the Consort of the

SoViaYlGx._ .
During a considerable period it has been painfully
manifest that some more commodious and accessible
port than Kingston-upon-Hull was essential to the
safety and the facilitation of our mercantile inter-

course with 'the north of the European continent.
Like Bristol, Hull had continually languished from
the necessity of a more immediate contiguity to the
ocean. Situated high up their respective rivers,
both of these renowned seaports were per-
petually struggling with the disadvantages
of their geographical situation. To obviate
this difficulty upon the Humber, an Act was passed
is la4s, for the purpose of empowering a Company to
c,nstruet docks and by constroc,iog docks, to lay
the foundations of a vast seaport on the site of the
v;liuge afl-Great. Grimsby, en the southern banks of
the entrance to the estuary. Encouraged by the con-
. Yarliarnent theCotnpany shortly enter.:-d upon
tnf.7r stupentlow Inclertaking In 1846 the first
pile of timer was driven, 6nri in reference to that
first pile, it v.a.s pstexday remarked by the Earl of
Ymenoaoncis, that he well recollected its being then
asserted—" There is an end of Grimsby Docks; the
fir. 4 pile, on being tapped on the head by the engine,
went through the quicksand and is nowhere to be
found." SO far from this having been the case, it
appears that, under the superintendence of the
eminent engineer, Mr. RE DELL, no less than one
hundred and thirty-tive acres have been reclaimed
from the sea—a mammoth cofferdam extending_ to a
circumference of (xis mile and three-quarters, having

been constructed with seven thousand pieces of
Memel timber imported -directly from the Baltic.
Supposing the works to be prosecuted with the rapi-
dity of action which has marked their commencement, it
is calculated that the whole will be completed within a
period of about two years' duration, or rather that the
Great Grimsby Docks will be opened somewhere
about the summer of 1851. To achieve so much
within so brief an interval will be numbered amongst
those glorious victories of engineering science for
which England has already acquired a very brilliant
celebrity—the works in question embracing—
I. An entrance basin, the area of which is sixteen
acres, and which will be accessible to the largest
vessels at all times.

IL Piers suitable for all vessels not requiring to
enter the docks.

111. The great dock, 300 feet in length, and 65 in
width.

IV. The small dock, 200 feet in length and 45 in

width.

V. The dock, with an area of 29 acres, accessible
for all vessels for 20 hours out of the 24.
VI. The west wharf, 200 feet in length, with rail-
ways, &c., upon it, and comprising an area of 12
acres.

VII. The east wharf, 2,000 feet in length, and 970
in width, to be appropriated to warehouses.
VIII. A goods station, with railways laid to every
part, and embracing an area of 42 acres.
Such is the colossal enterprise inaugurated on the
18th of April, 1849, by his Royal Highness the
PRINCE CONSORT. The importance of such contri-
vances as those of the wet docks, of the railroads
running down to the vessels at anchor, and of the
branch lines conducting to the margin of the water,
may be best appreciated by bearing in mind that the
charges of carting from the Shore to the storehouses of
the wholesale dealer are more exorbitant than the
charges of trans-marine conveyance ; it being stated
emphatically in another part of this evening's im-
pression, that—.
" The cost of carting a puncheon of rum from St.
Katherine's Dock, in London, exceeds the whole freight
thence to Rotterdam, and that it is cheaper to send a hogs-
head of sugar from the London Docks by sea round to
Gainsborough, and thence to Sheffield, than to cart it to the
Camden-town station of the London and North-Western
Railway."

With the determination of preventing the necessity
of this extravagant expenditure for the carriage of
goods, it will be observed with general satisfaction,
that the Great Grimsby Dock Company have resolved
npon intersecting the whole area of their establishment
with rails, running in cross branches, with slidings
conducting to the different platforms, and with other
arrangements, which will ensure immediately commu-
nication with the wet docks, and the various lines
leading in all directions towards the op-
posite extremities of the island. Among the
internal advantages arising from the con-
struction of this novel and important seaport are

the reciprocal benefits exchanged between the manu-
facturing and agricultural counties ; the intended
establishment of a central terminus, consisting of
what we may designate a congeries of railways, se•
curing to the artisans in the former, at a much
cheaper rate than hitherto, the surplus provisions
produced in the latter, and obtaining for the farm
labourers in the latter a more abundant supply of
coals at a cheaper rate from the coal districts gene-
rally, and especially from the collieries in the neigh-
bourhood of Sheffield.

It is scarcely so much, however, from a consider a.
tion of this common interchange of superfluities
internally, that we are disposed to regard with so
much gratification the prosecution of an enterprise so
singular and stupendous as the decks, the basins, the
excavations, and the reclamations from the sea now
being effected at the mouth of the estuary of
the Humber. It is from the knowledge that the
future seaport of Great Grimsby will afford advan-
tages to commerce and navigation—from conferring
which Kingston has been altogether precluded
by the accident of her locality—that we rejoice at
the undertaking yesterday inaugurated with such
appropriate ceremony. Our satisfaction arises from
the conviction that from the summer of 1851 will
date the moment of the greatest extension of
our mercantile and maritime enterprise, that
under the shelter of Great Grimsby our
fleets of war and our trading vessels may ride
securely while the hurricane is roaring down the
eastern coasts of England, that through the instru-
mentality of the new seaport our commercial inter-
course with the north of Europe will be materially
enhanced, both in regard to frequency and celerity of
communication, and that the Humber will by that
means be turned to the national interest by rendering
it the channel through which to convey, to and fro,
the timber of the Baltic, with the miscellaneous pro-
duce of the northern states of the Continent, and the
various articles of manufacture contrived by our in-
dustrious artisans for exportation. For these reasons
we are peculiarly rejoiced at the opportunity afforded
us of recording the festive proceedings enacted yes-
terday on the banks of one of the greatest of our
British estuaries.

Great anxiety prevailed in Ireland to learn the result
of the meeting which took place yesterday between
the First Lord of the Treasury aid the Irish Mem-
bers. The most unbounded expectations were enter-
tained as to the causes of the rather unusual invita-
tion. The nature of the questions to be submitted to
the new " Cabinet Council" were eagerly canvassed.
It was generally supposed that Lord JOHN was about
to state the intentions of the Government with respect
to remedial measures for the permanent amelioration
of Ireland ; that a great and comprehensive plan
would be enunciated, which would cast the "PEEL
project" into the shade, and unite all classes of
Irishmen, without distinction of creed or party, in
support of the existing Ministry. The result will
show how vain were these expectations. No indi-
cations were held out with respect to the Irish policy.
The representatives of the Irish people were convened
for the purpose of answering a plain and simple
question, of stating whether they were really serious
in desiring au extension of the income-tax to Ireland
rather than the adoption of the rate in aid. His Lord-
ship also intimated that If the income-tax should be
selected, other taxes which were now paid in Great
Britain, but which were not levied in Ireland at pre-
sent, would also be extended to that country.
The question is now fairly before the Irish Members.
There is a clear and distinct alternative, and a posi-
tive decision must be arrived at this very day. The
avowed partiality for an income-tax has been favour-
ably received in high quarters. The Chancellor of
the Exchequer can see no possible objection to a pro-
posal so very reasonable ; there is an enlightened
liberality about the suggestion that appears to the
Right. Hon. Baronet as being worthy of the highest
consideration. There is a total absence of " that
ignorant impatience of taxation," against which he
expatiated so forcibly. He easily perceives how much
the bargain is in favour of the national Exchequer, and
he is willing to seal the contract at the moment. On
the one side, property now liable to poor rate will be
required to contribute 6d. in the pound, or a valua-
tion admitted to be 30 per cent. beneath the actual
value, and that charge is to be levied for two years
only ; on the other hand, every description of income
would be obliged to contribute no less than 7d. in the
pound. This would apply not merely to lands, tene-
ments, and hereditamente of every de-
scription ; it would reach not only the dividends
of the fundholder, and official salaries and
emoluments, but it would attach on the
earnings of the merchant and tradesman, the physician
and the barrister. The inquisitorial: system so
justly complained of in this country would be estab-
lished, with all its abuses and annoyances, and curses
both " loud and deep" would attend the progress of
the collectors. In place of being limited in its dura-
tion the income-tax would remain a permanent
Darden on the country. The rate in aid, it is hoped,
tnay be got rid of after the period for which it may
now be granted. The amelioration in the condition
of the country that is so anxiously anticipated may
possibly dispense with the necessity for a renewal of
the impost. But if the income-tax collector once
gets admission it will be vain to look for any remis-
sion or drawback. The Finance Minister of the day,
with a cool smile, will inform the grumblers that his
excellent predecessor, Sir CHARLES Woon, found the
tax, imposed with the unanimous assent of the Irish
people, expressed through their chosen representatives,
exceedingly beneficial, and that he cannot possibly
think of relinquishing an impost so productive. In
vain they may-remind him that the Objects for which

it was imposed are no longer in existence. He will
reply that the tax produces so much, and that, con-
sidering the state of the Exchequer, he cannot consent
to its abolition.

It is not, however, merely in point of amount or
duration that the rate in aid would prove less onerous
than the income tax. Every farthing of the rate
in aid must be applied to the relief of Irish
distress. The sums collected will not form
part of the general fund for all national purposes. It
will be a special fund for a special object. Whatever
may be required beyond the amount will be provided
from the national Exchequer, but no portion thereof,
can be appropriated to any other purpose. The pro-
ceeds of the income-tax will, however, as a matter of
course, be paid into the national Exchequer for the
general exigencies of the country. There will
be no security that any portion whatsoever
will be applied for the relief of distress
in Ireland after the present grants are dis-
posed of. In every point of view then, in
amount, duration, and application of the fund, we
cannot conceive what difficulty there can be for the
Irish Members to form a choice, and that that choice
should be the " rate in aid" rather than an income-tax.

Some of the Members who have already committed
themselves by asking for the income-tax, may feel a
difficulty in swallowing their leek, or rather eating
their own words. The Noble Lord has, however,
kindly afforded these parties a locus penitattice.
He has declared that other taxes must be
extended to Ireland. This will surely be
sufficient to turn the scale, and to determine the most
decided opponentof the " rate in aid" to accept it with
gratitude rather than the more onerous imposts—that
must be substituted therefor. The Irish representa-
tives have doubtless ere this arrived at a rational
conclusion, such as might be expected from reasonable
beings possessed of ordinary powers of comparison.

Another victoryhas just been achieved over the Im-
perialists by the brave and patriotic Hungarians.
Every heart not deadened by an evil subserviency to
Absolutism will exult in that announcement. It will
sound to all lovers of liberty like the noise
of a resurrection. The very confusion into
which the chieftains of Austria are thrown by recent
occurrences, is a sufficient proof that those occurrences
are of a rather disastrous character. Such is the
panic among the German assailants, that we find
WaLnism posting with the velocity of a courier to-
wards the seat of war from Vienna—JBLLACHICH
certainly somewhere, but apparently nowhere—
WINDISCITGRATZ " putting up" more like a bagman
than a victoriarts-Prince-Marshal, not at the sign of
the Boar's Head, in East Cheap, but at the Swan,
at Pesth—DAMIANICH taken prisoner in a
skirmish—and another hero, with the excruciating
name of WRENA, frightening the inhabitants of the.
Hungarian capital out of their wits by a " raw-head-
and-bloody- bones" kind of proclamation, warning
them to keep in doors to avoid the shells and
rockets of a bombardment. Meanwhile, to add
to the dismay of the braggart assailants of
Hungary, comes the news of the great victory
achieved by the Magyars on the 10th instant at
Waiteen, over the forces of WINDISCHGRATZ, aided
by the corps of Goza and JARLONOWSKI. Even
the Viennese journals are compelled to corro-
borate the glorious details of the battle—a
battle so decisive in itself as to leave the Austrians
no alternative but their ultimate withdrawal to Raab.
Although RAMBERG was still striving to obstruct
the march of the triumphant Hungarians towards
Comorn, there seems to be little chance
of his endeavour proving successful : and so
imminent appeared to be the peril of that General
that the siege of Comorn was at once abandoned,
and the besiegers hasten by the shortest route to his
assistance. Everything gives token of the speedy
fall of Ofen and of Pesth into the hands of the
Hungarians. The campaign has hitherto given
every evidence of the final triumph of the
patriots, under the illustrious BEM and the immortal
KOSSUTH, notwithstanding that the enormous strength
of Austria has been aided by the soldiers of the
AUTOCRAT. Pray GOD Hungary may not meet with
the vengeance which descended upon Poland for her
glory, and tore her limb from limb on the rack of
dismemberment

THE WEATHER.
SUN OFFICE, THREE o'CLoca.

Since twelve o'clock this forenoon the weather has
become very tempestuous. We have had a regular
snow-storm, with a heavy gale from the north-east,
with every probability of continuing all day. The
thermometer is down to 28. Barometer 29. 39.—having
risen 11 points since noon.