The Sun.
London, England, 1838-04-24 00:00:00

TO' THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

MR. EDITOR,—A paragraph having-lately appeared in the
columns of the Railway Gazette, on the communication be-
tween the South of Ireland and London, wherein it is stated
that the steam-packets, plying between Waterford and Bris-
tol, " are frequently detained two tides before they can reach
the latter place;" now, Sir, I think there can be no greater
proof of the superior eligibility of the Milford station for the
communication between the islands than this sentence. To
Milford they are frequently only eleven hours. steaming from
Waterford, which with the accommo-rlation afforded to the
whole of South Wales, with its extensive coal, iron, and cop-
per works, are sufFrient inducements to continue the present
line of communication, At Milford excellent accommodation
has been provided for the shipping, without slings of horses,
carriages, &c., for the steam packet at all times of tide runs
alongside the pier, and passengers and cattle walk on board,
If the Post Office would permit those vessels to leave Water-
ford only two hours earlier than the present arrangement, the
atsarre would always be made by day light, and that they
should do so the're it no possible excuse to the contrary, for
there is no mail arrives there after bix o'clock in the n.orning.
For the information of your numerous readers travelling that
route, I beg the insertion of theac remarks, and hoe tie
honour to be,

Sir, yours obediently,
A SMODEUS.

April 17, 1838.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

you permit me, through the medium of your
widely circulated paper, to inquire of some of your numerous
official readers, of whom I crave a reply, whether the principal
or any other officers of her Majesty's Dockyards would be
permitted by the Board of Admiralty to act as agent, or by
the authority of an executorship, conduct the private business
of an extensive estate during the minority of the heir. 1
shall feel particularly obliged if any one will favour me, by
means of your paper, with a reply, stating the practice likely
to be adopted by the Lords mmisF.ioners in such an instance.
I am, SCir,o your obedient servant,
J. W.

16120, 1838.

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF

LONDON.

Yesterday being St. George's Day, the Society of Anti-
quaries met at their apartments in Somerset-place, in pur-
suance of their Statutes and Charter of Incorporation, to elect
a President, Council, and Officers of the Society for the year
ensuing :

Whereupon—
George, Earl of Aberdeen,
Ilis Royal Highness the Duke
of Sussex,
T. Amyot, Esq.,
N. Carlisle, Esq.,
Sir H. Ellis,
ELEVEN of the Council, were r,
And—

John Gage, Esq., .
H. Gurney, Esq.,
H. Hallam, Esq.,
W. H. Hamilton, Esq.,
Sir F. Madden,
Rt. Hon. C. W. W. Wynn,
•c
-chosen of the New Council—

G. F. Beltz, Esq., Rt. Hon. Sir Gore Ouseley, Bart.,
Sir F. L. Chantrey, T. J. Pettigrew, Esq.,
W. D. Haggard, Esq., Charles, Lord Bishop of Ripon,
H. G. Knight, Esq., P. F. Robinson, Esq.,
E. H. Locker, Esq., T. Stapleton, Esq.,
TEN of the other Members of the Society, were chosen of
the New Council, and they were severally declared to be the
Council for the year ensuing ;—And, on a Report made of
the Officers of the Society, it appeared, that—
George, Earl of Aberdeen, K.T., was elected President.
Thomas Amyot, Esq., Treasurer.
John Gage, Esq., Director.
Nicholas Carlisle, Esq., Secretary, and
Sir Henry Ellis, iat., Secretary,—.
And they were accordingly severally declared to' be the
Officers of the Society for the year ensuing.
The Society afterwards dined together at the Freemasons'
Tavern, in Great Queen-street, according to annual custom.

IRELAND.

•
DUBLIN, APRIL '2l.
(FROM outs owN CORRESPONDENT.) -
Truth is generally disregarded, and ignorance, adulation, or
hatred, are mixed up with all that is published relative to the
present Government of Ireland. Thus wrote one of Ireland's
most enlightened friends, the late Dr. Doyle, about thirteen
years ago, when the condition of society here, as to party feel-
ing, resembled, in many points, the state in which it is at pre-
sent. The only difference between the two periods is, th t
the acquisition of those great national privileges—Emancipation
and partial Reform—has, in the interim, placed the popular
party in a position from which they can vindicate to themselves,
if it be not their own fault, a full participation in the further
blessings of the British Constitution. We have a Govern-
ment too, which seems disposed, but are hardly capable of es-
tablisking such changes, adaptations, and improvements in our
social system, as the exigencies of the times prescribe.
In other respects our situation is not only similar to what it
was in 1824 and 1825, but it is even worse as regards the fu-
ture peace and prospects of the country, if something be not
shortly done by the Legislature, to avert the- impending
evils. It is true there is tranquillity ; and the laWs are better.
administered than heretofore ; but no Governmenteadminis-
tering the laws as they now are, can acquire the character of •
wisdom and strength, necessary to perpetuate its policy, by,
commanding respect for the executive authority in a free na-
tion. Earl Mulerave may have succeeded in pacifying the
people, but there are elements of discord in fermentation
which no prudence will be able to control, should accident aid
the ability of those who are now acting as if for the purpose
of producing an explosion.
Some facts which have come to my knowledge since the
commencement of the present term will illustrate the grounds
of these gloomy anticipations. It is well known that the
country has been long since considerably dttmoralived, and the
difficulty of administering the laws increased' by the tithe sys-
tem. That demoralisation and that difficulty must be necessa-
rily increased by the efforts now making to levy the obnox-
ious impost from individuals who have not paid it for the last
six years at least; and some of whom never paid or cootern-
plated the possibility of their being obliged to pay it. Two
cases, which I shall mention presently, will tend to demon-
strate the effects likely to be produced by a further delay in
the adjustment of the
question. How these noblemen
and gentlemen, who have been primarily instrumental in
causing this delay, and who still persevere in their opposition
to the most amicable settlement that can be well contemplated,
shall answer to their conscience and their countryihereaftseiri,alll
leave to themselves to determine, when the efforts of the
tithe-owners to obtain their legal but inequitable rights,
have suspended the operation of law, and perhaps driven this
country into rebellion.
A. B. a landholder having a present interest of about
four hundred a-year, in the lands which he occupies
in one of the south eastern counties, is indebted to
the executors of his father in the arrears of- a rent charge,
to the said father during his life, and also in an an-
nuity to a poor widow; both chargeable on the lands.in his
possession. Some of his cottiers, or workmen too, owe small
sums to the said executors ; and others of them are entitled t 3
legacies out of the assets, if any, of which the debts mentioned
form a considerable part. A. B. is also indebted to the Pro-
testant Rector of the parish—himself and all his workmen are
Roman Catholics, like the great majority of his countrymen—
for several years tithe, and tithe composition. 'File rector and
ethers entitled to the tithes have been suing him during the last
tour or five years ; and have only succeded in rendering
himself an outlaw, and all his people desperately hos-
tile to process-servers, and the other functionaries of
the law. The consequence is, that no bailiff in the
county can be induced to serve writs of any kind now upon
A. B. or his cotters, and the widow's annuity is unpaid and the
executor cannot collect the debts due to the testator; even
though forming the principal part of these assets out of which
the legacies are to he paid, and which legacies are clamoured
for by those very individuals whom the bailiffs most appre-
hend. In fact A. B. has been so often visited of late by bai-
ids on account of tithes, and the latter arc become so odious
that they run a risk of being murdered when they appear in
the neighbourhood in question, without inquiry as to their
,business. The other case is that of a Middleman, who having
.paid a fine about thirty years ago became the lessee of a farm
consisting of two hundred acres of land at a guinea an acre,
and shortly after let it to under tenants for nearly double that
rent, it being all tolerably good land. He has had, therefore,
for his capital or fine, then advanced, neatly 2001. a year ever
since, on which, upon another small farm, he supported and
educated a respectable family. The occupying tenants paid
no tithes during the last eight or ten years; and in 1833 . the
head landlord undertook, under Stanley's Act, to pay said
tithes, and recover the amount from his immediate tenant, ac-
cording to the provisions of that Act. There are now five
years' arrears due, amounting to nearly two years profit rent
to the Middleman, and for which he is sued. He cannot,
even if willing, pay itahaving exnded all his income here-
tofore in educating and providing for his family ; and he is
now old, and dependent on this profit rent itself for subsistence
for himself and one child still unprovided for. It is vain for him
to expect being able to recover over from the occupying
tenants,
whose impunity from such payments so long, not less than the
.example and encouragement of their neighbours, many o
hom, b of Golbourn or Stanle's A
are
_ ct,
liberated force forthe eveoperation r from the execrated impost, will render them
callous to the sufferings of their immediate landlord, and un-
willing to sympathise with him, or partake of his misfortune.
The inevitable consequence must be, that his interest in the
farm will be sold by the head landlord for the debt and costs,
and lie will be.for ever evicted from that which he hoped to be
beneficial to him in his old age. If, in stating these two cases,
I have in the least deviated from the facts, as provable in a
court of law, it is only for the purpose of making the baneful
effects of the present working of the tithe system intelligible
to your readers, and there is no material exaggeration. Both
cases show plainly in how many instances the fountains of law
arid justice may be stopped up, or their channels so obstructed,
by the accummulated evils of that detestable impost, as to
render any appeal to its interference impracticable. To sup-
pose that such a state of things can continue, and that the
tithe-owners can go on in the prosecution of their (no doubt
legal, but singularly immoral and outrageous, considering the
feelings of the people, and opinion of the world)
preposterous. They demands, is
cannot do so, without stirring up a spe-
cies of Guerilla warfare against the laws—a relaxation of the
,
habits of civilisation among all classes of society—andt Per-
haps, ultimately a rebellion, which neither Whig nor TORY
Government shall be able to suppress, before it has given a
retrogade impulse to the destinies of the empire. This, lam
sure, the leading Tories themselves would willingly avoid,
even at the risk of being much longer subjected to the priva-
tion of place and power, If, hi the prevent almost baleoced
posture of political
should unfortunately turn the scale in favour of Toryism!theY
parties in the Legislature, goy accident
'catastrophe Isere portended could not he ai:prted, 'The Pre-
/Pt Government? manifesting ,‘ good intentioo3," mai be able