The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-18 00:00:00

respect of their shares .in the Great North of Eng- 1
; to enable the York, Newcastle, and Berwick
to hold shares in the Great. North of England, and
to legalize the purchase of any such shares which
may, at the passing of the intended Act, have leen
purchased.
York and North Midland—To alter the terms of
the issue of Hull and Selby shares ; to hold shares in
the Hull and Selby ; to hold shares in the Halton
and DriffiAd Junction ; for powers to raise further
capital upon pre-rence shares ; alteration of tolls ;
amendment of Acts.—Railway Chronicle.

IRELAND. I
(PRONI OUR CORRESPONDENT.)
DUBLIN, SUNDAY EVENING.—This was one of the
finest winter days we have seen since the " weather's
breaking up," if such a term can be applied to a
climate always, like the stereotype sarcasm on all
Irish affairs, in a " state of fracture."
The provincial papers to- day contain little worth
noticing except a tenant-right meeting in the Kilkenny
Journal, and a protectionist meeting in the Cork
Reporter of last night, at which Lord Bernard,
Colonel Chatterton, the new M.P. ; Sarstield, the
High Sheriff, &c., &c., attended. Resolutions, in
accordance with the notion that English industry must
be taxed for Irish landlord recklessness, were passed
unanimously. I regret to see that there were many
Liberals present at the meeting.
The case of "Ffrench v. Ffrench" again occupied
the Court of Queen's Bench all d ly on Saturday, Mr.
Whiteside addressing the Court on the part of the de-
fendant, in reply to the documentary evidence adduced
on the part of the plaintiff. On behalf of
the latter, Mr. Brewster replied, and continued
his address up to the rising of the Court,
intimating that he would resume his discourse
on to morrow morning. The Chief Justice
will then charge, and it is expected that
this long litigated action will come to
a close to-morrow evening. The amount of
property in lite is about 8001. per annum, 5,0001. in
the Funds, and " trusts," to the amount of about
16001., in various securities.
The sale of the estates of John O'Connell, of
Grena. and of his son ;Morgan John, M.P.
for Kerry, brother and nephew of Daniel
O'Connell, have appeared in some of the papers.
They consist of about ten lots, and contain about
17,000 acres, involving some very valuable invest-
ments. The old sarcasm, that in " buying an estate
in Ireland you purchase a lawsuit," holds no longer
good under the Encumbered Estates Commission,
which in regard of "open and advised" plain-
dealing,
may well put its ancient brother of
Chancery to the blush. According to the manege
of this first noticeable trial of the Cammissioners'
skill, the rustiest horse amongst the entire troupe
of landlords, will fail to put in even a legal
caveat against the whip and spur which now
goad them to their ruin. The mode is " quick,
sharp, and decisive," as may be seen by the following
extract from notices with regard to encumbered
estates, which will appear in the legal papers of to-
morrow :
Tenancies are to be ascertained, and estates sold,
subject to the tenancies only of such persons as the
Commissioners shall hold to b© tenants, so that the
purchaser will not have any trouble whatever. The
tenants' rights and those of the purchaser, will be pre-
vioudy ascertained and fixed. Each tenant must attorn
to him, and he will not have to investigate title, make
searches, or do any other act, or take any trouble what-
ever, but merely pay the purchase money, and enter
into receipt of the rents, and he will have a right
to an order to the sheriff to put him in possession
of all lends not in the occupation of tenants, subject
to whose rights the sale shall have been made. In ad-
dition to the great advantage of having the rights of
the lassoes and tenants thus ascertained and settled, the
purchaser under a sale in this court acquires a Parlia-
mentary title to the matter sold, free from all charges,
unless the sale shall bo subject to some special charge,
and the purchasers in any subsequent dealings with the
estate need never go behind the conveyance from the
Commissionersato himself."
IRISES IN FOREIGN SERVICE.—The Waterford
papers mention the death of Lewis Thomas
Mackesy, third son of Dr. Mackesy, of Water-
ford, a colonel in the 2d Imperial Hussars in the
Austrian army, which took place at Grosswardein, in
Hungary, on the sth instant. Ile was only 26 years
of age, had been (I regret to say as an Irishman)
engaged against the Hungarians during the late
war, and was on the staff of General Rudiger, the
Russian, to whom the traitor Georgey surrendered.
I suppose it is owing to the great expense of support-
ing a commission in the English army, and to
the rapid promotion in the Austrian army,
that Irishmen are so fond of engaging
in that service. A nephew of O'Connell's,
O'Connor Kerry, a major on Radetzky's staff, wrote
long bulletins of the first war in Lombardy with
Charles Albert, and used language anything but con-
sonant with the sentiments of his great relative ; and
Morgan O'Connell, son of the 0 Connell, now the
placid Chief Registrar of the Prerogative Court, was
once a moustachioed Austrian hussar.

The western provincial papers bring nothing new
with regard to the Kilrush catastrophe, previously
forwarded.

THE INSTITUTION FOR THE
RELIEF OF DEAFNESS.
The annual meeting of the members of the above-
named institution was held at the Public office on
Tuesday morning, the Mayor, W. Lucy, Eiq., in the
chair. There were also present the High Bailiff, S.
NV. Lucas, Esq. ; Alderman Geach ; Messrs. R. Sar-
gent, W. Chance, jun., J. C. Wynn, W. E. Hunt,
VI. Dufton, &c. &c.
The CHAIRMAN, in opening the business, observed,
that one of the most important results of that institu-
tion was the fact that the poor received the greatest
advantage from it, and none knew the blessings
of recovered or improved hearing except from those who
had suffered from deafness. It was generally sup-
posed that those afflicted with blindness suffered the
greatest privation ; but in all the institutions for the
blind that he had visited, he had found the inmates
happy and contented, whereas those persons who
suffered from deafness were cynical, and constantly
meeting with annoyances which tried their tempers;
they felt they lost at least one-half of what it concerned
them to know, they gave way to irritation, and repined
at that which was the will of God. lie believed that the
majority of cases of deafness were relievable—
although some es ere past all medical skill—and he
called on his hearers to reflect how many persons
who were deprived of the faculty of hearing were
rendered incapable of obtaining and preserving situa-
tions, and were thrown out of the means of maintain-
ing themselves and families. Any institution, there-
fore, tending to relieve such a severe privation was de-
serving of the strongest support. He himself had suf
fered more or less from deafness throughout his life,
but through the professional skill of Mr. Dufton,
the surgeon to the Infirmary, he had been mate-
rially relieved. That gentleman was indefatigable in
his attention to the patients, and had established his
reputation in this town and the adjoining district. '
Mr. W. CHANCE read the report of the com-
mittee, which stated that the number of applica-
tions for relief during the year had been 1,525. The
number of patients under treatment had been 236,
and the result furnished by the surgeon showed that
in nearly all recent cases a cure may be effected, or
considerable relief afforded. The number of cases
cured was 105 ; relieved, 94 ; incurable, 62.
Mr. SARGANT read the abstraet of accounts, from
which it appeared there was a balance of 891. 9s. 71d.
in the hands of the treasurer.
The limn BAILIFT- moved that the roport be re-
ceived and adopted ; and said that the matter was
almost new to him, for that until the last few days
he was not aware that such an institution was
in existence in the town. It gave him great gratifi-
cation to find that so large a number of cases had
been relieved, and so very few given up as incurable.
Alderman GEACH seconded the proposition ; and
in doing so said the value of the institution must not
be measured by the smallness of the meeting. Per-
sonally he had received the greatest benefit from Mr.
Dufton's skilful treatment. The rich could at all
times obtain efficient medical aid, but many poor people,
who had not such opportunities, went on suffering with-
out taking any means of relieving it; it was then to
them that the institution proved of the highest ad-
vantage, and restored to them, as it were, their intel-
ligent minds. An idoa had prevailed that the organs
of hearing were peculiarly sensitive and dangerous
to be interfered with, and, to a certain extent,
that was true ; but Mr. Dufton's professional
knowledge and ability were of that great charac-
ter that if he could not cure he would
not injure, and all persons might trust them-
selves safely in his hands. If he could remove the
affliction he would do so, but in no case would he
have recourse to quack (so called) remedies. He
might mention that he had received a letter from!
Ireland inquiring with respect to a person residing in
this town, who states that he has an infallible cure for
deafness, and styles himself consulting surgeon to the
Infirmary for Deafness. There might be such a per-
son practising in Birmingham, but he (Mr. G.) did not
know of any institution fer the relief of deafness in the
town except that they had met to advocate, and with that
institution the person he alluded to certainly had no
connexion. Before resuming his seat he must bear
his testimony to the great good Mr. Dufton had done
by his skill and perseverance in that peculiar branch
of his profession. • '
The report was then adopted, and the accounts
passed.
Mr. SARGANT moved a vote of thanks to Mr.
Dufton. On the part of the committee he might
say all the work was done by that gentleman, who
devoted himself to Lis duties in the most zealous and
indefatigable manner.
Mr. WYNN, in seconding the proposition, said he
could bear his testimony to the benefits the patients
acknowledged receiving. He had disposed of a large
number of tickets, and many of the patients had told

THE SUN,