The Sun.
London, England, 1840-12-17 00:00:00

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

MANCHESTER—TUESDAY EVENING.
The last offer we heard on the Chester Cup was 20 to I
on the field ; to-day it was not named, the business being
in a great measure confined to two or three Derby horses.
Mr. Greville's horse, Palmrnon, against whom, some weeks
ago, 50's to 1 were freely laid, and to a considerable
amount, came (probably through his position in the betting
at Tattersall's yesterday) into greater provincial force.
After noticing 500 to 15 laid pretty quietly, one gentleman
came out in good style, and took up bets in various ;sums
from 1,500/. to 50/. to 300/. to 101. to win about 4,01)01.;
also accepting 14 to 1 in hundreds on him coupled to Pt ince
Caradoc. 30 to lin hundreds was wanted on the let ter;
24 to 1 the highest bid, although in one instance 25 to I
was laid to a little money. Several parties offered 12 to 1
in sums against Rosalie, and 16 to 1 in hundreds ag.sinst
any other bar him. The odds of 14 to 1 against the cilick
were laid to ten pounds; but the gentleman could get xio
more of the London odds. Marshal Soult would have
been backed at 20 to 1; at which figure we should say
Camelion and Eringo were friendless. Long odds were
offered against the Duke of Wellington ; and 500 to 15
against Mongolian. Some others were named, but no
business.
THE OAKS.-7 to 1 was offered against Kedge, and 10
to 1 against Lampoon. Some of the most influential
speculators will leave town to-morrow and Thurday morn-
ing, to attend the coursing meeting at Fleet-wood-on—Wyre.

39, ALBEMARLE-STREET, PICCADILLY (OP.
POSITE TUE YORK HOTEL), AND 76, KING WILLIAM
STREET, BANK OF ENGLANIO.—DEAFNESS DDE
FECTIVE VISION,—A greater proof of the val AN
ue of the
Messrs. S. and B. Solomon's Invisible Operative Voice
Conductor and newly-invented Spectacle Lenses, can-
not be adduced, than the circumstance of the many
thousands of individuals who have obtained the o eatest
benefit and instant relief, and the constant immena c de-
mand there is for them, and the patronage they has c and
daily continue to receive. The Messrs. S. and B. Solo-
mon' disclain ull connection with persons of the saute
name, and the sale of amber spectacles ; the pert ticious
use of amber spectacles being now well known t a the
public, and the vendor being. aware of it, he has them 'e fore
altered their name, by leaving eat the word " Author,'
aad calling them " Patent Spectacles." Dr. Anet..ew
Ure, M. D., F. R. S., tc., states amber is 0 oat
powerfully electrical by friction, very hot, to such au ex-
tent as to explode into fragments. The workmen, tos,..arc
subject to a nervous tremor in their wrists, arms, lee., tb cy
encounter great danger by handling such dreadfully-e x-
cited electrics. Amber is of such a soft and sticky a a.
ture, that it is apt to take firs ; and when expose d to
warmth, it swells, bubbles tip, and will burn away :vitt!
flame. This stetement is furt'scr confirmed by Sir- D
Brewster and Pliny, and also by Parks and Hearn s on
chemistry. The pernicious and destructive use of stwit a
material for spectacles to imperfect vision may be a:aecr-
tained at any respectable optician's in London,
POPULAR TRADITIONS OF ENGLAND.—NN'C
are requested to state that Mr. Colburn, of Great Marl-
borough-street, has this day published " Popular Tradi •
tions of England—first series, Lancashire," by John Roby
Esq., M. R. S.L., in 3 vols. post Svo., with numerous en-
gravings on wood, which can now be had of all bookscll ems.
Mr. Colburn has also üblished a second and cheaper cOi--
Lion, with additions, ofd" The Dream, and other Pot :ms,"
by the Hun. Mrs. Norton, in 1 vol. post Bvo., with e. fine
portrait of the author, after a drawing by E. Lanits,:er,
A., prict: 10e. 6d. bound. t.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—Havieg been promoted to the rank of Captain on
being superseded by Captain Hastings in the direction of
the gunnery establishment on board her Majesty's ship
Excellent, in 1832, I naturally felt some inclination to
notice a paragraph in the Times of Nov. 23, which stated
that the precision of the fire from the ships at Acre was
owing to the practice in naval gunnery first taught by
Captain Hastings ; subsequently, other papers implied the
same thing, and that the establishment originarud under
the present Board of Admiralty. This would have re-
mained unnoticed had not a letter appeared in the Times
of the 9th instant, from Portsmouth on the subject.
Now, Sir, I beg to state that it was under the adrainis_
tration of Lord Melville, in 1830, that the gunnery esta-
blishment on board the Excellent originated, as suggested
by me in 1826. The plan being on a much less ex-
pensive scale than the one proposed by Sir H. Douglas,
the Admiralty were pleased to honour me by listening to
my proposition ; Sir Howard honourably acquiescing, as
expressed in private communications with me, conceiving,
Without doubt, that if fire were once opened, his point
(after 10 years' solicitude) would be carried.
In 1630 I was directed by Sir George Cockburn to point
out on the Admiralty chart where a ship could be moored
in Portsmouth Harbour and fire shot in practice without dan-
ger or inconvenience. The plan was then decided on, Sir
George conferring with Sir B. Martin, the able Comptroller
of the Navy, who was pleased to give me a eerie blanche to
choose any old ship fit for the purpose, under the sanction of
Sir George Grey, the Commissioner of Portsmouth Dock.
yard. The Excellent happened to be moored precisely in
the spot I had pointed out, and she was selected for the
purpose (the appropriateness o the name being remarked
at the time). Thus commenced the present establishment,
which has since been most beneficially enlarged and im-
proved, first by Sir James Graham, and especially by the
present Board of Admiralty, Captain Sir J. Pechcll
taking it under his immediate care and direction ; he was
the first to follow the gallant Sir Philip Broke's system
marked out as worthy of adoption by the Shannon's line
of vital fire on the side of the Chesapeake. It need
scarcely be repeated that Captain Sir Thomas Hastings
deserves great credit for the perfection it has attained, as
it now happily realises all that that dccomplished artil-
leryist, Sir Howard Douglas, contemplated in his able
work on naval gunnery, in which he labours (though him-
self a soldier) to provide us in the event of a war with fu-
ture Shannons.

In the .Naval and Military Gazette of September 7,
1539, in a corroboration of the account I have given of
the origin of the Excellent, with the addition of a flattering
allusion to an invention of mine, the " moveable target"
(for teaching seamen, by an inboard exercise, to fire NV ith
precision, without expending powder and shot in the in-
struction), adopted in the navy by Admiralty order in
1626 ; so that I trust I am not arrogating to myself too
much in saying that to me in a twofold degree may be
fairly attributed the merit of establishing a general
system in the navy by which the nicety of tangent
practice may be taught, having in the first place in-
troduced the moveable target, and secondly, having
been the first to establish a depot of instrucion en
board the Excellent, which ship was placed by me ex-
pressly in a position in which she would be at rest, so that,
to quote the letter of the Times of the 9th inst., " the
knowledge of the value of precision, as well as how to
take aim (might) constitute the chief value of the admir-
able system of instruction on board the Excellent :" that
these have been attained is proved by our gallant seamen
gunners at St. Jean d'Acre, as theirs may fairly be
termed target practice.*
It is gratif)ing to find that up to the present time,
the great "tour de force" on board the Excellent and the
ships of the fleet is dismounting and mounting, a 32-
pounder, on a plan suggested and practised by me, and
was left, with many other other plans, an heir-loom to the
excellent establishment. The Britannia made this plan
available when required to send her lower deck gun-
carriages on shore from Spithead in and in remounting
the guns.
Palinam qui ?wait feral is a well known motto, espe-
cially hallowed among the profession of which I am a
humble member. My object in writing this letter has
originated in that principle, and I am confident that Cap-
tain Sir T. Hastings, with whom I served in her Majesty's
ship Undaunted under Captain Sir T. Usher, would be
the last man in the world who would wish to appropriate
to himself the merit which properly belongs to another.
I have the honour to be, your most obedient servant,
GEORGE SMITH, Captain R.N.

Royal Naval Club, Bond.r.treet, Dec. 12,-1840.

The Rodney, 92, when formerly in the Mediterranean,
under Captain Hyde Parker, may be cited as among the ships
which profited by practice at the moveable target; the men
fired their 32-pounders proverbially like riflemen.

STATE OF THE WORKING

CLASSES.

At a meet* held at Glasgow on Wednesday to promote
emigration, an operative, named Stewart, said—Our emi-
gration societies aro mostly composed of hand-loom weavers,
with a few labourers. The wages of a weaver are from
6s. to 7s. per week. I work very hard and long hours ter
75., and I do not consider myself the worst of tradesmen.
If any of the gentlemen here saw our circumstances with
their own eyes, they would be moved to tears. When we
thought there was a fair proepect of our being carried to
Canada, we appointed a Committee to make strict
inquiry into the character of the members of our
society, to ascertain that they were moral and reli-
gious persons, who were willing to support their
families by their labour, wherever wages were to be
had upon which they could live. Our Committee has ex-
pended 65/. in carrying out our objects. This sum has
been raised by subscription of Cd. a-week, and that it
might be paid many of us have had to go without our sup-
per. It was our real distress which induced many gentle-
men to take us by the hand, and we particularly thank our
Provost ( Bartholomew) for his exertions in our behalf. Our
situation at this inclement season is most painful. We arc
in want of clothing, and hare scarcely that which will cover
our nakedness. We arc liable to and often afflicted with
small pox, fever, and other diseases, which cat away our
little means, and when once a weaver gets down in circum-
stances, he never gets up again. We will be thankful for
assistance in any shape ; but our great desire is to get to a
country where we may support ourselves and families inde-
pendently by our labour.
The Rev. Mr. HUNTER, of St. Themes', said he had
exerted himself to procure a correct statement of the earn-
ings of the operatives in two districts of the parish of St.
Thomas, including that which was received by every mem-
ber of the family. There were in these two districts 130
families, with bn average of five members to each—in all
650 individuals, constituting about one-fifth of the popula-
tion of the parish. Of these 130 families, there were
only twenty whose earnings averaged lbs. a week, and
of the other 110, the earnings scarcely amounted to Bs.
per week. Ile next set himself to ascertain the smallest
possible sum on which a family of five or six persons
could subsist in Glasgow, without injury to their health,
and this he found to be 10s. Bd. per week. This sum
provided a scanty fare of meal, potatoes, herrings, and a
small quantity of milk ; but not one farthing did it leave for
tear and wear of household articles, clothes, house rent,
school fees, or seat rent. Not one farthing could be ex-
pended on these without injury to the health of toe people,
the expense of whose living could not be estimated at more
than 3d. per day for each individual, or one penny per
meal. This wss only a fair specimen of the destitution
which prevailed in the eastern part of Glasgow ; and his
parish was surrounded by masses of wretchedness of a si-
milar kind. Thus wore these persons existing on half-a-
crown per week less than what was necessary for the pre-
servation of their health;—but even this was not a fair
specimen of their mode of living; for house rents must
be paid, and wero paid, and bed and body clothes
must be provided ; and the fact was, that in Glas-
gow there were thousands on thousands of individuals
living on less than one-half of what was necessary for
securing their health. Could they wonder, then, that
fever should be generated in these dwellings to augment
the wretchedness, of which poverty was the cause, and
that it propagated itself from them to the well-canditioned
classes of the community? I have (said the Rev. Gentle-
man) been in the huts of negroos, and in the tents of In-
dian savages, but never even there have I witnessed such
appalling misery as I have seen in the city of Glasgow.
Does this wretchedness, then, not claim the sympathy of
every right-thinking individual ? and where is the man who
will turn himself away, and not endeavour to lessen its
horrors? While these men have brought wealth to Scot-
land and to Glasgow, by their industry, they have only
got for themselves the canker worm of misery to blanch
the cheek and sicken the heart —Glasgow Argus.