The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-08 00:00:00

DEFECTIVE STATE OF THE LIGHTHOUSE AT

CAPE COAST CASTLE.
A communication has been received at Lloyds, complain-
ing of the very defective state of the Lighthouse at Cape
Coast Castle. The agent for Lloyds at that port, on receipt
of a written complaint to him from the master of the schooner
Guineaman, on the subject, had addressed the Colonial Go-
vernment on the subject, the reply to which was, that the
causes of the grievances complained of would be in•
quired into, and necessary steps taken to remove them.
The lighthouse, in its present state, is represented
to be worse than useless, for that it misguides vessels. In-
stead of being visible seven leagues distant, it scarcely lights
the anchorage, indeed masters of vessels knowing the an-
chorage prefer being guided by the lights in the merchant
houses in town, or by those in the castle. The lighthouse is
well situated, but badly constructed, and still worse managed.
The light is seldom visible in fine weather beyond five miles,
and often not at all at that distance. Captain Thompson,
of the Guineaman, states that he had repeatedly, whilst at
anchor, watched the lights and seen the lamps go out one
after the other. Masters of all vessels pay a fine of three
dollars for the lighthouse.

CURRENTS IN THE SZA.—A slip of pasteboard
with writing on both 'sides, put into a bottle, was found near
the larger of the Saltee Islands, off our coast, on Monday.
The writing on one side is—" Barque Mohawk, from Singe.
pore to London, March 8, 1847. Current papers—Please to
send to the editor of the Nautical Magazine when and where
found. Latitude 49 degrees 00 minutes north; longitude
12 degrees 29 minutes west. W. Douglas, master. On
the other side—" Latitude 49 degrees 00 minutes north ;
longitude 15 degrees 29 minutes west. W. Douglas, mas-
ter." Underneath this is now written, in compliance
with the request to state " when and where found," " West
of Large Saltees Island, May 20, 1847."—Wexford Inde-
pendent. •
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.—CHATHAM, JUNE 4.
The depot of the Bth (King's Own) Regiment has arrived at
this garrison, from Canterbury, for embarkation for India;
and the 63d, recently formed into a four-company depot,
was detached from the Provincial Battalion, and to date its
FapAration from the let of the month. The depOt is in corn.
amid of Major Green, who hab Hownt ly returne,i fray. Indio.,
EXETER .11Au..7--A. performance a }I
~c,i•eatitiu" will take piact on AlormAy ,text. the 14th, umit-r
rj:49 mimagellielq of the S, - :-in t t
benefit of the inhabitants of Scotland suffering from famine.
The Queen, the Queen Dowager, the Royal Family, and a
host 01 distinguished personages, patronise the undertaking.

THE LATE MR. O'CONNELL.
The Universal Prussian Gazette devotes the following
art'cle to the late Member for the county of Cork :
, " It is not the least significant circumstance in the life
of O'Connell that the 6 last eventful scene of all' took
place in a foreign land, so much nearer to Rome than to
England, that no one member of his numerous family
was in attendance upon him in his last moments, and
that all which had formerly filled his life with patriotism
and love was there submerged in the litanies of Italian
priests and in the absolute and exclusive superintendence
of the Romish Church.

" This is perhaps the moral and the goal of a life
which has excited more than that of any of his contem-
poraries the astonishment and sympathy of the people;
and> the impartial historian will probably some day an-
nounce that, if O'Connell was active in Ireland, he
laboured for Rome. A not altogether ungrounded or
inappropriate comparison has been made by an English
print between O'Connell and the great Martin Luther;
but the resemblance is only a personal one; it only con-
cerns the characters of the men, especially in the impe-
tuous manner of expressing their emotions, but is not
discoverable in their fundamental principles and objects.
The great Protestant leader opened the broad highway
of modern liberty to the minds of awakening Europe ;
the Roman Catholic demagogue narrowed even the in-
terests of his country and the cause of liberty in favour
of that priesthood and that church which it was the
grand object of Luther to destroy. It is true that the
example of O'Connell and the success of his endeavours
have, in many parts of the world, powerfully excited the
Roman Catholic Church, by a strange alliance between
their cause and the objects of the popular agitators of
our age ; and Rome has won more proselytes in the
mask of a tribune than in the state vestments of royal
confessors and monastic inquisitors. But this, after all,
is the most striking, if not the only success, so far as
this can be discerned in our own times, that posterity
will ascribe to Daniel O'Connell, be it for good or for
evil. It it affirmed that he emancipated Ireland, thatghe
was the saviour of his country. Would to God that he
could lay claim to this renown, for Ireland would now
be effectually saved and emancipated ! Would to God
that only one-half of the exertions which have been
made in order to maintain a party agitation, and only
one-half of the money which has been squeezed from the
starving peasantry under the pretence of attaining im-
possible and imaginary objects, had been appropriated
to the enfranchisement of Ireland from the most pro-
found ignorance, to her redemption from the ruinous
effects of idleness, to the amelioration of her social con-
dition, and to the teaching of her people what it really
is to be free ! If O'Connell's life was directed to the
purpose of proving that the regeneration of Ireland de-
pended upon the assertion of certain political rights, and
on the magnifying of the power of the Romish clergy—
then were these the great ends for which he really com-
bated ; then, in fact, the last hours of his life may have
deeply hewed him down, and he may have seen occasion
to turn away from the desperate state of the country
which once hailed him as its deliverer. For the loud
cry of anguish raised by the nation, the howlings of the
hungry, the desperate neglect of the first laws, according
to which the inhabitants of the earth earn their daily
bread—the degradation of receiving nourishment from
those who had always been the object of the constant
and unremitting hatred and censure of the Irish party—
all these considerations are the present perturbatory re-
sults of the policy of O'Connell in Ireland. He had
succeeded, by his incomparable influence, in raising a
whole nation in a hot-headed pursuit of an illusory
phantom. The repeal of the union was to be the panacea
tbr all evils, and to result in the abolition of all kinds of
injustice; everything else was to be sacrificed to this
one object. They believed him—the credulous, confid-
ing, and blindly zealous people. They followed him,
and willingly shared their miserable pence with his
priests and his agents : they were ready to die for him.
But even before his last hour hid arrived, a more
powerful judge than human Governments—a mightier
arm than the power of England, had annihilated the
whole fabric. It is not the repeal of the union or the
voice of O'Connell that will emancipate Ireland, but the
insight and industry of the people, who hold their fate
in their own hands.