The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-13 00:00:00

EARLDOM OF BERKELEY.

This peerage was conferred by patent, in 1679, on
George, fourteenth Lord Berkeley, of Berkeley
Castle, county of Gloucester, and has remained un-
assumed since the decease of Frederick Augustus,
fifth Earl, in 1810. Shortly after that event the
present Earl Fitzhardinge, who then bore the courtesy
title of Lord Dursley, and had a seat under that
designation in the Lower House of Parliament,
presented a petition to the Crown for a writ
of summons, as Earl Berkeley, but some doubts
having arisen touching the marriage upon which the
petitioner's right to the peerage rested, the Prince
Regent was pleased to refer the petition to the con-
sideration of the Lords, and a decision was come to
adverse to the claimant. By that judgment the al-
leged marriage of the deceased Lord in 1785 was
disallowed, and the inheritance to the title opened to
the eldest son, born after the nuptials of 1796, which
the decision of the Peers confirmed, viz., the Hon.
Thomas Morton Fitzhardinge Berkeley, who is,
de jure, Earl of Berkeley, but does not
assume the title. As he has no child, being in
fact unmarried, his next younger brother,
the Hon. G. C. Grantley F. Berkeley, is heir pre-
sumptive to the honours. By the will of the late Earl
(in which the marriage of 1785 is solemly declared to
have taken place), Berkeley Castle and all the broad
demesnes of the family are bequeathed to his eldest
son, the present Lord Fitzhardinge, and an annuity of
7001. a year is bequeathed to each of his younger
sons, the estates being strictly entailed (after the death
of the present possessor, Earl Fitzhardinge, and the
male heirs of his body) on each in succession, but a
proviso forbids the assumption of the title by any one
of them, under penalty of a forfeiture of all benefit
to be derived from the testamentary bequest. The
deceased Earl's public marriage, as confirmed by the
Lords' decision, took place, as we have already men-
tioned, in 1796 ; prior, however, to this date, four of
his Lordship's children by the same lady were born ;
but the Earl declared that he had been privately
married to the Countess in Berkeley Church, 30th
March, 1785, assigning as a reason for the second
nuptials, that the witnesses to the first were all dead
and the vouchers to establish all destroyed, in conse-
quence of the great secrecy observed; and he con-
firmed that assertion in his last will and testament.

THE QUARANTINE AT MALTA.
MALTA, OCT. 4.—On Friday last an occurrence
took place which has occasioned the greatest inconve-
nience to the public in general, and to commerce in
particular, that could well be imagined.
Captain H. Tait, of the English brig Navy, arrived
here on the Ist inst., from Alexandria, with a cargo
of beans, bound for Cork. He was 85 days on the
passage, and provided with a clean bill of health. On
his arrival, he went into the quarantine harbour,
where he was visited by the health officers in the
usual manner; but it appears that no guardian was
put on board, nor was his vessel subjected to any
particular surveillance.
About two o'clock raw., the captain, accompanied
by his wife, pulled to the usual landing-place, and
disembarking walked into the town, visiting some
shops, the armoury at the palace, and his consignee.
Immediately the latter, Mr. H. Morris, saw him,
he informed him of the fact that he had infringed the
quarantine-laws, and got him to go off, and then, as
he was compelled to do under heavy penalties, in-
formed the, officer at the head of the quarantine de-
partment of the fact. No sooner was it known, than
the island was placed in quarantine until the 15th
inst., the day on which the brig would have been
admitted to pratique had she remained here.
Several vessels which have arrived here from foreign
ports with clean bills have, in consequence, hoisted
the yellow flag, and declared themselves in quarantine;
and ei en steamers have arrived and gone without
receiving goods—one, the Neapolitan, would not even
take letters.
There can belittle doubt that great and unpardon-
able neglect exists in the quarantine department. Had
a health guardian been:put on board, or the vessel
even guarded outside by.a ,boat, this accident could
not have happened. It is impossible (however care-
less Captain Tait may have proved himself in not
asking of proper persons how to act if he intended to
land) that he could have known to what his rash
i pro-
ceeding would have led ; for, independent of the in-
convenience he has doomed the commercial interests
to suffer, he has, as will appear by the following
extract from the municipal law, subjected himself to
some very severe penalty :
" Municipal Law of Malta, cap. 3, reg. 41 of the
regulations concerning the Health Department—T he
master and crew of any ship, whether native or foreign,
entering the quarantine harbour to perform quaran-
tine, is held to the rigorous observance of the orders
which are given or prescribed by the health officers.
Whoever contravenes, should the contravention
directly or indirectly affect the Health Department,
or in any way prejudice it, he is liable to the pain of
death.
" And in every other case the punishment shall be
arbitrary (by the judges), but rigorous according to
the peculiar circumstances of the occasion and the
nature of the contravention."
In the quarantine harbour there is one thing deeply
to be deplored—that is, that vessels in pratique are
allowed to remain there. If no health guardian is
put on board a suspected vessel, how can the health
guardian on duty on shore know if the persons land-
ing are in quarantine or free pratique ? To the want
of knowledge of the English language by the persons
on shore to whom Mr. Tait applied for information is
probably owing the very serious accident which forms
the subject of this communication.
The Bulldog steam-frigate has been sent out with
orders to proceed to ports on the Continent, as far
as Leghorn, with information of the circumstances,
addressed to the health officers, by whom the period
of quarantine to which we by them shall be con-
demned will be fixed and and made known to us.
The Italian steamer which arrived yesterday would
not even take her mails ! The circumstance, to her
at least, is a God-send of the most favourable cha-
racter.

THE WELSH IN MANCHESTER AND LIVERPOOL.—
It is stated that, in Liverpool, there are at present from
40,000 to 50,000 Welsh, who are almost all Dissenters.
The numerous meeting-houses are crowded to overflow-
ing, whilst the only Welsh church i❑ Liverpool is al-
most deserted. In Manchester the Welsh have no
church to resort to, but thousands of the Welsh residing
there attend Dissenting places of worship, where they
hear instruction in their own native tongue.—Liverpool
Albion.
INCENDIARY FIRE AT CLAY WHEELS.—It iS again
our painful duty to record one of those fires which there
appears every reason to regard as having originated in
an incendiary act. It took place at what are known as
the Clay Wheels, about three miles from Sheffield, near
Wadsley-bridge, and situated on the river Don. The
property belongs to H. M. Greaves, Esq., and consists of
tour rooms, all on the ground floor, and which are let
out to edge tool, table blade, and file grinders.—Sheffield
Times.

The Commercio del Plata, of August 13, says that
advices have been received at Buenos Ayres from
Corrientes, which are of importance. It appears
that there had been a renewal of the offensive
and defensive alliance on the part of the Go-
vernment of Paraguay ; that they had already
furnished 3,000 men, and were prepared to
send a further reinforcement. All the Argentine
officers, formerly in the service of Rosas, had flocked
to the division at Paraguay. " This," adds the
Commercio del Plata," we have only air the faith of
our correspondent, but we know him, 'end believe it
to be authentic:' Our correspondent further adds,
that Urquiza had entirely broken off negotiations
with Corrientes—that it was thought the chief of
Entre Rios would not make any attack upon his
neighbours. The friends of Rosas still complain of
Urquiza, and stigmatise him as a traitor. This bad
feeling has lately increased, on account of Urquiza
having refused to close the ports of Entre Rios to the
trade of Monte Video, as Rosas had required. The
Commercio del Plata then proceeds in a long strain
of invective against Rosas, for wishing to ruin the
trade of all the neighbouring ports, as be had already
ruined that of Buenos Ayres.
A postscript of the British Packet of Buenos Ayres,
the 7th of August says—Although hostilities were
resumed on the' other side of the river on the 2d
instant, we rejoice to state that the hope of seeing
this fratricedal war, kept alive " by and for " the
stranger, speedily terminated, has not altogether
vanished.
The Monte Video Constitutional, a the 4th inst.,
'announces that it was in contemphartm to send a de-
putation of native inhabitants to the camp of Presi-
dent Oribe, for the purpose of treating for peace.
The chief feature, however, of the present news is
the Message of the President Rosas to the House;of
Representatives, delivered on the 28th of July. It
occupies about ten columns of the Monte Video jour-
nals ; but unfortunately the documents referred to
therein have not reached us by the present arrival, so
that the full value of the various arguments of the
negotiating parties cannot be justly estimated ; in-
leed, the subject is necessarily incomplete without
these important papers. The message is headed, as
usual, with
" Long live the Argentine Confederation,
Death to the savage Unitarians."
its great length precluding a literal translation, we
have condensed, in as small a space as possible, the
substance thereof :
The message of the President first briefly refers to
.he fact of Mr. Hood's mission and its failure, and
then, having alluded to the supercession of Mr. Ouse-
ley and Baron Deffaudis, to whose inflexibility and
iotoriously inimical spirit is ascribed the failure of all
;)revious endeavours to bring about a pacification, it
announces the arrival of Count Walewski on the Bth
of May, and of Lord Howden on the 10th, at Buenos
lyres. Having obtained permission to land, on the
1 Ith the Plenipotentiaries opened the negotiation by
wo notes referred to, which the Government acknow-
ledged. On the 13th the first conference was held,
when the Plenipotentiaries announced that the draft
of a convention which they were authorised to propose
did not differ from the basis of the propositions made
by Mr. Hood. They suggested the form of a con-
vention as that most convenient. To this the Minister
of Foreign Affairs, after some demur, acquiesced,
provided the substance of his notes previously com-
municated, in which the basis of Mr. Hood's pro-
posal was admitted, should not be altered. On the
14th the notes referred to in the appendix containing
the drafts of the convention were presented. The Pre-
sident then points out the discrepancy between these
drafts and the proposal of Mr. Hood, and refers
to the correspondence embodying the objections of
the Buenos Ayrean Government, and to a counter
draft in accordance with their views, to which, on the
other hand, the Plenipotentiaries objected. On the
13th, before the Plenipotentiaries officially received
those notes, they conferred confidentially with the
Foreign Secretary respecting the designation to be
given to Oribe in the present convention. The Ple-
nipotentiaries, to avoid the difficulty of acknowledg-
ing Oribe as president of the Oriental state, sug-
gested that he should be designated by the Buenos
Ayrean Government "as my ally, under whose orders
and disposition are the Argentine troops," or that in
the respective copies, English, French, and Spanish,
of the convention, different designations should be
given to General Oribe, so as to suit the views of the
several contracting parties. A second difficulty,
namely, to avoid the appearance of the convention
being an act encroaching upon the rights of the
sovereignty of Buenos Ayres, became a serious
stumbling-block. The Buenos Ayrean Government
insisted that Oribe should give his consent to the
conditions of the convention before they were ratified,
so as to avoid even the appearance of the cessation of
hostilities being produced by compulsion on the part
of England and France. The Plenipotentiaries
intimated that they intended to propose a
fresh draft of a convention, to serve as a basis of ne-
gotiation. On the 14th of June, at a conference, the
discussion of these two points was renewed, without a
satisfactory adjustment, and the meeting broke up
without coining to any definite resolution. On the
16th the title of Oribe was still the point of dispute,
the Plenipotentiaries objecting to proceed till the point
was adjusted. A long argument took place on both
sides, and a further difficulty was started respecting
the necessity of a ratification of a convention, as dis-
tinguished from a treaty, by the House of Represen-
tatives ; the usage upon this point being discussed at
length. The Plenipotentiaries had no power to sign
a treaty, and the condition suggested that the House
of Representatives should ratify the convention in
three days, this stipulation to be inserted in the con-
vention, formed a serious point of dispute. The
Buenos Ayrean secretary insisted upon the necessity
of a constitutional ratification, and the Plenipotentia-
ries waived the point. The difficulty respecting
Oribe's title was proposed to be
separate article, declaratory of the distinct views
of the contracting got over by a
parties, after which they pro-
ceeeded to discuss the preamble, which was agreed
to. Article first was then discussed. The Plenipo-
tentiaries proposed the adoption of the draft last pre-
sented by them. The Buenos Ayrean secretary re-
fused to adopt it, as it did not overcome the difficul-
ties pointed out in his note of the 13th of June last,
would
the
ee
face aba abandoning n i
t ing
thati. the signature to the us ally, and it
that the adoption of the draft proposed, moreover,
would not show
upon
conven-
tion by the Buenos Ayrean Government had not been
affixed until after the proper agreement had been
come to with General Orble, in conformity with the
views which concerned him ; and, further, because
inadmissible,
and
belligerent
parties the suspension of hostilities would appear to hare
been produced by the mediation of the Plenipo-
tentiaries, which would introduce a new point alto•
asacknowledgingmed
iatthoerss,arawehic
in-
terestedhneither the Buenos Ayrean
Government, and cer-
tainly, beyond all doubt, General Oribe would not
agree to. The Buenos Ayrean Minister persisted in
urging the adoption of his own draft for the conven-
tion, which, he said, would avoid all difficulty, and
leave Oribe in the position in which the Government
was pledged by treaty to maintain him. The
Plenipotentiaries replied that the 4th article provided
that the withdrawal of the troops should not take
place until the Buenos Ayrean Government had con-
sulted with their ally, and were in perfect concert,
and they did not press the word " mediation" in the
article, A long discussion then ensued upon the
mode of proceeding, in or
of _dehr to obtain Oribe's con-
currence with the acts t e contracting parties, and
the meeting broke up without any conclusion. On
the 23d of June a note passed respecting the flags and
guns alluded to in the draft; and on the 25th another
conference was held, when again the subject of Oribe's
title was revived, and the Minister recapitulated all
the arguments in favour of describing Oribe accord-
ing to his views, and urging that Oribe was not even
proposed to be acknowledged even in his character of
chief commander of the Oriental army, of which rank
he could not be deprived, which title the Govern-
ments of France and England had not before refused
to concede to him; adding other arguments to show
that this refusal was a departure from the basis laid
down by Mr. Hood. The Plenipotentiaries persisted in
their views, urging that the words proposed did not
affect in any way the honour and dignity of the Buenos
Ayrean Government. The Buenos Ayrean Secretary
upon this point; but a further
joined issue with them
discussion thereof
th was avoid ed , as leading the negotia-
tors away from q e uestion. The negotiators then
embarked in a long argument, having reference to
the proper record of the past events, not materially
connected with the articles under discussion. French
notes referred to in the appendix were drawn up more
in accordance with the Buenos Ayrean Government,
which, however, the Minister neither accepted nor
refused, and, except the preamble, no progress was
n
made in the negotiatio • A variety of notes, the
contents of which are not particularised, were ex-
servation on either side—when
changed, with no ob
d d
the Plenipotentiaries expresse adesire to hear the