The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-13 00:00:00

TU E SUN, LONDON_ TUESD Y, APRIL 13, 1811.

to lecture on polarized light ; he stated that, by expe-
' rience, he never found more attentive auditors than
those of the working classes, and persisted in giving
his lecture ; the experiment was highly successful. The
lecture room and gallery, though crowded to suffeca-
tine, presented a mass of listening heads, without a
single interruption. At the conclusion, the Lecturer stated
the circumstances under which he that day appeared
before them, and returned thanks for their profound at-
tention. This was replied to by a hearty cheering.
Payne's process of salting meat was shown ; the meat
afterwards cooked ; and the visiters tasted, by practical
experience, the efficacy of the plan. The process of
electro typing was exhibited, and a few specimens of
medals and coins were distributed ; and, as usual, the
Electrical Assistant shocked some hundreds of willing
part'oes, and exhibited the interesting experiment of the
lightning plate by the superb p►ate electrical machine.
Lockey's Electro Magnetic Carriage Protector afforded
much amusement. The military pupils of the Master
of the Grenadier Guards performed during the day.
Arrangements arc making for evening exhibitions on a
liberal scale.

TEIE POLY TECHNIC INSTI.

TUTION.

We doubt whether any of the places of amusement
were more crowded yesterday than the elegant and
scientific resort in Regent-street. It was extremely
difficult to get in, and very difficult to pass along from
place to place. The Lecture-rooms and Experiment
rooms were crowded as soon as the gong struck an-
nounced the commencement of a lecture, so that a much
greater number tvished to hear and to see than could at
once get admittance. The Diving Bell was in as constant
requisition as was consistent with giving the men who
move it up and down a reasonable respite from severe
labour ; and it appeared never to go down with a single
unoccupied seat. The bosons for giving an electrical
shock appeared never to be without a pair of hands
immersed in them ; add, moreover, an absolute shoving
and squeezing amongst children, and youth of both sexes,
to get a glimpse of the panorama of the River of Can-
ton, and the " Opening of the Seventh Seal." If we
had not seen from a distance that Primrose-hill was
as crowded as ever, we should have thought that all
the holiday folks had forsaken their old pursuits, and
flocked to the Polytechnic. But though it was
crowded, Primrose-hill and Greenwich, we have no
doubt, were also covered with those who sought, and,
we believe, in most cases, found happiness. At least
we saw signs of great delight at the Polytechnic; and
it was easy to notice that the bulk of the visitors, con-
sisting rather or the lower than the upper classes, took
a great interest in the many mechanical and scientific
wonders which the institution contains. Such a cir-
cumstance is a most gratifying proof of a great improve-
ment in the taste, the habits, and the knowledge of the
people.

means of relief, hotverer, it must be obvious that nothing
short of liberal contributions on the part of the public at
large can suffice, which the Governors most earnestly
solicit, and are fully convinced they shall not solicit in vain.

DESIGN FOR A NEW ROOF Ti)
THE GUILDHALL OF THE CITY OF
LONDON.

This noble and e!egantly proportioned Hall has evi-
dence in its present state, by the very large buttresses
exhibited in the exterior, of having possessed in former
days a splendid Gothic roof. The present flat ceiling
was erected after the destruction of the old wooden roof
at ti e great fire of London in 1666. It'is well known
that it was built as a temporary expedient ; and it has
been kept up by repeated repairs from time to time, and
is not at all in character with the other parts of the
structure. A perspective drawing, which details the
effect of what is supposed to be the character of the
old roof; has been for some days exhibited in the read-
ing room of the Corporation, and attracted great ad-
miration. It shows how it may be easily restored with-
out injury to any part of the present walls or openings.
It is proposed to alter the present circular headed win-
dows running along the sides of the Hall into pointed
windows built in the interior of the present windows,
and ornamented with stained glass, the effect of the
present tracing to continue, for the purpose of carrying
up the character of the present wall, and from thence
the new roof will spring of a similar construction to
those at Weqtainste.r, Eltham, and Hampton Court,
enriched with pendants and ornamented open arches.
The soffet or ceiling will be panneled and enriched with
bosses at the intersection of the mouldings. The draw-
ing has been made with a view to illustrate the inten-
tion of Alderman Thomas 'Wood by hia motion in the
Court of Common Council, referring the subject to the
consideration of the City Lands Committee, which mo-
tion was seconded by Mr. D. W. Wire, and also for
the purpose of being sent to the Royal Academy for the
ensu;ng exhibition. The design has been drawn by
Mr. Edmund Woodthorpe, son of the Town-clerk.

ODE ON THE BURIAL OF SIR

JOHN MOORE.;

•
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sir,—A new claimant for the authorship of the
" Ode on the Burial of Sir J. Moore " hiving just
appeared, and being noticed in your widely-circulated
Journal, I trust it will not be deemed intrusive in one
of the friends of the late Charles Wolfe, who' was for-
tunate enough to enjoy his intimate acquaintance, to
state that he read out for me, from a manuscript in big
handwriting, the poem in question, as his own compo-
sition, a few evenings after it was completed, in the pre-
sence of my ever•esteemcd college chum, J. A. Rus-
sell, now Archdeacon of Clogher, a circumstance. of
which I have long retained the most lively recollec-
tion, as the impression produced was of a nature not
easily to be effaced. I shall only add, that there never
existed the slightest doubt on the subject among his
contemporaries, and cannotibut express my firm convic-
tion, that this gifted individual, distinguished no less for
genius than for sincerity and truth, was incapable of im-
position, or of appropriating to himself that fame to
which any other person was justly entitled.

MICHAEL J. KEATING,
Limerick, April 6th, 1841. Archdeacon of Ardfcrt.

THE ATLANTIC STEAMERS.

What must be considered the failure of the 2,000 tons
steam-vessels British Queen and President from which
so much was expected, as given rise to a good deal of
controversy in naval circles as to the cause which has
produced so unfortunate and unlooked-for a circum-
stance.

As no matter can be more interesting to naval men
than what relates to steam navigation, we have been at
pains to collect such data as will enalile them to form
opinions and draw deductions with greater Certainty
than they can do ss anting this necessary information.
Both the vessels in question were built at Limehouse,
by Messrs. Curling and Young. Their dimensions and
tonnage are somewhat alike, the British Queen being
about tea feet longer, but having a deck less than the
President ; the power of the latter is represented as
that of 600 horses, while the former has only a power
of 500, or, according to some accounts, 450 horses.
The engines of the President were made by Messrs.
Fawcett and Preston, of Liverpool ; those of the British
Queen by Messrs. Robert Napier and Co., of Glas-
gow ; and both are represented as beautiful pieces of
machinery.

It is evident that in these two vessels there is a great
disparity of power for tonnage ; but it is remarkable
that although both have repeatedly made tedious pas-
sages, the President is the most unfortunate of the two,
and when she left New York on the 11th ult. had only
twenty-seven passengers on board.
The vessels provided by Mr. Cunard for the Halifax
line, which have made and continue to make the pas-
sage so regularly, were built in the Clyde, by Messrs.
Duncan and Messrs. Steele, of Greenock, and Messrs.
J. Wood and C. Wood, of Port Glasgow and Dum-
barton. They are all, we believe, of nearly the same
dimensions, and about 1,100 tons, with engines of 4'20
horse power.

We state these particulars in order that cur naval
friends may be the better able to draw their inferences,
for in steam navigation, like everything else, there roust
be some rule of horse-power for tonnage (suppo&ng all
vessels to be constructed on the hest mote) which wili
apply with the most profit, over or under which it would
not be proper to go.
On comparing the British and American Company's
vessels with Mr. Cunard's, there appears a very great
disparity ; for the vessels of the latter have, as relates to
President, one-third more, and in the case of British
Queen nearly double the horse-power to propel the same
weight in tons ; and this on the face of it is enough to
account for their greater speed, and certainty of accom-
plishing the voyage in weather when the others woul,l
be obliged to abandon their course, or unable to make
head against a gale. Cunard's vessels have alto the ad-
vantage of being built of scantling sufficient to hear a
heavy armament, and this, so far from being detrimental
to their speed or efficiency, turns out precisely the re-
verse, for while the British Queen was obliged to sus-
pend work for some months, and undergo repairs which
cost several thousand pounds, after running for one
season only, the others have neither strained nor
started anything, and will, like our vessels-of-war coe-
structed with stout scantling, on improved principles,
probably continue to run for years before the hull re-
quires repair.
Our readers will recollect, that when Mr. Young (of
the firm of Curling and Young), sat in Parliament for
Tynemouth, that gentleman never let slip an opportu-
nity of denouncing Sir William Symonds's system of
ship-building. We believe this was done from con-
scientious views, and that he was imposed on by certain
members of the ci-divant school of Naval Architecture,
who boasted that they crammed him for the nonce. Now,
we find how much easier it is to preach than to practise ;
for although the draught of these vessels was, we be-
lieve, furnished from Somerset House at the request of
the Company, whether owing to the want of strength
or size of scantling, or other fault in the construction,
we find that repairs became necessary in a very short
time after the vessels left the builder's yard.
It appears to us that vessels of about 200 feet long
and 1,000 tons, with 400-horse power, arc the best cal-
culated for quick passages across the ocean from point
to point, and that when their dimensions extend beyond
this an increased ratio of power must be appended, to
attai❑ which would be most expensive ; besides that the
machinery and fuel would occupy nearly all the space
in the vessel. The construction of these large steamers
was designed on the score of economy, on the assump-
tion that the same establishment, with a small increase
of seamen and stokers, would suffice to work a vessel of
double the size. But this may be an error. At all
events, the experience to be derived from the voyages
of the British Queen and President do not warrant us
altering the opinion we recorded in these pages when
first those vessels were designed.—Naval and Military
Gazette.

THE PRESIDENT STEAM-SHIP.

Another week has elapsed, and still we are without any
tidings of this unfortunate vessel. It is now thirty-two
days since she left New York, and, were it not certain
that she must have encountered tbe severe storm of the 12th
and the 13th ult. , the time she has been missing would, of
itself, naturally give rise to the worst foreboding as to her
fat-. We need scarcely say, that now, as was the case last
year, her non-arrival, as well as the want of all news of
her " whereabouts," has given rise, during the week, to
ail kinds of reports and all kinds of conjectures. While,
in the opinion, or, rather, according the fears of
some, she must have broached to in the storm and foun-
dered, others express themselves confident, that, though
she must have sustained some serious disaster, no fatal
catastrophe has befallen her. In the opinion a the latter
we are strongly inclined to coincide. It is extremely pro-
bable that she sustained, in the storm between the 12th
and the 14th, damage either to her machinery or to her
steering apparatus; and that, thus rendered comparatively
unmanageable, she was making for the nearest port by the
aid of her sails, which were not, it is said (though the
statement may be as untrue as any of the sinister state-
meats respecting her which are in circulation), either nu.
merous or good.--Liverpool Albion.

\VESLEYAN MISSION,—It appears that in
Ireland there are 10 stations and 23 missionaries. In Stock-
holm, Germany, France, Gibraltar, and Malta, 12 stations,
21 missionaries, 1,828 members in society. Continental
India and Ceylon, 21 stations, 39 missionaries, 1,243 mem-
hers in society. New South Wales, Van Diamen's Land,
New Zealand, Friendly Isles, and the -Fejee Wands, 35
station:, 53 missionaries, 10,921 members in society.
South and West Africa, 42 stations, 47 missionaries,
4,769 members. The West Indies, 50 stations, 89
mic-
sionarics, 48,035 members. British North America, 77 •
stations, 91 missionaries, 11,681 members. Total, 256
stations, 371 missionaries, 78,504 members; being clever,
rnissionwies more than were employed list year prrl
Ing .10 morlldie iAS the number of merniN.s.rs
commuaieants, of 5,777. -There arc 53,078 11 the
mission schools, and more than 200,000 persons regularly
attend the ministry of the missionaries.—Report of the
.Liverpool Conference.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM TIIE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS HAT.
( From the Morniny Chronicle )
A pamphlet is in circulation, entitled " Daily Bread,"
which recommends to the industrious poor a new species of
practical protest against the bread tax, as a likely means of
exonerating themselves from its severe and unjust pressure.
The scheme proposed is for a penny subscription from so
large a number of the working classee, aided by the con,
tributions of those who also suffer from and are opposed
to the food monopoly, as may suffice eo freight one or
more vessels with continental corn, or American flour,
and bring it into some English port. On its arrival, a
distribution amongst the owners to be formally claimed,
and if refused, as it of course would be, to proceed to
the public destruction of the cargo. Without passing
any opinion on this plan, we wish to fix attention on the
fact that such a plan is propounded and entertained.
For aught it appears the process would be perfectly
legal. There is no law against the investment of
the smallest sums by hungry artisans in the purchase of
food from foreigners. The vessel so freighted might le-
gally anchor in our ports. The petition of a thousand fa-
mishing families for leave to land and eat the food which
they had purchased from their small and hard earnings
might be a most unexceptionable document. The refusal
by the Custese house authorities, or by their masters on
reference to them, would also be legal, and we presume
kevitable. The right of the proprietary would be unques-
tionable to throw their cargo overboard, though the billows I
of Goole harbour, or the waters of the Thames should be
whitened with the spoil ; or though the execrations of
multitudes, witnessing the waste while they were pinched
with want, should be both loud and deep; and if the hun-
gry and angry thousands broke out into violence, it would
then become legal to read the Riot Act, call out the I
military, and suppress the disturbance at whatever
cost of human bloodshed. Whatever the wisdom,
justice, or expediency, of any one step of the pro-
cess, each is yet free from the charge of unlawful-
ness. The proposition is legal, and it is entertained; that
is the gist of the matter, and the fact may perhaps be worth
a thought. It is not strange that such notions should
enter people's minds. Analogous experiments have been
tried on former occasions. There was once an unship-
merit of tea in and into Boston harbour, which harbour
was then pert arid parcel of the British empire. Mr.
O'Connell's first election for county Clare was the con-
signment to the House of Commons of a prohibited article.
The oath was a sort of duty laid on by the Protestant mo-
nopoly, which prevented that consignment from reaching
it 3 destination. Both these experiments won a place in
history. They were scouted with great superciliousness,
but they did the work. Nor could it be otherwise than a
very awkward thing to transfer the evidence of the iniquity
of the Corn-laws from the mind to the senses, from logic
and statistics to the actual, visible destruction of the
dai!y bread that people pray for and pine for—their
own honestly purchased daily bread—in order that the
wealthiest of monopolies may retain the most grinding of
impositions. The subject would be brought home to the
dullest intellects. The passions might not be altogether
unaffected. Such a scene at a theatre would be rather
striking and inflammatory ; whither the reality might tend
it is very difficult to calculate. One thing is certain, that
the Corn-laws are not a jot the better, nor more expedient,
nor more humane, for the fact that no scene of this kind
has yet passed in our ports. Whatever destruction of
human food may have been caused by too long detention
in bond, has been an unobservable operation. The un-
natural barrenness for want of culture of fi uitful soils in
other lands, whose inhabitants would willingly rear the
grain for which our manufacturers would willingly ex-
change their products, does not appeal to the sense!, and
is scarcely apprehended by the common mind. The effect
is not less real than as if wheat were shovelled into the
Thames, from morning till night, day after day, in the
face of gazing, astonished, and cursing multitudes. The
pamphlet, asith its Scripture motto, " Give us this
day our daily bread," explains this fact. The transacti in
itself may never happen ; it can only happen through
the most reckless infa.uation ; but it has become, by tne
proposition, a conceivable event. It will happen, and it
does happen, in the minds of the toiling poor, who know
that they are paying sevenpence half-penny for the food
and fourpence half-penny for the tax in their shilling leaf.
As the notion spreads amongst them, they will be not much
less influenced than by the actual occurrence. Food me-
nopoly is food destruction, whether it be thrown into the
sea while labourers are needing it on shore, or whether it
be wasted, instead cf being multiplied by culture to pur-
chase goods which manufacturers would be employed to
produce. Tie upholders of the Corn-laws .are annual
destroyers of immense quantities of food, which the work-
ing classes earn, or arc reedy to earn, if permitted. The
operation may be circuitous, and out of sight ; it is not
the less certain. But let this fact be actually exhibited ;
or only let it be clearly and generally apprehended;
which, before long, it assuredly must be; and what
do the monopolists think of the sentiments with which
they Rill be icgarded by their countrymen ? " Straws
show which way the wind blows," and whether the project
of this pamphlet be feasible or unfeasible, it is still a
symptom that the Anti. Corn-law agitation is assuming a
more formidable character. Notwithstanding the inter-
ruption of public meetings by the organised uproar of a
comparatively small minority, the petitions already signed,
or in course of signature, will, we understand, exhibit
an interest in the subject beyond all precedent or pa-
rallel. The recent detection of an outlay cf 'Try
money upon disturbers of the peace, professing
Chartism, will also tend to put the interruptions
that have occurred in their true light. The Anti-Corn-
law League, and its numerous ramifications throughout
the country, are daily gathering strength, and beginning
to root themselves firmly even in many of the. rural dis-
tricts. Whatever scherr es may be suggested, we trust
that all opponents of the bread-tax, of whatever class, will
feel the importance of a full di'play, as petitioners to Par-
liament, of their growing numbers. This is the first, the ink- ,
mediate and most urgent course, for adoption. Let them
show their millions. The fitting time for that purpose is
close at hand. The Easter holidays should be their final
season of preparation for the Parliamentary struggle that
is soon to follow. The effect of a great simultaneous
effort may not be to insure the immediate abolition of the
bread-tax, but it can hardly fail to put the question into a
position of certain and speedy triumph.
(From the Thnes.)
It is not always that a great statesman lives long enough
to see the full fruits of his own policy. On the contrary,
when his lot is cast in troublous times, as was the case
with Mr. Pit', the vexing cares and responsibilities of his
position tend so materially to shorten existence, that, in
general, little more is permitted him than to exercise his
self reliance and foresight in adapting his course to the
exigencies of public affairs—he himself being often with-
drawn from the stage of life before the results of that
course, whether for good or evil, are unequivocally as-
certained. But there is one living statesman, the head of
the genteel family of the Phippses, whose career, besides
outstripping the Timmses and the Higgses, and the other
aristocracy of the same lofty grate, presents an illustrious
exception to the preceding remark. Among the many
distinctions of that high personage, who, within a few
years, has been rapidly promoted from the position of a
fashionable novelist and a performer of private theatricals
to that of a Jamaica Governor—afterwards to the dignity
of Lord-Lieutenant in Ireland—then to the Colonial seals
in Downing-street—presently to the Home Secretaryship
at Whitehall—and, anon, to the rank of a British Mar-
quis—the fact that the happy nobleman has survived, and
is still surviving, to behold the practical effects of his
literary and administrative genius is not to be overlooked.
What account his bookseller may be able to give of the
later editions of " Yes and No," it is not for us to say.
But the fruits of the Noble Marquis's incumbency in
Ireland, increasing as they do in number and im-
portance, exhibit a uniformity of disaster and mischief
which, while doubtless awakening his own ruminations, de-
serve the anxious attention both of his colleagues and the
country. Thu same classical taste which made Lord
Normandy a lover of private theatricals inspired him with
a generous appetite for applause when performing the
part of mock sovereign in Dublin Castle. Knowing that
he held his engagement by the season, at the mere suffer-
ance of the great Irish manager, whose displeasure would
have been tantamount to his dethronement, his assiduous
and accommodating Excellency prosecuted throughout a
style of policy which, though well calculated to awaken the
echoes in his magnificent progresses as the Deliverer-Gene-
ral of gaols, excited the astonishment and apprehension
of every impartial Judge presiding at the Assizes,
and of every friend of order acquainted with the Irish
populace. From that period up to the present moment,
neither the more circumspect Viceroyship of Viscount
Ebrington, nor the preaching proclamations of Lord
Morpeth, nor the hollow deprecations of O'Connell, nor
the temperance diversions of Father Mathew, have been
able to counteract or repair the evils of the Normanby
reign. Depredations, arsons, bludgeonings, and carnage
have been the order of the day. The crack county of
Tipperary,—the strongest fastness of Ribandism and the
Whig Board of Trade—ie, at this moment, in a state
bordering on absolute rebellion. The handful of military
at command, reduced on account of the tranquil condi-
tion of the country, arc under arms night and day. Small
pickets of troops are scouring the disturbed districts in
every direction where they can venture to show them-
selves, and divers innocent lives have been sacrificed to
the bru'al ferocity of the insurgents: '- This is Lord Nor;
manby's " justice to Ireland."
(From the Illorning Post.)
It was humorously said once of a public man, who al-
ways appeared to be busy and yet effected nothing, that
his regular habit was to lose half an hour in the morning,
and to spend the rest of the day in running after it.
Something of the same kind of' defect seems to belong to
the advocates of free trade; they have injured the corn-
coerce and revenue of the country by their measures, and
now, instead of applying themselves to the business ofizi;
storation, they keep running after the false scent w
led them astray eighteen years ago. Thus Mr. Porter,
whose theories arc al much in favour of free trade as
ever, but who finds it necessary, as a constructor of
tables, to state facts,
as well as to promulgate theories,
acquaints us that the average annual exports to the
1832 l
va u e t boy
18n3ebythyatnwtehnetyy
web: cl ee
not! inE uthroopfievewyeerearslesfrsomin
ai ct hf
of
101101 re
de d
tthhee closeclose of tthh ee wwaar .r
twNheoerweol idinnctolmeemfifiveverec yiyaeelaarrrssewltahht ions with Europe were in exist-
ence, and, except on the other side of tho Atlantic, the
old navigation laws of England were in full force. But,
in the five years from 1832 to 1836, the new system '
traduced under the Ministerial auspices cf Mr. Huskisson
was in force, and what is celled "free trade," cr a consi-
derable approach towards to it, prevailed to a much more
considerable extent than in the five jeers succeeding the
peace. It also appears that in comparing the quantity of
exports since 1821 to thecounti ies with which we have con-
eluded " reciprocity treaties," with the quantity to countries
that have concluded no such treaties with us, the progress
is leis in respect to thefrorsmbip
former, and
andgd our tradereatrinrehspaveectatoot
the latter. In short, our
thriven under the new system in so far as we have tried it.
Twhich the free traders modestly propose is
thhe remedyatw
eshr I try it further I And. .as if this were not
enough, the organs of these speculative theorists tell us
that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in order to repair
the decaying finances, must adopt their experiments to re-