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

EARLDOM OF BERKELEY.

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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.

particularTHEMALTA.e
arrivedcargohe greatest
occurrenceinconve-
niencecommerce
is
surveillance.
About two o'clock P.M., 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,
rin consequence, hoisted
havedeclared
iv ed and
ing newithout
quarantine
tahnedyeeylelonw
steamers
receiving goods—one, the Neapolitan, would not even
take letters.
flag,
and
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 eould
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 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.—The
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
,Itriown 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 in Liverpool is al-
most desertvd. 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 WIIEELS.—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 1% hat are known as
the Clay Wheels, about three miles from Sheffield, near
Wadsley-bridge, and situated on the river Don. Tin,
property belongs to H. M. Greaves, Esq., end consists of
tour rooms, all on the ground floor, and which are let
out to edge tool, table blade, and file grinders,—Sheffield
Times.