The Sun.
London, England, 1840-04-27 00:00:00

PECI AL GENERAL MEETINGS of
L.) the Shareholders in the Lough Neagh Improvement
Company, will be held at my office, No. 38, Upper Ormond
Quay, Dublin, on MoNnar, the lath of May next, at the
hour of Eleven o'clock in the forenoon, and also on the two
following days, at the same hour and place.
Dated this 22.c1 day of April, 1840.
I. O. WOODHOUSE, Secretary.

On Friday, May 1, will be published, price One Shilling, the
First Number of
BROTHER JONATHAN;
or,
" THE SMALLEST NATION IN ALL CREATION."
Sketches of American Life and Manners, selected from the
Papers of Mr. Hugo Mayfair, late an officer in the Royal
Navy of England.
Edited by PAUL PATTERSON.
To be completed in fifteen Monthly Parts, each containing
thirty.two pages of letter-press, and two coloured Aquatint
Engravings, by Robert Cruik•hank.
Hugh Cunningham, St. Martin's-place, Trafalgar-square,
and by all Bouksellers and Nevrsvenders.

COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE.—Know your
own Mind was performed here on Saturday. The comedy has
been revived under great advantages—excellent judgment in
the cast of characters and good taste displayed in the costumes.
Charles Mathews, as Dashwould, the gay, joyous, mauvais sujet,
laughing at everybody and everything, but with a hand and
heart open as day, was inimitable. A stale joke or a bad story
frequently amuse from the manner in which they are told.
Many of Dashwould's jokes are common-Place in the extreme,
especially the knotting the handkerchief. He describes his
friend Sir George Squanderstock knotting his handkerchief to
remind him of his duties in the House. " Corn question—(a
knot).--Manilla ransom not paid, a motion—(knot)—national
debt—(a very large knot)—Ere., &c. He then drives to the
gaming table, puts it into his pocket, and the next morning his
handkerchief goes to the wash and his country and the minority
are both left in the suds." The gentle unoffonding Miss Ne-
ville was beautifully portrayed by Miss Emmeline Montague,
and Mrs. Org.r, as Mrs. Bromley, was as insolent and vulgar
as a purse-proud parvenue. Vestris, as Lady Bell, sang and
played her part with taste. Altogether the piece was very fa-
vourably received. The Sleeping Beastly concluded the enter-
tainments of the evening, which a very lull house had assem-
bled to witness.

FERMANAGH ELECTION.—The election for
the county of Fermanagh hi.s been fixed to take place by Simon
Armstrong, Esq., the High Sheriff of the county, on Thurs-
day, the 30th instact. As there will be no contest, the return
will be announced on the same day, anti Sir Henry Brooke be
embled to take his seat and give his first vote in Parliament
on Lord Stanley's Registration Bill on the 6th of May, _Dub-
lin Packet.
The late Secretary Drummond got with his wife,
the daughter of Mr. Kinnaird, a North British merchant,
120,000/., and since his marriage he placed in the funds from
his savings 16,000/. Mr. Drummond had agreed to lend
60,000/. on mortgage to Mr. Martin, M.P., county of Galway;
and the last act he was engaged in on Saturday se'nnight was
reading over the rough draft of the transfer with his attorney.
—Limerick Chronicle.

THE FIREBRAND STEAMER.—This elegant
Government steam-yacht is now laid up in Woolwich Dock-
yard, for the purpose of undergoing a thorough repair, and it
is intended to remove her present engines and substitute others
of greater power.

(From the Examiner.)
"'Twas thine own genius gave the fatal blow,
And helped to plant the wound that laid thee low."
We have never recorded the death of a public man
with deeper regret than the untimely fate of Mr. Drum-
mond, the Under Secretary for Ireland. The public
service could ill afford a loss like this ; but it will most
poignantly be felt in that part of the empire with the
Government of which he was connected, and over whose
affairs he exercised an influence so powerful and so use-
ful. Ireland has lost in Mr. Drummond more than
great ministerial talents zealously applied to maintain
the credit and efficiency of a liberal administration ;
she has lost an ardent friend, an enlightened benefactor,
and an honest, able, dauntless advocate. As far as any
tribute of popular feeling can assuage the pangs of
private sorrow the relatives of Mt. Drummond have
this mournful consolation. The last honours paid to
his remains prove the price set upon his services ; not
by a sect ; not by a party, but by a nation. It is sad
to reflect that the first opportunity the Irish public had
of manifesting their sense of Mr. Drummond's worth
was the melancholy privnege of assisting at his funeral.
Mr. Drummond was eminent as a man of science,
particularly as a mathematician, before he distinguished
himself in the sphere of politics. The ability he
displayed in carrying on the great trigonometrical
operations in the north of Ireland, which forms the
basis of the Ordnance Survey, still in progress
in that country, led to his employment in 1831
in the important calculations and arrangements
of the boundaries of the boroughs proposed by the Re-
form Act, in the execution of which task he largely in-
creased his reputation, and attracting the attention of
Lord Althorp, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, was
nominated by him to the laborous office of his private
secretary. The next step in his ascent was the place of
Under-Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, to
which he was appointed, to the satisfaction of all who
knew his talents and character, shortly after the memo-
rable occasion of the Marquis Normanby's acceptance of
the office of Viceroy. This was in the spring of 1835 ;
so that Mr. Drummond had just completed the fifth year
of his services in this harrassing post, when his career
closed with such sad abruptness. Some of our readers
may remember that we took the opportunity of the Whig
restoration at the period to which we refer, to fix the at-
tention of the public upon the vast importance of the
office of Under• Secretary fnr Ireland : we enumerated
its duties and responsibilities, and pointed out all
the powers, either for good or for evil, vested in its
possessor ; our design being to impress upon the
Government the vital consequence of nominating a
man combining the requisite talents and acquire-
ments with the principles of a staunch Liberal and Re-
former. We witnessed the appointment of Mr. Drum-
mond with satisfaction, but it was not until we saw
him embarked in his new duties, and thoroughly in-
volved in the difficulties of an Irish Administration,
that we felt the full value of such an officer in such
a post. _ _ _

Upon his conduct in that post, his claims to grateful
memory will chiefly rest. He was only faulty in the
neglect and sacrifice of himself. His devotion to busi-
ness, was only surpassed by his devotion to the coun-
try. No Irishman felt the wrongs of Ireland more
acutely, threw himself into her quarrel with more gal-
lantry, or laboured with more assiduity to exalt her
condition. Mr. Drummond had an ambition beyond
the routine of his employment ; this led him to overtask
assailed and
allthe overthrew
cares
In Ihn the
and perplexities of
the energies of a frame not naturally of the strongest
constitution, and hence proceeded that exhaustion which
rendered him unable to resist the sharp disease that so
saddenly
his (Mice, in a time of struggle and furious opposi-
tion unparalleled in the history of Irish parties,
midst of
when the fhithful and efficient discharge of the ordi-
nary duties of his Secretaryship would alone have
been merit of high order, Mr. Drummond, prompted
both by scientific ardour and philanthropic spirit, en-
gaged in the justly-celebrated Railway Commission,
which closed its useful labours by presenting the coun-
try with one of the most luminous, eloquent, and preg-
nant reports ever laid upon the tables of Parliament.
A large share of the credit of that admirable document,
as well of the preliminary calculations and researches,
was, upon all hands, admitted to be the right of the
Under-Secretary ; and whenever widened views and
prejudices dispelled shall permit the development of the
mighty resources of Ireland, by the instrumentality of
railway communication, the execution of the work will
be a just addition to Mr. Drummond's fame.
A later, but not less arduous trial of his powers was
the factious inquiry instituted by the House of Lords
into the conduct of the Government which he so ably
served, and in whose glories he is entitled to partake as
liberally as he shared its anxieties and labours. The
evidence of Mr. Drummond before the Lords'
Committee not only showed the mass of accurate
information he had acquired respecting the state
of Ireland in all its branches, but it proved how
thoroughly he understood the principles of Li-
beral Government applied to that country, and
how enthusiastically—albeit not a native—he sym-
pathhized with her sufferings and panted for her weal.
With the feelings of an unsophisticated, honest man,
he took the simple and humane view of the painful
question long at issue between the lords and occupants
of the soil. If there were any in Ireland to whom he
was odious and not beloved, it was to the " little
tyrants" who mistake the meridian of Ireland for that
of Russia or Barbary, and treat the human animal al-
ternately like a beast of burden or a beast of prey ;
now exacting services the most slavish, now worrying
and maddening him by caprice, by insult, by intolerance
and flagrant wrong. Mr. Drummond warmly espoused
the cause of the Irish cottier serf against seignorial
cruelty and insolence. While on the one hand he
assisted in executing the law with vigour unprecedented
against crime, upon the other he evinced a humanity
for the criminal, which led him to investigate the
sources of lawless conduct—a search which fre-
quently compelled him to censure and reprobate the
behaviour of that class which in Ireland alone, of all
the countries of the quartered globe, is invariably
found opposed to public peace, and (such is the mad-
ness of faction !) to its own immediate and clearest
interests.

We perceivs that it is the design of the people of
Ireland to ortct a monument over Mr. Drummond's
ashes, to commemorate his name and services. Let us
suggest an appropriate inscription. It is that maxim,
deserving to be written in golden characters,—that Del-
phic sentence for which the landlords of the Lorton pack
will never pardon him—
" Property has its duties as well es its rights."
Beyond all question, no man, not of Irish blood or
parentage, ever so well deserved a public monument in
Ireland. Thanks arc eminently due to his afflicted
widow and mourning relatives for their prompt compli-
ance with the public feeling, not only in permitting the
interment to take place in a popular cemetery, but in
yielding to the desire of making the commemoration of
such a man a public work.

Mr. Drummond adopted Ireland for his country, first,
by all his acts and all his studies ; secondly, and most
touchingly and affectingly, by the expression of his dying
wishes—

" I wish to be buried in Ireland—the country of my
adoption—the country I have loved so well, and which I
have served so faithfully, and for which I believe I have
sacrificed my life."

We have reason to think that we give these me-
morable words more faithfully than they have yet been
given in the public journals : and accuracy is not unim-
portant in a matter connected with such high interests
and noble feelings.

Mr. Drummond has been cut off in the prime of
life, just when " his greatness was a-ripening," just
as the observation became rife that his office was below
his talents, and that the time was come for employing
them upon a more conspicuous and lofty stage. Had
he been less ardent in the cause of justice, freedom,
and humanity, his life had been protracted beyond his
fortieth year.
" Fame is the spur that the clear spirit cloth raise
(That last infirmity of noble mind)
To scorn delights and live laborious days;
But the fair guerdon when we hope to find,
And think to burst out into sudden blaze,
Comes the blind Fury, with the abhorred shears,
And slits the thin-spun life."
The poet adds—. but not the praise r —and so it is
with the eminent person whose loss we record and de-
plore ; his praise survives, and will survive him ; and,
although not an Irishman, he has earned, and will re-
ceive, a place in the roll of Irish pstriots.

WILTSHIRE LABOURERS.—During the debate
on the Corn-laws, Mr. Benett, the Member for South Wilts,
took occasion to speak of the comforts which the labourers in
this county enjoy, when compared with the labourers in the
manufacturing districts. We beg to direct the attention of the
lion. Gentleman to the case of poor Burt, a labourer of Font-
hill Gifford, in this county, a prisoner in Fisherton gaol,
because unable to pay one shilling and three-pence, the amount
of poor's-rate.
THE CHILD OF:MYSTERY.—A new novel is,
we understand, on the point of making its appearance, en-
titled, " Ernestine; or, the Child of Mystery ;" the subject
of which is one of those strange and exciting events which
transform the romance of real life into a more attractive
theme for the purposes of the novel writer than the utinoct
ingenuity of fiction can invent. The singular incidents on
which " Ernestine" is founded, are said to be intimately con-
nected with the domestic history of more than one noble fa-
mily, the characteristic features of whose leading members
are shadowed forth in this tale. we are led to believe too,
that a fashionable physician, and some too-well-known roues,
and other eccentrics of the upper circles, figure conspicuously
in these pages, which are understood to be from the pen o
f
an entirely new aspirant for literary fame.

(From the Fenny Mechanic and Chemist.)
Having, a leisure hour or two, and the weather, after
a succession of wet and boisterous days, being very in-
viting, I said to my friend, when we had been conversing
upon the almost universal topic of railways, " What say
you to a trip on the Great Western ? The atmosphere
is mild and clear, and I have no doubt we shall have a
pleasant jaunt."
" With all my heart," be replied, " but shall we re-
turn in time to meet the engagement we have made for
eight this evening ?"
" 0 dear, yes !" said I ; " the train which leaves Dray-
ton at seven, will give us a good half hour to spare."
This point being settled, away we steered for the
Spread Eagle, Gracechurch-street, as fast as my friend
(who, by-the-bye, was not one of the smallest men in
London), could manage.
" Are we in time for the Great Western five o'clock
train ?" said I, as we entered the office.
" The buss is just gone, Sir," was the reply. " But
a cab will save it, your Honour," added a little upstart
fellow just by the entrance to the office, who, scarcely
waiting a reply, had " signalled" one to the door. Into
we got, and after ransacking our pockets for all the
halfpence we could muster, in answer to " Please re-
member the porter—arnt nothing to day, master !"
away we drove down Cornhill, and into Cheapside,
where we soon had to encounter such a " mixture " (as
the cabman term it) as would have puzzled any chemits
in the world to have analysed, much more to have sepa-
rated. However, after a tremendous deal of buffeting
and shout:ng for a good quarter of an hour, we found
ourselves opposite the Post-office, and once more on a
fair way to the station. But this we were not yet des-
tined to arrive at, for in turning the corner by Smith-
field-bars, down went the poor raw-boned crea-
lure, behind which we had been so unfortunate as
to seat ourselves. The cab being one of the high,
old-fashioned description, my poor friend stood but
little chance of retaining his seat ; out he went, and I
quickly followed, though, by the by, if his corpulence
did not relieve the weight of his fall, it served as a very
good cushion for me to alight upon. Once more on our
feet, with no further injury than taking the polish off a
new four-guinea black coat, and laming one of the hind
legs of the poor creature that drew us, resuming our
just
in off we set again, and arrived at the station
in time to be saluted with " You're too late, gentlemen ;
the train is just gone."
Determined not to be defeated, now we had gone so
far, we resolved to wait, and be at any rate "in time"
for the next train. This, however, we were well nigh
disappointed in, for, feeling a little inward faintness, I
proposed, and my worthy friend cordialiy seconded, an
adjournment to a neighbouring tavern, where, having
called for a biscuit and cheese, and a couple of glasses
of their "best ale," we sat very leisurely carousing, until
the landlord (a regular John Bull sort of fellow), step-
ping in, said, " I beg your pardon, gentlemen, but
thinking you might be going to travel by the rail, I
thought as how I had better inform you that there
clock is a quarter of an hour too slow."

" Thank ye, thank ye!" we vociferated in a breath,
as we hastily threw down a half-crown, and, without
waiting fur the change," made for the station."
We were the last in the carriages, the orders, "Stand
clear—move on," being given the moment we had
taken our seats, and in another second or two the
snorting of our " leader" was heard, and away we went,
under hill and over dale—though all upon a level—at
more than giant speed.
From the sequel, however, it will appear we were
destined to vexation ; for what with stoppages at the
" short stations," and an occasional " slackening of
pace," to let our steamer cool himself a little, we did
not arrive at our destination until the train we had in-
tended to return by had left.
" 'What time will the next train start ?" said I, as
soon as we had witnessed the procedure of that we had
just left.

"No more to-night, Sir ! The last train has just
•
gone !"
Here was a start! It was now a quarter past
seven, and our engagement was for eight !
" What's the nearest town, and how far is it to it ?"
asked my friend, the fat man, at the same time castint, a
hasty and rather mournful glance at his legs, as if in
doubt whether they would support him the distance.
" You're two miles and a half from Uxbridge," was
the reply.
" And have you no conveyance thither ?" added I.
" The omnibus is just gone, Sir," said the policeman.
Worse and worse I" thought I, as I took my friend
by the arm, and, motioning him forward, said, " We
must travel thither on foot.'

With no small degree of reluctance he acceded to my
proposal ; and, after a great effort on his part, and much
vexation on mine, at half-past eight we found ourselves
in Uxbridge.
Seeing an ostler at the gateway of one of the inns
there, I stepped up to him and inquired, " How long be-
fore the next stage passes through to Loudon ?"
" No more to-night, sir!"
The repetition of the same words seemed to my
mind almost to denote a conspiracy against us, as, turn-
ing to my friend, with a mixture of irony and vexation, I
inquired, " Will you walk it ?"
But that I knew was out of the question. My next
interrogation, therefore, was, " Is there anything to be
hired ?"

" Yes !" said the ostler, " we have post-chaises, or
single-horse flys."
The price being agreed upon, after partaking' of
some refreshment, we found ourselves once more
" homeward bound." But our mortification was not
yet at an end. Soon after we started, the horse—
such an one as fifty shillings would purchase any
Friday in Smithfield—began to " give out," and such
a disrelish did his poor bones exhibit for his driver's
whip, that at every stripe (which, you may be sure, was
not very unfrequent), he took such a " lee lurch," as
the sailors say, to avoid it, as threathened to tumble
chaise, passengers, coachman, and all, into a deep muddy
ditch, which every now and then we passed by the way-
side ; had this happened, I should surely have got the
worst of it, as my friend sat to " windward" of me ; and,
in the event of a downfall, I, being a poor diminutive,
fellow, should undoubtedly have been crushed.
Arrived at length at Brentford, and having paid the
flyman his fare, our next inquiry was for an omnibus.
" No more to-night, sir ! The last is just gone !" Was
again to us the familiar reply.
" And is there no chance of a stage ?"
" No more to-night, sir.
" Flyman, ahoy !"
" What now, your honour?"
" You must take us on to town."

" "fis more than I dare do ; and, besides, my old
mare wouldn't go another mile further, not if you'ld
give her a bushel of corn for doing on't."
There was no alternative—walk we found we must.
Not contemplating such demands, our purses had well
nigh emptied themselves ; so that supper and a bed for
the night, or another hired vehicle, was out of the
question. We set out to walk, but I doubt whether
we should have reached home before daylight, had not
a post-chaise, returning from a wedding trip, come up
with us ; the postillions belonging to which were so
drunk, that they could scarcely retain their seats.
Into it we got ; and, if I were alarmed before, I was
ton times more so now, for such was the speed at which
they were driving, that our " ship" roll;:d from side to
side, as if the next moment she v►ould be thrown upon
her " beam-ends."

We were soon, however, in the city, and by the
Bank, inquiring for an omnibus to take us to Highgate.
" No more to-night, Sir ! The last has been gone
these ten minutes," said a waterman, who at the same
time recommended us to take a cab—the only one
upon the stand. We took his advice, and having at
last reached home in safety, and explained to our as-
tonished friends the reason of the non-fulfilment of
our engagement, w? resolved to be mere guarded for
the future in taking an " afternoon's trip by the
railway."

Patronized by theFr Majesties the King and
Queen of Hanover, and their Royal Highnesses the Princesses
Augusta and Sophia, her Serene Highness the Princess Ester-
hazy, the Princesses Mary and Rosa, her Grace the Dowager
Duchess of Bedford, and their Graces the Dukes of Devonshire
and Manchester; his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury
has also been pleased to appoint Messrs. S. and B. Solomons
his Graces's opticians. In addition to the above distinguished
patronage to the newly-invented Spectacle Lenses and Invisible
Operative Voice Conductor, the Messrs. S. and 13. Solomons,
opticians and aurists, 39, Albemarle-street, Piccadilly, feel
great pleasure in stating that their valuable inventions have also
gained the sanction and unqualified approbation of above four
hundred of the principal members of the medical profession ;
as also of numerous individuals of high distinction, who have
been greatly benefited by their use. Immediately these im-
proved Spectacle Lenses are placed before extreme imperfect
vision, it is at once brought back to its natural and original
state, every object becomes clear and distinct, and the most mi-
nute particle is seen, either by day or candlelight, with ease
and distinctness. Their Voice Conductor, by which thousands
of deaf persons have been greatly benefited, are not the least
perceptible, nor more uncomfortable, than having a piece of
wool in its place, and the faintest whisper at a public assembly
is heard with exact distinctness.--39, Albemarle-street. No
travellers nor agents are empleyed.
INCENDIARISM.—We have this week to record
another diabolical act of this kind. Whilst Mr. Germinono,rnof
Wamicombe Farm, was at church with his wife, on then
r on the
ing of Good Friday, his premises were set on n
north-east corner of the Courtlage, being
were left athome were
directly to windward,
and before the young persons who
at all aware of its being fired, the flames hadaatdtatihneedwhsuolceh
ofa
head as to render all resistance quite hopeless,
og rsi and
the dwelling-
house,ole o burnt
fthe
the barns, stables, linhays,
were entirely consume&d.e"
Three-t't fie
n e h orse
sw
hwere
in the stable, together with several calves, and the
Wu saved of the furniture in
poultry, &c., and nothing at
the house.