The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-29 00:00:00

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.
LISBON, OCT. 22.—The Howe, 120, Captain Sir
James Stirling. has just anchored off Belem Castle.
The whole of Sir Charles Napier's squadron was
under way to receive the Queen Dowager, who was
on board. The ships were formed into two lines off
Belem, when the Howe passed through them, the
ships and castles saluting the Royal standard, which
was flying from her main.
The Howe will proceed with the Queen Dowager
to Madeira on the 26th.
Mr. Biddlecombe, Master of the flag-ship St. Vin-
cent, was selected to pilot the Howe into the Tagus,
and will take her out again when she leaves for Ma-
deira. This officer has been outside the last week in
the Jackal iron steam-vessel, Lieutenant Commander
Western, surveying the entrance to the Tagus.
The Vixen arrived three days since from England,
with the Duke of Palmella and suite and Mr. Percy
Doyle, the new Minister to Mexico.
PORTSMOUTII,THURSDAY.—Arrangements were this
day made in this dockyard, following out the plans
of Colonel Jebb, the Surveyor-Generalf Pri-
sons, for the separation of the convicts from the free
labourers in the establishment in future. Conse-

quently their working sheds, and other matters con
nected with their work, have been removed to situa-
tions where no communion can take place. In future
they will labour entirely separate from the respect-
able artisans of the yard.
A quantity of stores was put on board the Amphion
this morning by the Echo steamer, and at eleven
o'clock A.M. that ship weighed anchor, and proceeded
round the Knab light, under steam only. As this was
the first time the Portsmouth people had seen her under
steam, considerable interest was manifested, and her
progress narrowly watched. On her first starting she
appeared to make very slow progress, but she soon
gathered way, and appeared to round the light vessel
in a comparatively short time. But on turning to
proceed westward her speed apparently slackened, and
as long as she was in view she progressed at a slow
pace. The cause of this seemingly anomalous move-
ment was the tide, which was strong flood, and ac-
celerated her speed as far as the Knab, while it
equally retarded it afterwards. The weather was
eminently favourable for her, the wind being exceed-
ingly light, and the water, in consequence, as smooth
as a mill-pond.
The Hecate steam-sloop, Commander Moorman,
anchored at Spithead this afternoon. She will remain”
here but a very short time after receiving " advance,"
which will most likely be paidher crew to-morrow. We
drop this hint for the benefit of all who may have
letters, &c., to send out to Sir Charles Napier's fleet,
for she goes direct to the Tagus with supernumeraries
and dispatches.
The Myrmidon iron steam-vessel, Lieutenant-
Commander Roberts, was removed from the basin
to, day and the Lightning taken in.
Wind S.W. by W., light breezes; weather cloudy
with drizzling fine rain, 5 rati.
WOOLWICH, OCT. 28.—The African steam• vessel
arrived at Woolwich to-day with boys from the flag-
ship at Sheerness, to serve in the Blazer steam-vessel,
commissioned here by Commander Smith.
The Speedwell, formerly tender to the Blazer, has
been commissioned to serve independent of the latter
vessel, and left Woolwich yesterday for Harwich,
under the command of Edward H. Calver, formerly
master to the Blazer.
The Fisgard, 42 guns, Commodore Sir Gordon
Bremer, K.C.B. and K.O H., has been taken out of
dock and into the basin, and her bulwarks have been
taken down that the vessel may be thoroughly cleansed
after returning from a foreign station.
The Justitia convict ship is to be moored about 100
yards further up the river than her present station,
opposite the Royal Arsenal, to place her in a safer
position than she is at present, owing to her proximity
to the butt in the Royal Arsenal, where the testing
of guns takes place. A channel is to be cut on the
river side to allow of her removal without her being
taken into the middle of the river.

SUICIDE OF A. CITY MERCHANT.—Yesterday Mr.
Payne, the coroner for the city of London, received in-
formation of the death; of John Henry Deffell, Esq.,
who committed suicide under the following extraordi-
nary circumstances : The deceased gentleman, who
was in the 70th year of his age, was a merchant, and had
offices in Billiter court, City, whilst his residence was
in Upper Harley-street. He had recently, from some
unaccountable cause, been exceedingly despondent, and
between ten and eleven o'clock ho left home yesterday
morning to go to his chambers, and when he arrived in
Whitecross-street he entered a chemist's shop, and asked
in Latin for some prussic acid, giving his name as Dr.
Randell. The shopman, not having the slightest sus-
picion, from the rational and plausible manner of the
question, immediately got down from the shelf the
prussic acid bottle, which the deceased seized directly
and drank off a quantity. An alarm was raised, and
the parties in the shop tried to secure him, but he
managed to run out as far as 108, Fore-street (a baker's
shop), where a surgeon was called iu, an.d the unfortu-
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publishess a report from
Captain Brisson, commanding the French trader the
Si!ltan, complaining that his vessel was illegally de-
tained fur twenty-five days before Vera. Cruz by
American cruisers, and his crew ill-treated-

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.
(From the Times.)
Parliament has been summoned to meet for the
dispatch of business on the 18th of November, when,
it is understood, after the formalities which usher in
a new House, Ministers will immediately ask a
legislative sanction for their late measure. The
public press does not usually show much anxiety for
the commencement of a session, or much concern at
its close. In this instance, however, we should think
there will be a tolerable unanimity as to the wisdom
and even the necessity of convening the Legislature
at the earliest possible date. Three weeks are quite
long enough for so considerable a burden to remain
on the shoulders of the Executive; but to
wait three whole months for the results of an
experiment which hangs the solvency of the
nation on a thread would argue a courage
or an ignorance almost incredible. The statesmen
who strenuously, and, as we think, very wisely,
argued against the proposal to make Government
legally competent to such acts, evidently felt their
grave responsibility. Apart from the coolness of
going at large for a quarter of a year, after having
permitted a formal act of treason against the majesty
of the Legislature to be committed, there would be
something almost ludicrous in the contingency of
another coup d'etat, and then another, as the panic
returned, and perhaps another still, constituting a
repeated, or rather a prolonged, act of rebellion
against Parliamentary law.
There are those who would base -no objection to
find Ministers passing the Christmas in the amuse-
ment of breaking up a law. The enthusiasm with
which the exhibition has been received might be
considered to justify a repetition of the performance.
In fact, in the riotous exultation of the applauders
we recognise the peculiar tone of those savages who
crucify unfortunate singers with their greedy and
senseless encores. These divinities of the gallery will
hardly cease so long as there is any hope of having
the same song twice over for their money. It is,
therefore, with the utmost satisfaction we express our
belief that in this instance there exists the greatest
possible disinclination in the performers to indulge
this propensity. Lord John Russell and Sir
Charles Wood have no taste for cumulative
offences. What they have done they have done to
meet an emergency of the most extraordinary, and,
we must add, of the most terrible character. They
saw as it were the gradual rise of a hurricane which
was driving into the breakers first one, then another,
of a goodly merchant fleet;—they saw the coast
strewn with wrecks, and insatiable ocean swallowing
its prey ; at every fresh aggravation of the storm
another cable, that had so far stood the strain, snapt
asunder, and in one instant one more Victim was
entombed. There they stood, not altogether power-
less spectators. They were able, at a future and
indefinite cost, to create a present lull, and give at
least a breathing time to the efforts of those who were
labouring on the sea, and the grief of those who be-
held from the shore. At such a moment they acted
as necessity, as humanity, in the judgment of most
men, would require. They acted for the best, and
time alone can prove that they have acted wrong.
The principle of suspending or modifying the
operation of a law when a great necessity seems to
require it, is one so thoroughly
.recognised by our
constitution, and so abundantly justified by prece-
dent, that it is a waste of words to say that our ob-
jections do not refer to this point. In a most delicate
and debatable question, or rather calculation of con-
sequences, we have come to a different result from that
implied in the late Ministerial act. Our difference
relates to the nature of the pressure—that is, of the
aggregate demands on the common stock of mercan-
tile credit. It is our painful conviction, formed on
what seems to us very solid data, and expressed in
these columns till they have passed into a byword
with our more hopeful contemporaries, that the credit
of this country is now fearfully low, and the demands
on it unusually great. By credit, we do not mean
confidence or opinion, we do not mean an aggregate
of mutual confidences, or a general presentiment of
wealth, but a very substantial and definite mercantile
quantity ;—the nation's creditor account in the great
bank of the world ;—the sum total of our legal
claims on the universal stock : we mean something
as material and definite as the credit of a London
firm in its London bank. On the other hand, by
" demands" we understand something equally tan-
gible. We understand -the" debtor account of the
nation ; the aggregate of its undertakings and other
obligations. Of course, too, we are forced to look on
the national credit and the national demands as living
and growing things. Were it possible for the nation
to stop payment at once, and submit its affairs to a
meeting of creditors, a value could be put upon the
items severally constituting the two sides of the account.
National insolvency, however, takes a different form.
We can only look on it in progress, in aggravation, in
abatement, in flux and reflux, in rise and fall. But
still the calculation concerns real and definite quanti-
ties ; not fancies, not feelings, not anything in the
head or heart of man, but produce in fields, in stacks
acid in stores, goods in warehouses, ships and their
cargoes, money in coffers, written securities, accounts
in ledgers, things visible, tangible, and negotiable.
With regard to these solid and assignable antecedents,
we believe that the old and respectable firm, England,
Ireland, Scotland,
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unusual Co.,
havingavnt
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sufferedae
speculations—is
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having also launched into most
ag
eesions—is now very low both in
money and in credit. It is clear to us that many re-
extra
spectable authorities, including the Ministers them-
selves, look on the question as one much more of
feeling than of fact. To use an ugly word, we are
more materialists than they are on the subject. That
is the nature of our difference.
We will not for one instant suppose that Sir
Charles Wood, or any other member of the Govern-
ment, doubts the reality of the pressure, and puts it
all upon panic. Nor could we imagine men of their
calibre thinking it possible to build credit with paper,
like a castle of cards. For the present, we will shut
our eyes to the Limbo of Inconvertibles. In point
of fact, they have no such reason to glorify themselves
at the expense of the Bank Charter Act. As we ob-
served on Tuesday, the Ministerial measure is about
as guarded and cautious as such a measure could be;
and, though the Inconvertibles profess to like the
meat, it is evident their palates revolt against the sauce.
We only fear that, under the circumstances, a well-
intentioned and most allowable present relief will
prove an eventual evil. We fear, that while a fresh
impulse is given to the mental confidence of the na-
tion, still greater demands will be made on its
actual and material credit. Whether we look to
Ireland, to our factories, or even to our railroads, we
see the causes that have brought us to our present
pass still in full operation. Ireland, it is evident, will
again make great demands upon the common stock of
food. We shall again have to pay a good price to
America for a less than average quantity of cotton.
Though many new railway works are suspended, and
many postponed, and though Ministers will, doubt-
less, propose in the November session some very effi-
cacious checks and exits for these disastrous specula-
tions, yet it is too likely that the expenditure will
continue for some time at its present rate. All this
augurs a continuance and aggravation of the present
pressure, and renders it very conceivable that the
"relief" afforded by Government may be used to
the extent of three millions, resulting in a drain to
that amount on the gold in the Bank. Should mat-
ters come to that pass, there would ithen be more
panic, more difficulty of discounts, more demands for
a reat exense of
relief, and perhaps a run for gold, which Government
would have to meet at
and money. Our apprehegnsions of such a resultcharacte in-
r
cline us to the opinion that it would have been better
to let things now take their course. We are charged
with cruelty or indifference, because we prefer a less
evil now to a great and accumulated evil hereafter.
A glance at the last six months will suffice to answer
this accusation. Is it not manifest that all the houses
that have failed would have shown better accounts
and done less mischief, if they had wound up their
affairs six months since instead of floundering on
with discounts at 10 per cent.? We do not predict ;
we only reason from the past. Had the Ministerial
measure been adopted six months since, when some-
thingre-
sults show that it would have caused a fearful aggra-
vationcalamities. of the kind was loudly clamoured_ for, the
of our present At the end of
e found to have
now.
another six months we fear it will
b

NME____...._........=-...
TRADE IN BIRMINGLIAM.--We are happy to state
that, notwithstanding the mischievous and scandalous
rumours which have been circulated during te past
week, nothing has occurred to injure credit orh excite
apprehension. The foreign merchants are full of orders,
but exhibit a judicious reserve in the extent of thei
n-
r
operations. We cannot too strongly- de ten
the i
famous propensity evinced by vain and idle persons to
whisper away the characters of respectable men, for no
other purpose than to exhibit their wretched self-im-
portance. On Saturday, if rumour bad been credited, a
house of as undoubted solvency as any in existence would
have been seriously injured, if not totally ruined. Bi-
rmingham Advertiser.
Mr. Gay, the surgeon, tied the carotid artery of
James German, a child only seven months old, whilst
rendered completely insensible by the inhal
wellaition oa
f
etherial vapour. The child had a large welling of
highly dangerous nature on the right side of the face,
which required so formidable an operation, and it is
likely to be cured. Tho operation was performed at the
Royal Free llopital, Grafo Inn-rogd.