The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-31 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

The Queen, attended by the Countess of Gain,bor, ugh
and Colonel the Hon. Charles Grey, visited her Ma-
jesty the Queen Dowager yesterday, at Marlhorcugh
House. The Queen also visited her Royal Highness the
Princess S 4 phia at her residence in Kensington..
His Royal Highness Prince Albert, attended by Colo-
nel the Hon. C. B. Phipps and Colonel Bouverie, ho-
noured the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Ma-
nufactures, and Commerce, in the Adelphi, with a visit
yesterday,
Lord John Russell had an audience of her Majesty
yesterday at Buckingham Palace.
The Royal Family took their accustomed walking
and riding exercises yesterday, in the royal garden.
The Duchess of Sutherland, the Mitrchioness of Or-
monde, Colonel the Hon. C. B. Phipps, and Captain
Francis Seymour, had the honour of joining the royal
circle at Buckingham Palace at dinner yesterday
evening.
A Cabinet Council was held at three o'clock yester-
day afternoon, at Lansdowne House, Berkeley-square.
It was attended by Lord John Russell, the Marquis of
Lansdowne, the Earl of Minto, Sir George Grey, Earl
Grey, Earl Auckland, Lord Campbell, Sir John Hob-
house, the Marquis of Claericarde, the Earl of Claren-
don, Viscount Morpeth, and the Right Hon. T. B. Ma-
caulay.
The Council sat an hour and a half. The meeting
took place at Lansdowne House, owing to the continued
indisposition of the Marquis of Lansdowne.
The Right Hon. T. Milner Gibson has for some days
been prevented by indisposition from attending at the
Board of Trade. The Right Hon. Gentleman is now
much better.

Dispatches from the Governor of the Cape of Good
Hope were received yesterday at the Colonial•ofce.

THE POTATO CROP.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sia,—ln your paper of last evening appeared a letter,
signed " Alfred Smee," relative to the failure of the
potato in Ireland, and recommending that efforts should
be made to prevent a like occurrence in future. The
letter was headed " Food or Famine," and was calcu-
lated, I think, to impress persons with the notion that
the Irish are still to continue to depend on the potato as
they have hitherto done. Now, Sir, my object in trou-
bling you, in this hasty and very imperfect manner, is
to endeavour to call attention to this subject, for I am
satisfied it is a subject that has not yet had that atten-
tion which it demands. I remember the time when Mr.
Cobbett went over to Ireland for the purpose of seeing,
with his own eyes, the condition of the Irish people, and
on his return, I remember he stated that they could only
be rescued from the destitution in which he found them,
and which he so forcibly described, by introducing the
English poor-law, and banishing the potato ; he
gave it as his opinion, that the Irish people could
never have been reduced to such utter poverty if the
potato had not been introduced, and he considered it the
curse of the country. When we reflect that failures
'more or less extensive have constantly attended the
potato crops, and that the people have been so fre-
quently of the verge of starvation,
_ I think it becomes
the duty of every man to do what he can to prevent the
continuance of such a state of things. The sufferings which
the poor Irish people have endured from time to time
within my recollection on account of the failure of the
potato, induces me to inquire if it can be desirable that
they should continue to live on this lowest description
of food, which has, in the opinion of men who have
thought a great deal on the subject, been the means of
degrading the Irish people below the people of any
other country in Europe, and has caused more suffering
than has been endured in any other country on the face
of the earth. I am, Sir, your obedient servant.
JOSEPH HEYLIN.
25, Fort-street, March 26, 1847.

TEXAS.
We have received the following letter in reply to
some remarks which have appeared in the different
journals regarding emigration to Texas :
Six,—The eagerness with which the Government
emigration agents have seized upon the slight expression
of the Acting British Vice-Consul at Galveston, suffi-
ciently indicates the alarm they feel lest emigration
should be diverted to Texas from the less-favoured Bri-
tish colonies whose interests they have the honour of
representing.
Besides a crowd of other writers, Mr. Kennedy, very
lately Consul in Texas, publishes a book lavishing un-
qualified praise on climate nil and advantages; he had
travelled not with the mere view of satisfying an un-
profitable curiosity, but encharged with the setious duty
of making a true report with views to lucrative
operations. .

Against such testimony is placed the loose allegation
of the young shopkeeper of Galveston, Mr. Arthur
Lynn, appointed by the said Consul Kennedy, on his de-
parture for England, to act ad interim.
Mr. Lynn's knowledge of the interior is believed to be
very circumscribed, but be it what it may, he has far too
much sense of his obligation to Mr. Kennedy, to intend
holding him up for an impostor—the inference therefore
is, that Texas has been praised for climate, &c., by some
yet more enthusiastic writer than Kennedy, and as the
instance adduced by Mr. Lynn relates to the German
settlers, the ardent eulogium he complains ofais probably
to be found printed in that language.
Having myself, seen a good deal of Texas, and of
other parts of the world, and moreover being a lover of
fair play, I make bold to assert, that although there are
unhealthy portions near the coast, the upper country,
the counties of Milam, Robertson, Bexar, &c., are of •
climate more delightful and healthy than I ever ex-
perieeced in any other part of the world, and that in
point of soil Texas possesses a larger portion of the
very best, intermixed with less of the worst, than any
other state I have visited. In regard to the term " ad-
vantages," I am unable to comprehend what Mr. Lynn
might mean, but, if he was thinking of streams and
minerals, it would be difficult to name an extent of coun-
try that is so rich in them.
The German emigration was too rapidly pressed—the
well doing of the first settlers at Braunsfels has been re-
ported home, and set all Germany emigration mad—the
ships have been over-crowded, the old and sick and
sedentary would not consent to be left behind by their
relatives, the strength of some has, by inevitable se-
quence, failed on the route. The pious weakness that
suffered such persons to accompany an expedition calcu-
lated, at first, for only healthy and laborious agricultur-
ists, may be blamed, but it appeals to the best sym-
pathies of our nature; and if the victims choose to take
the risk, we may lament their infatuation, but ought to
inculpate neither the climate nor the prudence of the
emigration scheme.

London, March 26, 1847.