The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-09 00:00:00

1,07/IDON,
_NATtratiAfir _MTENfN(4,__JAN'UA.RY
_144

THE WEST HIGHLANDS.

A correspondent, writing from Stornoway on the 23d
December, gives; the following particulars relative to
the Long Island and Lewis :

" This communication would have reached you ear.
Her, but at this season of the year Stornoway has often
no communication with the mainland for ten or twelve
days at a time. Vessels deeply laden hare made a pas-
sage lately from Skye with east and north east winds,
while our good packet was lying in Lochewe, and could
not come across to Stornoway, although having four
mails on board, and the fifth due. This, and other ar-
rangements connected with the post-office hem, call
loudly for redress, and in any other part of the country
would not be tolerated. The proper way of sending the
mails from this quarter would be by the steamer landing
a bag for Inverness and the ether northern towns at
Balmacara, and carrying letters for the south to Glas-
gow. It is expected, ere long, through the exertions of
our proprietor, that this arrangement will be carried into
effect. Having been lately on a visit to the islands of
South Uist and Barra, I had an opportunity of wit-
nessing the destitution that prevails amongst the inha-
bitants of these remote places. In former times the
principal employment of the people was the manufacture
of kelp and the prosecution of the fisheries, The price
of kelp at market has been very low for many years
past, and consequen.ly few of the people now do any-
thing at it. There is, perhaps, no part of Scotland
where the fisheries might to carried on with more
tus-
cess than around the islands above-mentioned; and at
the time when bounty was payable on fish the take yearly
was very considerable, but of late the prices of fish have
also fallen, and the people ale getting so poor that they
are not able to keep their boats in proper repair, or pur-
chase fishing materials, and few of those are ab'e to go
out to sets at all. The consequence is, the li.hit g; in
this quarter, for the last two years, have dwindled down
to a mere trill.; and I am sorry to say, that the men are
noways encouraged by those whose duty it might be sip
posed to help them. The potato crop in these, as in most
of the other parts of the Highlands, has entirely failed.
Many families who were removed last spring to bring in
moss-ground have not a single grain of meal of any
kind, and are wholly depending on the bounty of othe&s
for subsistence. Government seems to be doing every-
thing for Ireland and overlooking the Highlands.
I am confident that at this moment there is no part of
Ireland in a worse condition than the places I have
mentioned. There is scarcely a single man employed at
work of any kind in the whole islands. The roads
which were begun two years ago, and which gave em-
ployment to many of the inhabitants, were stopped last
harvest. The men of Barra and Uist are hardy seamen;
none can manage boats better, or are more daring. I
have no hesitation in saying, that were the sum of 2,0001.
laid out in the building of boats and purchasing fishing
materials, and distributed amongst the fishermen of
these islands, that but little other help would be required,
as the men are willing and anxious to be employed.
North Uist, in general, is not in such a bad condition,
being less thickly populated.
" The island of Harris, in many parts of it, is in like
condition with South Uist and Barra. The country,
unfortunately, is at present under the management of
trustees, and there is no work of any kind carrying on.
The fisheries here, from the same cause as the other, is
merely a name. The island of Lewis, fortunately, is
in the hands of a benevolent proprietor, who has been
improving the country since it came into his possession,
and is at present employing many people at making of
roads, building piers and storehouses, bringing in waste
land, and various other things, and is keeping the island
in a supply of meal, sa that there is no fear of want.
At the same time the, people in some parts of the island,
especially in the parish of Uig, are badly off, their po-
tato and barley crops having failed. The fisheries in
Lewis are carried on in a different and more successful
manner than in any part of the Long Island. The
curers generally furnish the fishermen with boats and
fishing materials. The boats being paid in three years,
and the fishing materials at the end of the season, the
consequence is the take is yearly improving. I hope
these facts will be the means of calling forth the sym-
pathies of the people in the low country in behalf of the
poor inhabitants of the Long Island, and I am sure that
any assistance givE n them will be thankfully received
and gratefully remembered."—lnverness Courier.

PAINFUL AND EXTRAORDINARY

CASE OF LUNACY.

On the evening of Wednesday last, a man in the garb
of a sailor entered the shop of Mr. Maplestone, up-
holsterer, St. Matthew's-street, in this town, and on
seeing that gentleman told him he was then come to
take possession of the property in his (Mr. Maplestone's)
shop and premises, for it all belonged to him, and at the
same time desired that Mr. Maplestone should imme-
diately leave the premises. Mr. Maplestone at once
perceived that the poor fellow was labouring under
an aberration of mind, and did as he was requested ;
thinking that if he were to attempt to remonstrate
with the man upon his strange delasion he might pro-
ceed to acts of violence ; he accordingly left his shop,
and very wisely sought the assistance of the police
who returned with him to his shop, from whence the in-
truder was removed to the station-house, and while there
it was quite evident from the poor fellow's conduct that
he was insane. On the following morning (Thursday)
Mr. Manning, the Relieving Officer, applied to the
Mayor, at the Town Hall, for his advice as to how he
should deal with the case, the man having been found
within his district. He said Mr. G. &den, surgeon,
had seen the man, and that gentleman had
adviced that he should be properly taken care
of for a few days, when he probably might be
so far recovered as to be sent to his home. The Captain
of the "Three Hands," from Goole, in Yorkshire, who
was in attendance, stated in answer to qustions put
by the Mayor, that the name of the unfortunate man
was William Jackson, whom he had engaged on leaving
Goole, as a seaman on board his vessel, at which time
he appeared to be in good health, in mind, as well as
body. The first symptoms of an unsoundness of mind
in the man, he said, were noticed in the night prior to
Christmas-day, for Jackson went into the Captain's
cabin about twelve o'clock at night, and said to the
captain, who was in bed, " That he had been in Heaven
and with Jesus Christ," and otherwise talked in an
incoherent manner ; but upon being requested to go to
bed, he left, and the captain did not see him again till
the following morning (Christmas-day), at which time
he was reading his bible. The Captain, in continuation,
said, after having witnessed other acts which led
him to believe that the poor fellow was non compos men-
tis, he had him kept as quiet as possible until the vessel
reached Harwich, which it did on Wednesday last, at
which place he had him conveyed ashore for safety by
the crew of a smack, but he had contrived to come up to
Ipswich on board the River Queen steamer on the
same day. He was afraid, in the state of mind
Jackson then was, to take him back to Goole,
where he had a wife living. The Mayor told the
captain (who had said he was going to sail for Goole
on the following day) to inform Jacksons wife, on
his return, that her husband would be taken care
of while here, and ordered the relieving officer to see
that he was taken to the union house, there to be kept in
a room, with a fire, and to have a person constantly with
him. The poor man was removed from the magistrates'
'
room exclaiming that he was °' King of the country.
The poor fellow's disordered state of mind was painfully
evident, from the fact that, shortly before he was re-
moved from the vessel, he was caught sitting over the
fire which he had kindled upon the cabin floor. Jackson
was brought before the magistrates on Monday (yester-
day), who granted an order to the relieving officer, Mr.
Manning, to remove him to the Peckham Asylum.—
Ipswich Express.

ciRCULAR.
The Queen and Prince Albert, accompanied by the
Prince of Wales, Prince Alfred, the Princess Royal,
the Princess Alice, and the. Priness
ord Helena, and at-
tended by the Marchioness of Douro, L Waterpark,
Colonel the Hon. C. B. Phipps, Major-General Bowles,
Lord Alfred Paget, and Colonel Seymour, arrived at
Claremont, at four o'clock on Thursday afternoon,
from Windsor Castle.
Yesterday mtlning his Royal Highness Prince Al-
bert enjoyed the sport of shooting, attended by some of
the Gentlemen of the Royal Suite.
Her Majesty and l'rince Albert walked yesterday in
Claremont Park.
The Royal Family took walking and riding exercise
yesterday In the pleasure-grounds of Claremont.
A Cabinet Counoil was held at twelve o'clock yester-
day, at the Foreign-office. The Ministers present were
Lord John Russell, the Lord Chancellor, the Marquis of
Lansdowne, the Earl of Minto, Sir George Grey, Vis-
count Palmerston, Earl Grey, Earl of Auckland, Lord
Campbell, Earl of Clarendon, and the Right Hon. T. B.
Macaulay.
Lord Campbell arrived in town on Thursday night,
from York. The Earl of Clarendon arrived in town
yesterday morning, from Grove Park, Herts. The Earl
of Minto and Viscount Palmerston also arrived in town
yesterday morning, to attend the Council.
The Marquis of Clanricarde, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, and Sir John Hobhouse are out of town.
The Council sat two houri.
The Marquis of Lansdowne left town after the Council
for his seat Bowooal Park, Wilts.
A deputation, including Sir John Rae Read, Mr.
Hankey, jun., Mr. C. Marryatt, and Mr. Macgregor, had
an interview with Earl Grey yesterday at the Colonial-
Office.
The Archbishop of Canterbury had an interview with
Lcrd John Russell yesterday, at his official residence, in
Downing. street.
Despatches were received yesterday at t're Colonial-
officeColonies,
from the Governors of the West Indian
and also from the Governors of St. Ijel~ tea,

ILLNESS or THE EARL OF JERSEY.—We regret
to learn that the Earl and Countess of Jersey and Lady
Clementina Villiers have been detained some weeks at
Frankfort-on the-Maine by the very dangerous ilness of
the noble Earl. On the 25,h and 26th ult. he was con-
sidered to be in a very precarious condition, and fears
were entertained for his ultimate recovery. A favour-
able change, however, took place; and from the last
to say his Lordship was mending, h
lettersalth weough slow are
ly. appy
ACCELERATION OF THE MAIL.--..We are happy to
be at length enabled to state, that a speedy acceleration
of the mail northward from Edinburgh may be expected.
Intimation has been given to the contractors that a
change of hours is to take place from some day in Fe-
bruary, when the mail which at present arrives in Edin-
burgh in the evening will be forwarded shortly after to
the north, instead of waiting as at presnt till half-Fast
five in the morning. By the contemplated change, the
mail may be expected to reach Perth about half-past
three, when it will proceed immediately to Invernes.—
Perth.shire Courier.

THE IRISH MAGISTRACY:A communication from
John O'Brien, Esq., M.P.,
. states that the Lord-Lieu-
tenant has appointed William Geary, M.D.; E. F. G.
Ryan, and Martin Ronan, Esqrs., to be magistrates of
the city of Limerick.

PRIVATE BILLS.

There has just been issued (pursuant to an order of
the House of Commons, dated 26th August) a return. of
a list of all the Private Bills which have passed during
the present session of Parliament, for which a subscrip7
Lon contract, or undertaking in lieu of a subscription
contract, has been deposited in the Private Bill Office,
classified acearding to the nature or object of the work;
stating the amount of the estimate for each work, of the
capital stock to be raised in each case, and the rum au-
thorised to be borrowed over and above such capital
stock, and showing the total amount of the estimates,
capital and money, to be borrowed for each class of such
works. This return has previously been issued in dif-
ferent forms; giving a complete list of the several Rail-
way, Navigation or Canal, Waterworks, Ferries and
Docks, Piers and Harbour, Bridge, Road, and Miscel-
laneous Bills. The Railway Bills occupy in enumeration
four and a half folio pages, and the estimates of expense
altogether amount to 90,789,2741.; the capital stock is
78,382,390/.; and the money authorised to be borrowed
to 30,597,5951. There are five Navigation and Canal
Bills named in the Stilllo list—the estimates of expense
being 2(17,950/. ; the capital stock 170,000/. ; and the
money authorhed to be borrowed 166,600/. The Water-
works Bids in the lime document are twenty- three in
number; the estimates of expense being 1,063,631/.; the
capital stock 1,514,580/ ; and the money authorised to
b:: borrowed 509,333/. The Ferries and Docks Bills were
seven in r umber ; the Piers and Harbours Bills also
seven; one Bridge Bill, two Roads Bills, and six Mis-
cellaneous Bills (Drainage, Cemetery, and Thames Em-
bank men t, &c.) The following summary shows the total
results of the doeument:—

Descriptions of Bills.

1. Railways
2. Navigation and Canals
3. Waterworks
4. Ferries and Docks ....
5. Piers and Harbours...
6. Bridges
7. Roads
8, Miscellaneous ........

Total.,

Estimate of
Expense.

90,789,274
297,950
1,063,631
2,996,683
263,031
130,000
13, ! 40
186,358

L 95,740,067

Capital
Stock.

78,332,390
170,000
1,514,580
1,590,000
174,000

270,000

182,100,970

Money
authorised
to be
borrowed.

30,597,595
166,600
509,333
1,913,000
86,266
60,000

140,000

[33,472,794

Number of railways in t
the royal assent
Other Railway Bills for which no subscription con-
tract, or declaration in lieu thereof, has been depo- 29
sited, but which have received the royal assent....

Lis return which have rei

:eived

Total royal assents . 268
WM. HAWES.

Private Bill Office, August 28, 1846.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

The Leeds and Thirsk are showing, symptoms of a
speedy commencement of actual working traffic between
their termini. Their last public notification gives an
inventory of their wants for working plant, in the shape
of 24 second and 36 third-class carriages. Of heavier
plant they require 50 close vans for the conveyance of
general merchandise, 50 flat trucks, 20 horse-boxes,
30 trucks for the conveyance of cattle, 20 trucks for
the conveyance of carriages, eight vans for passengers'
luggage.
The grand central station about to be erected on the
laud opposite to the present terminus of the Chester and
Crewe branch of the London and North-Western Rail-
way, at Chester, is estimated to cost 80,0001.
The North British are about to take tenders for the
execution of the whole works on their Dune, Tranent,
and Cockenzie branches, about eleven miles in length.
No tender has been made to the Minister of Public
Works for undertaking the Saint Dizier and Gray Rail-
way, consequently the execution of the works remain in
the hands of the Government.
One of the workmen of the London and North-West-
ern Railway Company's works, Crewe (says the Liver
pool Mercury), gave a vocal entertainment in the girl's
school-room, on New-year's evening, which, though not
numerously, was very respectably attended. The audience
were extremely delighted with the abilities of the per.
former, and expressed their desire, amidst rapturous ap-
plause, for the repetitidn of the entertainment, on some
future evening, when, it is hoped, his exertions will
meet with that reward he has so justly merited.
RAILWAYS AND PAROCHIAL RATES.—The following
instance of the benefits derived by parishes through
which railways pass, was related by one of the speakers,
a Mr. Hudson. at a public meeting of landholders and
occupiers, held at Chobham a few days since, to take
into consideration the proposed Windsor, Staines, and
South-Western Railway. Mr. Hudson stated, as a proof
of the beneficial results of railways on parochial rates,
that in the parish of Woking a piece of land which, be-
fore the completion of the railway only paid eleven shil-
lings towards the rates for the relief of the poor, now
paid no less a sum than 175/.

PROJECTED RAILWAYS.—STANDING ORDERS
OF THE HOUSE OF CONINIONS, SESSION 1847.
In pursuance of the standing orders of last session,
authorising Mr. Speaker to appoint one or more officers
to be called " The Examiners of Petitions for Private
Bills," one to be chief examiner, that Right Hon.
Gentleman has appointed Mr. Smith (chief) and
Mr. May, who, in accordance with the 9th standing
order, have fixed Friday next, the 15th inst., for the
commencement of their duties. The petitions have been
entered on the general list, in the order of their deposit,
and by the Speaker's regulation the petitions will be set
down for hearing before the examiners in that order.
The examiners will commence their sittings daily at
10 o'clock precisely, and, by the 10th standing order,
"In case the promoters shall not appear at the time
when the petition shall come on to be heard, the examiner
to whom the case shall have been allotted shall strike the
petition off the list, and shall not re-insert the same,
except by order of the House."
The tollowing is a list of the petitions for the lath and
16th inst.:—

•CJ
Week o m
ending NAME OF RAILWAY. Last ac, ts
week. r, .
ao
0 a
- _ ---
X X
Jan. 2 Arbroath and Forfar •••• • •
1 Chester and Birkenhead .•••••• • • • • • • 632 655
Dec. 31 Dublin and Drogheda ••• • • • ••••• • • • • 658 172
Jan. 5 Dublin and Kingstown ••••••• • • • • • • • 837 1,062
3 Dundee and Arbroeth .••••••• • • • • • • • 363 329
- Durham and Sunderlard •••• • • - 611
2 Edinburgh and Glasgow .••••• • • • • • • 3,999 3,005
3 Eastern Counties and North Eastern 9,011 7.038
2 East Lancasihre .• • • ..... ..... .. •. • • 951 _
Dec. 27 Eastern Union ••••••••••• • • • • • • • " • • 501 -
Jan. 2 Glasgow, Kilmarnock, and Ayr ••• • • • 2.710 2,464
2 Glasgow and Greenock •••• • • •
- Gravesend and Rochester. •••••• • • • • • - -
2 Great Southern r.nd Western •••• • • • • 1,016 -
3 Great Western, &c • •
-- Hartlepool . . - -
2 London and Nerth Western, &c. ..... 34,177 33,192
3 London and Blackwall.• •••••• • • • • • • 660 695
2 London and Brighton .•••• • • • • .... • • 5,701 4,542
- London and Croydon - -
3 London and South Western .•• • • •
- Manchester, Bolton, and Bury - -
2 Manchester, Leeds, and Hull Assoc 8,156 6,951
2 Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire 2,299 1,967
3 Mary port and Carlisle ••••••• • • • - • • 474 343
2 Midland, Bristol, and Birmingham .• .• 16,775 14,904
2 Newcastle and Carlisle •.••••• • • • • . • . 2,018 1,594
- Newcastle and North Shields.• ••• • • •
2 Newcastle and Berwick •••••• • • • • • • 541 438
3 Norfolk ••• • • • .... •• • .
2 North British .. •••••••••• • • • • • • • • • • 1,444 -
4 Paris and Rouen .• • • ...... ••••• • • .. 5,880 4,732
2 Preston and Wyre•• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 549 387
1 Shrewsbury and Chester -
2 South Eastern and Branches •••• • • .. 7,522 5,122
1 South Devon •• -
2 Taff Vale ••• • • •
3 Ulster. . ....... •• •• •• •• •• •• • •
2 York and Newcastle .•••• • • • • ...... 5,021 4,003
2 York and North Midlard .-• • • • .... 4,975 4,462

The Porcupine steam-vessel, Captain Bullock, is now
ready for sea, and is to be sent to Ireland to convey corn
and other provisions from one port to another.

ETd.—(CoRTHiUtb:)

THE COMIC HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
By Gilbert A. ifßeelictt.
_

- - ----
-Merrily does Gilbert A. A'Beckett laugh through the
reigns of Richard 11. and Henry 11T. in the present
number, and right merrie are the illustrations of
Leech. In accordance with " time-honoured cus-
tom," our historian gives us a chapter on " the con-
dition, custom
j s, candlesticks, sports, pastimes, pit-
chers, mugs, jugs, and manners of the people, tracing
the progress of art from the coarse pipkin of the early
Briton, to the highly respectable tankard found in the
ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, which proves the teeth
of the Monks to have been decidedly liquorish."
According to our facetious historian—
" The Anglo-Saxon husbandman was little better
than a serf who was paid for his labour by the land-
owner, but the former furnished the base without which
there would have been no locus standi fur the latter's
capital. It was customary in those days to encourage
the peasantry by prizes, which did not c,,nsist of a coat
for a faithful servitude of nearly a life, but a grant of a
of the land to which the labourer bad given in-
creased
piece
value by his industry. The proprietors of the
soil hail not yet learned the wisdom of trying how much
a brute could be made to eat, and how little a human
being could exist upon.
" With reference to the domestic habits of the period,
it has been clearly ascertained that people of substance
took four meals a day, and as they took meat at eviry
one, their substance can be no matter of astonishment.
The Britons had not been in the habit of dressing their
food, which is not surprising, fur they scarcely dressed
themselves ; but the Anglo-Saxons were nut so fond of
the raw material. With them the pleasures of the table
were carried to excess, and drinking went to such an
extent, that every monk was prohibited from taking any
more when his eyes were disturbed, and his tongue
began to stammer. The misfortune, however, was, that
as all who were present at a banquet, generally began to
experience simultaneously a disturbance of the eye and
a stammering of the tongue, no one noticed it in his
neighbour, and the orgies were often continued until the
stammering ended in silence, and the optical derange-
ment finished by the closing of the organs of vision."

DAVIDSON'S UNIVERSAL MELODIST.
Park I. and 11.

Each of these parts contains the music and words
of 125 popular standard and origin.o songs, for one
shilling. The work is edited by Mr. George Ho-
garth, whose name alone is a sufficient guarantee for
its accuracy and its merit.

THE FREEMASONS' QUARTERLY REVIEW.
This is an excellent number of The Freemasons,
Quarterly, and in addition to a vast amount of masonic
lore, which is most interesting to the craft, it contains
a very learned article on "The Vitrified Forts of
North Britain," the perusal of which will be gratify-
ing to all who have a taste for antiquarian research.