The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-04 00:00:00

IRELAND AND THE WESTERN REPUBLIC.

At the amnesty meeting in Dublin, on Wednes-
day night, the following resolution was moved by an
influential citizeu :
That the Irish people tender their thanks to the Govern-
ment of the American Republic for their thoughtful
genercsity in requesting the English Government to pro-
vide the exiled political prisoners with first class cabin
Passages at the expense of the Government of the United
States.

It would appear from the words of this resolution,
which, be it stated, was carried with applause, that
General Butler's party had been seeking to insult
England in respect to the Fenians, prior to the late
avowal of sympathy, in fact from the moment of the
release or the prisoners. The imprudence of the
Irish Amnesty Association in proposing such a reso-
lution at a meeting held purposely to ask her Ma-
jesty for another " act of clemency," was equalled
in a second instance on Wednesday ; for, atter the

foregoing motion had been passed, the meeting
sup gelded that the identical resolution, accompanied
by a memorial, should be " transmitted to the
Home Secretary for presentation to the Queen."
LIFEBOATS IN IRELAND.
The National Lifeboat Institution can boast of an
Irish auxiliary, and its supporters are determined to
lose no means of bringing it under public notice. A
bazaar, the largest ever held in Dublin, has
been open for the last two days, wind-
ing up with a grand public concert, and a ball,
under the especial patronage of the Lord-Lieutenant,
Cardinal Cullen, the Archbishop of Dublin, and the
other notabilities of the city. The Lord Lieutenant
and Countess Spencer were present at the ball, and
it is to be hoped the society will be considerably
enriched by the whole proceedings. It is an asso-
ciation which riohly deserves public support, main-
taining, as it does, a fleet of 226 lifeboats
on the shores of the United Kingdom, which have
during the past year been the means of saving 513
lives and 21 vessels. Ttie number of persons rescued
dr.ring the same period by shore boats and other
means was 271, and all these cases are noticed or
rewarded by the Society, whose great object is the
preservation of life from shipwreck, not the exaltation
of its own particular method. The records of the ex-
citing adventures of the lifeboat crews, however,
prove convincingly bow admirably the boats are
adapted to their dangerous service, and how bold
and skilful are the hardy seamen whom they carry.
An idea of the outlay required for preserving the
extensive establishments in good working order and
for carrying on the general work of the Society may be
gathered from the fact that the sum expended last
year was £25,956. For this amount, however, there
are 784 rescued lives. and 21 saved vessels to show.

THE POLICE AND THE "ALLIANCE NEWS."
The active advocate of the Temperance party, the
Alliance News, has been doing good public service,
and the Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan
Police has been glad to avail himself of its assistance.
Copies of an article and correspondence which ap-
peared in its pages a short time since have been
sent round to the various police divisions, with an
order directing the attention of the superintendents
to some of the provisions of the Habitual Criminals
Act. The extracts illustrate the manner in
which crime has been reduced in Bedford-
shire by the enforcement of these pro-
visions, under which proceedings may be taken
against the keeper of any lodging-house, beer-house,
public-house, or other place where exciseable liquors
are sold, or of any place of public entertainment or
resort, who knowingly permits or suffers thieves or
reputed thieves to assemble or meet together
therein. A license may be forfeited on a first
conviction of any offence under the 10th
section of the Act. Considering how ,often the
keepers of such houses are inNOcated in the crimes
committed by the men who frequent them, and how
seldom they can be directly punished for the ofience,
it is highly desirable that these provisions of the
Act should be enforced with the utmost strictness.
Colonel Henderson at least appears to recognise the
intimate connection between habitual intemperance
and habitual crime.

ENGLISH INVENTORS.
The scant reward which English inventors reap
for their labours is a somewhat hacknied theme;
but, unfortunately, there are never wanti►►g practical
illustrations of its veracity. Few could be more
striking than the case of Mrs. Elizabeth Cort, widow
of Richard Cort, the son of that Henry Cort, whose
inventions were the foundation of British
iron manufacture as it now is, and conse-
quently of a large share of the national wealth.
Mr. Cort expended a considerable fortune in bring-
ing his inventions to perfection, but though the whole
iron manufacture received an immense stimulus, and
it would at the present moment be difficult to esti-
mate in £s. d. the value of those inventions, Mr. Cort
and his family, as is too often the case, derived
little or no pecuniary benefit from them. His son's
widow is now absolutely destitute, and suffers
from chronic illness. A subscription is being got up
on her behalf which will no doubt be
liberally responded to by the wealthy iron masters of
the country, who owe so much of their wealth
to her relation's exertions. Prior to Henry Cort's dis-
coveries the ironmaaters were compelled to use char-
coal instead of coal in their furnaces, and, besides this
most important discovery, Mr. Cort invented a process
of drawing pig iron, when thus made malleable, into
bars, by means of gruoved rollers, at a great reduc-
tion of labour and cost, as well as with a vast im-
provement in the quality of the iron.
THE BIRKS OF ABERFELDY.

This is certainly not the age of romance, but it
would appear that the appreciation of the beautiful
is rapidly going out of date as well as the love of the
sentimental. The Birks of Aberfeldy, famous in
Scottish song, and dear to all who admire
picturesque scenery, can claim no exemption
from the common doom of useful timber on the score
of their traditionary celebrity, or of their present
charms of landscape. A steam saw mill is busy at
work in the middle of the wood hewing down the
trees which adorn the Falls, whose beauty is unsur-
passed in Scotland. During the last few years im-
mense quantities of timber havo been cut' down,
in the Breadalbane forests. Some noble larches and
other trees have been sent off by rail. A thousand
fell on Drummond Hill, but the residents of the
vicinity, while grieving over the wholesale destruc-
tion,hoped that at least the beautiful old birks would
be spared. No such immunity has, however, been
granted them, and the general regret is loud and
deep, since trees, and especially such trees, are easier
cut down than reared.