The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-07 00:00:00

ELECTIONEERING.

It is now stated, and from undoubted authority, that
the Liberals will oppose Lord Bruce, or any other Con-
servative who may put up for Southampton. Mr. Walter
is spoken of, but whether truly, we cannot at present
affirm.

SPORTING.
By the deaths of the Marquis of Lothian, the Earls of
Home and Elgin, three vacancies are caused in the Ca-
ledonian Hunt Club.
COURT-FASHIONABLE.
Her Majesty and suite left Buckingham Palace for
Windsor Castle at twelve o'clock yesterday.
The Earl- and—Guuntess of Harrington have returned
to Harrington-house, Whitehall, from Brighton.
The Duke of Buckingham has arrived at Stowe from
town.

Lord Hill left Belgrave-square early in the past week
for Hardwick Grange, near Shrewsbury.
The Bishop of Jerusalem and family were to sail from
Portsmouth on Saturday last, for Malta, in her Majesty's
steamer Devastation.
The Earl of Lonsdale is !nearly recovered ;from his
late indisposition.
The Earl of Westmoreland continues dangerously ill,
at his residence on the Marine Parade, Brighton.
The Marquis and Marchioness of Douro reached town
on Saturday from Norwich, and will leave in a few days
for Strathiteldsaye.

MISCELLANEOUS.
The remains of Sir Francis Chantrey were consigned
yesterday to the tomb, at his native village, Norton,
in Derbyshire. Last summer he visited the place, and
had his vault prepared in the parish church-yard.
The investigation respecting the treatment of paupers
in the Sevenoaks Union, terminated on Friday, having
lasted for seven days, and as far as can be learnt from,
the remarks made by Mr. Tufnell, the Poor-law Com-
missioner, the conduct of the Master and Mistress of
the workhouse was such as to justify their dismissal.
Lords Frederick Fitzclarence and Glenlyon were last
week installed as Masons at the meeting of the Grand
Lodge of Scotland.
Yesterday, at ten o'clock, the Tower was re-opened
_to the public. The ruins and regalia were open to visi-
tors at the same rate of admission as formerly.
Yesterday was the festival of St. Nicholas. In England
ho has been worshipped from the earliest times by sea-
faring men of every denomination ; and it is worthy of
notice, that there is scarcely a place of any note around
our coast, or adjoining the principal rivers, but has some
sacred edifice dedicated to him.
On Tuesday the funeral of Lord Elgin, took place at
Dunfermline. The body arrived in a steamer on Satur-
day, and at two o'clock on Tuesday it was deposited in
the family cemetery bolow tho Now Abbey Ohutt;h. His
Lordship was much beloved in that part of Fifeshire, where
he had considerable property.
At the Criminal Court, on Saturday, a witness de-
scribed himself as a " penman ;" but, on being asked in
what species of " penmanship" he was employed, he re-
plied that he " penned" sheep in Smithfield-market.
Our Glossop Correspondence says :—" It seems Sir
Robert Peel has at last considered his measures, for bar-
racks are now being built at Ashton-under-Lyne which
will accommodate 3,000 soldiers. So it appears we are
to have barracks instead of workhouses, and bullets in-
stead of bread !"—This is a revival of one of the worst
features of the Sidmouth and Castlereagh system, who,
whenever the people clamoured for bread, made a point
of furnishing them with bullets, as being easier of diges-
tion of the two.
The Court of Chancery was first established in 605,
and the present one by William the Conqueror in 1066.
Judges were appointed, and the kingdom divided into
three circuits, three to each, in 1176. Juries were first
introduced in 970 ; in Scotland, in civil cases, not until
1815. The Star Chamber Court was instituted 1487, but
this remnant of injustice and barbarity was abolished
1611. Swearing on the Gospel was first used in 528.
RUMOURS OF THE 3).ELY.
It is rumoured, according to the Naval and Military
Gazette, that Lord Hill, the General Commanding-in-
Chief, is about to retire from office, and to be succeeded
by Sir George Murray ; that Captain Sir Francis Collier
has been offered the appointment of Captain-Superinten-
dent of Pembroke Dockyard, vice Jackson, promoted ;
that Captain Peter Fisher (1814) will succeed Rear-
Admiral Bowles as Comptroller-General of the
Coast-Guard Service ; that Colonel Sir Thomas
Willshire, or Major-General D'Aguilar will suc-
ceed to the command at Chatham, receiving only
the same emoluments as the late Colonels Com-
mandant ; that Major-General Sir Neil Douglas, or
Major-General Lord Frederick Fitzclarence:. will succeed
to the command of the troops in Scotland ; that the
Deputy Adjutant-Generalship in Ireland will be given to
Colonel Wade, Colonel Thomas Napier, or Colonel
Simpson ; and that the Deputy Quartermaster-General-
ship in Ireland will be given to Colonel Bainbrigge; that
Colonel Lord John Somerset will succeed Major-General
Fannce as Inspecting Field Officer at Bristol ; and Colo-
nel Middleton, Assistant Commandant at the Cavalry
Depot, Maidstone, succeed Major-General Brotherton as
Commandant. Further, that the Major-Generals of Dis-
tricts (now Lieutenant-Generals) are not to be removed
before March next.
It is said the Tories are about to make Mr. George
Lane Fox a Peer, by the title of Lord Bingley.

STEAM-BOAT ACCIDENT.
A FATHER AND SON DROWNED.

On Thursday evening last a very serious occurrence
took place on the river off Rotherhithe, by the running
down of a waterman's skiff by the Orwell, Wing, master,
on her voyage from Ipswich to London. Several incor-
rect statements respecting the accident have gone forth
to the public, the following is, however, an accurate re-
port of the calamity. About five o'clock on Thursday
evening, Charles Gore, a waterman plying at Lime-
house-hole-stairs, took into a skiff belonging to Mr.
T. Wood, a respectable lighterman, nine persons, for the
purpose of conveying them to Cuckold's Point, Bother-
hithe, on the opposite shore. Among the passengers
were John Catlin, a butcher, aged forty- two, and John
Catlin, his son, aged nine years, both in the employ of
Mr. W. Lambert, an extensive shipping butcher, residing
in the West India Dock-road. They had got about two-
thirds across the stream, and were pulling towards the
point very steadily, when the Orwell steamer was ob-
served coming up the river at full speed, a practice
highly censurable after sunset in a crowded pool.
She continued bearing towards the boat, though the wa-
terman and his passengers hailed the vessel to stop. At
that time the Orwell was within a few yards of the skiff,
when the engines were stopped, but not in time to pre-
vent the collision ; the vessel struck the skiff, passed
right over her before her way was stopped, and immersed
the ten passengers in the water. Several watermen who
saw the accident rowed with all possible despatch to the
assistance of the unfortunate people in the water, seven
of whom were picked up. Catlin and his son were seen
clinging to each other when the boat was capsized, and
the little fellow screamed aloud, "Save me, father, save
me !" Directly afterwards they disappeared, and were
drowned. The boat of the steamer was lowered and
searched for the unfortunate man and his child, but was
unable to find them. The wreck of the skiff has been
since recovered, and was lying yesterday high and dry
on the ground adjoining the West India Dock entrance.
The skiff was a strong-built one, capable of carrying 20
passengers, and was not over-loaded.
Mr. Bloomfield, a surgeon in High-street, Wapping,
who was a passenger on board the Orwell, states that she
lost an hour in the morning in the Ipswich river, in con-
sequence of the River Queen, a small steamer which
conveys the passengers to her, getting aground, when she
was going at full speed in the dark up the pool.
Mr. Lambert has offered a reward for the recovery of
the bodies, and has issued printed bills giving a
descrip-
tion of the man and his son. The elder Catlin hadb
been
a faithful and steady servant to Mr. Lambert for 21
years, and has left a widow and four and children to
de-
plore his loss.
The tide was running down very fast when the colli-
sion took place

GREENWICH POLICE.—On Friday Mr. Jeremy
said he felt much pleasure in stating that another half
sovereign had been forwarded to him for the benefit of
the girl Eliza Lovelace, by a gentleman who had read
the report of her destitute case in the newspapers.