The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-24 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOU RNA

SERIOUS ACCIDENTS DURING THE HIGH WIND.
During the night of Wednesday several very serious acct
dents occurred in various parts of the metropolis during the
storm, which raged with great violence for several hours.
Shortly after nine o'clock, in Ewer-street, Gravel-lane, South-
wark, a stack of chimneys fell on the roof of a small cottage
occupied by a family of poor Irish persons, and a large por-
tion of brickwork fell upon the head of the eldest child, caus-
ing a fracture of the skull and lacerating the scalp, whereby
his life is placed in imminent danger. A second accident
took place the same night to a female named Jane Tomlin-
son, of New-street, Walworth-common. While passing
through Panyer-street, East- lane, a large piece of boarding
fell from the roof of a pigeon-house, and struck her with
great violence across the shoulders and head. Another por-
tion of a house, situated in White's-place, Newington-cause-
way, was thrown down, but fortunately no one was injured.
Several large trees were torn up by the roots. The
wind,
that at
one period of the night, became so exceedingly high
fromre
several large vessels below London-bridge were torn_
be roe
their moorings, and some considerable time elapsed b
they could be made fast.
SHEERNESS, FRIDAY, JAN. _.3.—The Ferret, 10, will
be undocked to-morrow, and is expected to be commissioned
in the course of next week. Eight of the advanced ships
of the line at this port have had their topmasts and jib-
booms, which were only recently put on board by Admiralty
order, returned on shore, and the others are also to have
theirs sent on shore for better preservation. Four heavy
frigates, it is reported, are to be put in an advanced state
of commission at this port, and the Worcester and Chi-
chester, new 50-gun frigates, and the Cornwall, 50, and the
Conquestador, 50, are mentioned as having been selected.
The whole of the guns for the old fortifications have now
arrived. They. are 63 in number, and are of the following
description—viz., 4 are eight-inch guns, 95 cwt. each, and
11 feet long; 29 are eight-inch gum, 66 cwt. each, and 9
feet long ; 26 have a 6,i-inch bore, are 56 cwt. each, and 9
-
feet 6 inches long ; and four are long 32 -pounders. The
workmen now await the arrival of thecarr
which carriages and plat-
forms from Woolwich, the beds forare concreted, and
the masonry on which they are to rest being all ready to be
laid down. The guns are to be placed as follows, viz.-20
on the Half-moon battery at the point ; 13 on the
remaining Admiral's
platform ; overlooking the said battery ; and t
30 along the works protecting tliel Arracii's.rie new
works continue to progn ss most rapidly ; the battery form-
ing opposite the docks and gate is now up to the height of
the platform, its further progress has, however, been deterred
till the formation of the deep ditch by: which it is to be pro-
tected, and on which all the workmen are now concentrated.
Wooden profiles are up for another battery, with which this
is to bo connected by a musketry wall, while to the east-
ward it will be continued into the bastions extending from
the Thames to the Medway.
ALTERATIONS IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. The
change of deans, four haying held the appointment within a
period of about two years, has tended to interrupt the anxious
wishes of the chapter to devise means of accommodation for
the very large increase of persons who throng this venerable
church, especially on Sundays, when the rush to get in (until
Dean Wilberforce caused the doors to be opened half an hour
before the service began) was frightfully alarming. The
choir will be enlarged by placing the beautiful oak screens
back, so as to include the pillars within the choir; more
light will be obtained by filling the upper parts of the panels
with plate glass, like Canterbury Cathedral ; the prebendal
stall will be close to the screen, and two rows of seats for the
laity in front of them on either side. The seats in
the centre will -be made to accommodate eight per-
sons, four on either side of a division, to avoid con-
fusion in passing each other ; these will be continued to
a convenient distance from the steps to the commu-
nion ; the pews will, of course, be removed ;
gan also will probably be removed to the arches onthaec,iotlboierier-
side of the loft, which will be formed into a gfleloriii altering
of accommodating a large number of persons, t
the appearance or character of the edifice,
show -
be seen from east to west in one uninterr,up
which will then
ing the beautiful west window to very breat advantage.—
The Builder.
The Duke and Duchess of Roxburghe and Lady
Susan lanes Ker have arrived at Thomas's Hotel, from Floors
Castle, near Kelso, N.B.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
POST.—What do the gentlemen now think of themselves
who refused to say or do anything decisive in support of the,
principle of protection till they had heard Sir Robert Peel?
They have heard him. How much wiser are they? They
would not believe it possible, after what they had heard him
say in former years, that he could really mean to abandon
the principle of protection. They have now beard his open-
ing speech of 1846; let us ask them now what they believe?
Do they mean to endure this as if they were the menclels and
not the• Parliamentary supporters of the Minister? Do they
mean, like Lord Francis Egerton and Mr. Beckett Denison,

to do the dirty work of this—man who has betrayed the landed
interest ? The Minister, indeed, showed his usual craft in the

selection of the Noble Lord and the Honou?able Gentleman.
How many corn fields are there comprised within the vast
wealth of the Noble Lord? How much is the interest of
either mover or seconder involved in the interests of British
agriculture? The speech of Sir Robert Peel is, in the greater
part of it, nothing better than an attempt to got up or
revive a sort of et post facto panic on the subject of fa-
mine. Whether he was really frightened out of-his wits
two months ago, or only pretends to have been so, in order
to get up anexcuse for his falsehood and treachery, we can-
not tell, nor is it worth while to inquire. We are now to
have legislation founded on a bygone panic, and a Minister
comes down with an air curiously compounded of the pon-
derous and the lachrymose, to revolutionise long-settled in-
terests as a cure for a desperate attack from which the
country happily recovered some weeks ago. It is provoking
enough to read the solemn nonsense about letters from Lord-
Lieutenant Heytesbury and Lord Spring Rice Monteagle-,,
and " scientific " reports from professor this or pro-
lessor that. It was not in this way that ISlr.
Pitt went to work when he wanted to know how
practical matters stood. We do not know whether it
was folly or dishonesty which - prevented the Minister
from taking the plainest and directest course to obtain in-
formation as to the probable supply of food in the country;
but had he acted like a man of sense—had he acted as Mr.
Pitt would have dons under similar circumstances,
he would have sent for some of the leading corn-
merchants of London, and asked for their information.
It is their business to know, as accurately as careful in-
vestigation can inform them, what are the probabilities of
supply and demand both at home and abroad. From every
part, of the world In which information on the subject of
supply and probable demand can be had, they have letters
intended to regulate their business. The state of business
in Mark-lane showed clearly enough that the panic had not
reached them, and had Sir Robert Peel asked them how that
happened, they could have shown him very satisfactory
reasons. But either Sir Robert Peel was so overcome with
vulgar terror (which is not at all impossible), or so bent
upon making the panic of November a foundation for long
premeditated fraud and treachery (which is extremely PM-
bable), that he did not seek for good information where he
might have found it, but jumped straightway to.the con •
elusions of Cobden and Bright. But suppose the panic pre-
text to have been well founded, was there not the sliding-
scale? Did Sir Rebert Peel believe that in the face of
scarcity prices would remain low, or did he forget that
i as soon as they became high the existing law would
take away the import duties ? But he may have thought
a more sudden remedy was needful. He should, how-
ever, have known that a more sudden remedy than that
which the sliding-scale would have afforded was impossible.
Irish meetings might resolve with habitual Irish absurdity
that the ports should be at once thrown open, but the Mi-
nister ought to have known that this would have increased;
and not removed, the dangers of scarcity. Sir Robert Peel
seems to think it rather an affront to his high dignity to say
that the protectionists put him in office. He thinks he owes
it wholly to his great talents that he is in office, and this is
not least apparent, when in his own peculiarly nauseous
manner, he affects to talk of himself with great humility.
We will, however, ask this question. If he had, in 1841,
avowed opinions such as he avowed on Thursday night, or if
he had not avowed opinions almost directly opposite, would
he have achieved the position of Prime Minister? He knows
that he would not. And yet now, using the power and in-
fluence derived from the profession of opinions diametrically
opposed to free trade, he attempts to force free trade upon
the country, and to revolutionise the landed interest. The
man who can believe that such conduct as this is honest,
may next believe any extravagance of intentional fiction pr
mad fanaticism.
HERALD.—We have a peculiar sort of dread of Lord
Francis Egerton. He is to Sir Robert Peel's Government
what the present Earl Fortescue, when a Member of the
House of Commons, was to the Whig Administration from
1830 to 1841. Both of these Noblemen, from their high and
amiable characters, independence, talents, and general esti-
mation, were sure to be called forth on any remarkable emer-
gency. The appearance of either of them in the front rank
signified to the practised eye the existence of danger. Hence,
as we have said, we beheld the employment of Lord Francis
Egerton, on Thursday, with a kind of trepidation. There
was also something almost delusive in making_him the first
annunciator of the Ministerial intentions. He comes for-
ward, it is true, as a member of one of the highest branches
of the aristocracy ; and hence is imagined, by a cursory
observer, to speak on behalf of the land. But the fact as
not so. The land of England, so far as it is employed in
agriculture, is comparatively a matter of indifference to
Lord Francis Egerton. He has large property in mines;
but chiefly, and beyond all others, he is a great carrier. He
is a sort of leading partner in the firm of Pickford and Co.—
he finding the canals, and they the boats. Thus it is, after
all, manufacturing prosperity on which he chiefly depends;
and while he speaks as a county Member and the brother of
a Duke, his bias, so far as interest can bias an honourable
man, is mainly with the Lancashire manufacturers. There
is another reason why we dread Lord Francis Egerton, and
that is, his constitutional failing, his liberality of disposis
tion and amiability of character. He is the sort of per-
son to give a kingdom away, if he had it, out of pure
good nature. He is also romantic and enthusiastic. We
remember his once saying to a friend of ours, " I
am worth, I believe, about 70,000/. a
_year ; and
1 would give it all to be the author of ' Waverley.'" Is
this the sort of man whom the directors of the Bank of Eng-
land would like to entrust with a difficult financial negotia-
tion? Ills Lordship has discovered that agriculture is no-
thing else than a great manufacture. We rather think.that
it was Montesquieu who made the same remark a great many
years ago, calling it, webelieve, "the universal manufacture."
However this may be, we are quite willing that agriculture
should be dealt with on the footing of other manufactures :---
we ask no more, we expect no less. Now, we are aware'that
some of the principal members of the League, who are
engaged in the fabrication of extremely simple com-
modities—pieces of cotton cloth, chiefly produced
by machinery, and into the cost of which human
skill and labour very slightly enter—are ready to
exclaim at once, " We want no protection ;—we are ready
to compete with the world, and so ought the farmers to be."
We humbly submit, however, that to leap to such a conclusion
would be an exceedingly hasty, superficial, and unstatesman-
like proceeding. Rather let Lord Francis Egerton ask him-
self, how he would deal with the cotton manufactures of
Lancashire, if they did require protection ? Suppose, for in-
stance, it appeared that there were, near Hamburgh, a great
number of large cotton factories, which, from some favourable
circumstances, of situation, or cheaper labour, &c., could
easily produce cotton goods some 30 or 40 per cent. cheaper
than any of the mills in Lancashire. Would Lord Francis
Egerton then say, as he seems to have said on Thursday, that
It was time to depart from that principle which had been here-
tofore maintained, of endeavouring, by protective duties, to
restrict the importation of foreign commodities ?" Would
he, in a void, say, that it was a matter of little importance
whether or not 200,000 or 300,000 hands were thrown out of
employment? We are confident that he would say no such
thing. We are perfectly certain that he would earnestly
maintain that this circumstance was a most important fea-
ture in the question. And we ask no more on behalf of the
agriculturists. It is a fact asserted, we believe, by very
credible persons, that in the provinces near Odessa there are
capabilities of raising for the English market millions of
quarters of wheat, at an average of less . than
20s. per quarter. It is undeniable, we fancy, that
in the markets of New Orleans wheat is often, for
months together, sold, at an average of from 2s. 6d.
to 3s. 6d. per bushel. Add the freight to England, and it is
clear that the price is still far below what similar grain can be
produced at in this country. Is it not worth Lord Francis
Egerton's while, before he rushes to a conclusion on the pre-
sent question, to search carefully into these facts, and to see
whether it is quite certain that neither Europe nor America
can send into England, after a year or two's notice, such
supplies of corn as must effectually discourage its growth
among us, and thus, as Lord Brougham and Lord John
Russell have both predicted in other days, " throw millions
of the labourers of England out of employment."
•

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o open
nii
,---vLesaetihc,eer
moat
ance of sportsmen, have
been
awil shire
rabacynfdt
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brilliant.
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abiepdaenr
eniedetn-s:
emeas of the place. Lord and
pre-
sence greatly
The hospitalities
hac°cBoPrnitaplaitnii.ese,lll,dah%iTbdtlieoieternhdaesagsr;pnrsofu a
Milton, ubsauvael '
Lady Newporatd,:alend Colonel and Mrs. Anson occupied the
house of Lord 11 ilton, and by their frequent dinners made the
absence of the Earl and his amiable Countess less felt. In
Derbyshire, too, the hunting has been excellent. Mr. Mey-
nell's hounds afforded admirable sport, and the horsemanship
of the Earl of Chesterfield's son, the young Lord Stanhope,
excited general admiration. It is a subject of regret in Derby-
shire, that Sir Robert Burdet, the master of such fine pos-
sessions there, is no sportsman, and therefore contributes
nothing to the amusement of the county.
AUGMENTATION OF THE ROYAL ARTlLLERY.—Ap-
plication was made some time ago for an increase of the
Royal Regiment of Artillery to the extent of twenty. two
men to each company, and it has been decided that an in-
crease will take place to the extent of ten men to each com-
par.v. There are seventy-two companies of Royal Artillery
at home and on foreign stations, consequently the number of
men to be added to the regiment will be 720. With the ex-
ception of Lisburn, Ireland, where Lieutenant Clerk has ob-
tained twenty-six recruits ready to be sent to head-quarters,
the recruiting in other parts, especially in Scotland, is very
unsuccessful, and it is the general opinion of those acquainted
with that branch of the service, that the only effective plan to
insure tine young men to enter the service is to grant a pen-
sion of Is. per day after twenty-one years' service, as in that
case there would be no difficulty whatever.
WAKEFIELD CORN MARKET, JAN. 23.—The arrivals
of all grain are moderate this week. There is a much better
feeling in the Wheat trade this morning, and a fair basiness
was transacted in all descriptions of Wheat, at fully late
prices. Barley, except the finest qualities, in limited request,
without alteration in value. Beans scarce, and in good re-
quest. Oats and Shelling each maintained the prices of Fri-
day last. Malt as before.
his highness Prince Nicholas Esterhazy left the Earl
of Jersey's residence, in Berkeley-square, last evening, on his
return to Middleton Park, Oxon. The Countess of Jersey
who had been in town since Tuesday last, accompanied by
Viscount Villiers and the Hon. F. Villiers, yesterday left for
Middleton Park to join the family circle. The Earl of Jersey
is expected to leave on Monday.
CHAPEL.--
Y ROBBERY AT A ROMAN CATHOLIC
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entered by some
Catholic chapel of St. John, at Wigan, was
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REPEAL DEMONSTRATION AT .
'colnvihionusntioolne received
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received
tcroapoi roduisn ary
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toasts,an
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Members in the theatre. Be
r an aspiration
as strongly as-evehe a
ddressed the meeting were Counsellor
sentiments which fell from thenliptesrofa tlrieepsepaelalo:te,rsthberueanthioend.
,A.enrlyentigos:o,:toieiti.!sl3l,3o,l:steldhroer‘'lNnVilliam Smith O'Brien ; the former in a
Devitt latter in a somewhat argumentative speech.
to dinner, and only separated at mid-
About
night-
ItowiNG MATCH.—Benjamin Allen, of Greenwich,
and William Liley, of Gravesend, ate matched to row, in
wager-boats, for 50/. a side; the match to take place in
L I m , n'a;scwi It':
February, and the distance seven miles, between the Lobster
Tavern, Denton, and %Greenhithe. The first deposit of 101.
a side was made at Mr. Lightfoot's, Gravesend, and a final
deposit of 40/. is to be made 2d Feb. If the friends of Allen
are disposed, it is 'Bolded, the match can be made for
100/. a side.

SEA GULLS.—Yesterday several of these birds were
observed oil the river Lear Battersea, and having hovered
round for some time, they took their flight.