The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-08 00:00:00

THE WESTPORT MEMORIAL

The following is the reply of the Irish Executive to a
memorial recently pt.( sented to the Lords Justices from
the ratepayers of the Westport Union :
"Dublin Castle, Nov. 25.
" My Lord,—l am directed by the Lords Justices to
acknowledge the receipt of the address and resolutions,
adopted at a meeting of the inhabitants of the Westport
Union on the 9th inat.

" Their Excellencies have learned with much pain the
distressing condition of that part of the country, and
the prospect of continued destitution announced in those
resolutions.
" Unhappily, for the last two years the state of the
inhabitants of Westport, and the adjoining unions,
has been one of considerable suffering. It is, however,
to be remembered, that the resources of the union of
Westport have been amply aided, during that period, by
grants from Parliament and the funds of the British
Association. _

"In the year 1847 the Westport Union re-
ceived a grant of the moiety of advances
for relief works, under 9LII and 10th Vict.,
cap. 107, amounting to ... •••
" A grant under the Temporary Relief Act,
10th Vict., cap. 7, amounting to ...
" And in the present year, a grant from the
funds of the British Association, amount-
ing to ... ... ... ...

.£34,382

37,993

20,950

" Total Grants ... ... ...
" A sum considerably more than double the
valuation of the union, which is 38,786 L
" In addition to this large aid a further sum
has been advanced to the union by way of
loan for the relief •f distress, viz:—
" One moiety of relief works... ... ...
" And under 10th Vict., cap. 7 ... ..,

£93,325

34,382
5,624

£133,331
Making thus a sum brought in aid of the resources of
the union, for the relief of its poor, in the period of two
years, which amounts to upwards of 68s. in the pound on
the valuation.

"It is now to be observed, that the total amount of
poor•rate made in this union, not alone during the above
period, but from the striking of the first rate, in Sep-
tember, 1842, until la.t May, appears, from the last re-
port of the Poor-law Commissioners, to be 12,5011. 145.,
averaging about 6s. sd. in the pound in more than five
years; and that of this sum only 4,1151. had been col-
lected, being at about the rate of sd. in the pound per
annum. The Lords Justices merely call attention to
these facts in reference to the appeal contained in the
address, that the Government should come forward
promptly and liberally to make provision for the poor,
and that the ratepayers will assist them with a fair
quota.

" Their Excellencies cannot but observe that it is a
duty imposed upon the ratepayers to support their poor;
and however, in the distressed circumstances of ,the
country, the Government may have thought it riglile to
give the ample aid above stated to the Westport Union,
yet the responsibility of providing for the relief offite
poor cannot be taken from those on whom it properly
rests, as the memorialists, by expressing their readiness
to assist the Government in performing their duty,
would indicate.

" The memorialists observe, that important advan-
tages are considered as likely to result from an exten-
sive project of the reclamation of the waste lands in the
Westport Union ; and, also, that some radical cure for
the present unsettled and unsatisfactory relations
between landlord and tenant should be devised. Their
Excellencies regret that.the memorialists have not more
definitively expressed their views as to the particular
manner in which those objects are to be effected.

" The improvement of the law with reference to the
relations of landlord and tenant has occupied the atten-
tion of her Majesty's Government for a owsiderabie
time, and a measure introduced by them on Oat subject
was very fully considered by a Committee of the House
of Commons in the last session of Parliament. The
Lords Justices desire, however, to observe, that, although
changes may be required in the statute law, they con-
sider that the improvement of the relations between
landlord and tenant must, in a great degree, depend upon
the mutual exertions of those who occupy such positions
respectively.
'• With reference to the reclamation of waste lands,
their Excellencies have to observe, that, in the course
of last year, a measure for facilitating the improvement
of landed property in Ireland was sanctioned by the Le-
gislature, under which, as the memorialists must be
aware, loans may be obtained from the Commissioners
of Public Works by persons desirous of effecting the re-
clamation of lands. . .

"It will be obvious, therefore, that both the remedial
measures referred to by the memorialists have not
failed to occupy the attention of both her Majesty's Go-
vernment and of Parliament. The Lords Justices will
however, feel it their duty to submit, for the considera-
tion of the Government, any amendments in the law, or
any specific project of legislation cn these questions,
which the memorialists suggest.;
" In reference to the statement contained in the me-
morial, that numbers in the Westport Union are being
daily legally banished from their wretched cabins, to live
or die, as the case may be, without any one to care for
them, the Lords Justices regret to find that the evictiwi
of tenants in the Westport Union should be the cause of
such misery as the influential meeting over which your
Lordship presided has thus come forward to •ti
Their Excellencies have, however, to observe, that the.
attention of the Government and of Parliament has been
given to this subject, and that in consequence
the powers
an Act was
op
fassethed, stsheed ,gutahred
ilalntsh
and
cap.oe e4r7s, by which
relieving desti-
tute poor evicted from their dwellings,or have been consi-
derably enlarged, and provision made for due notice
ooffficienrteinndeeadcheveicatsieo.n
übnedinegr
teven to the relieving
present stands, immediate relief ilnawfo, otdhearnedfesrheelatesriteaant
be provided for all evicted tenants. If, then, the scenes
described in the memorial are of daily occurrence, the
deaths
of the untc rtunate persons referred to cannot be
attributable to any n
defect in the existing law, however
J
they ma., 11 o,
e occasioned by the provisions thereof not
being attended to.
"The Lords Justices have felt it their duty to make
these observations on the statement contains] in the
address and resolutions forwarded by your Lordship,
which, however, they have not failed to transmit for the
information of her Majesty's Government.
" I have the honour to be, my Lord, your Lordship's
obedient servant, " T. N. REDINGTON.
" The Marquis of Sligo."
THE LATE STEAM-BOAT CATASTROPHE.
The following is the verdict of the coroner's jury,
which 'sat on the body of one of the sufferers by the
late dreadful catastrophe on board the Londonderry
steamer:— _

L 0 V E is the leading feeling of the human
breast. More exalted than mere passion, it soars high above
every other impulse of nature, and is not only stronger than avarice,
but more engrossing even than ambition. No man is exempt from
its influence, or can avoid its sway; and business, pleasure, philo-
sophy, and divinity itself become neglected under the enthralling
power of LOVE, which, unlike most things, increases in intensity
with time, until it receives the sacred consummation of marriage.
When union does not take place, however, this passion, this
fervour, this golden tide of the manliest feelings becomes a deadly
poison in the heart, which now darkens, as it before bright-
ened, all things upon earth. How is it that men, of most un-
changeable habits, will change at the very altar, and after a life-
time spent in the fillfilment. of every engagement, snap the very con-
tract asunder which should be most binding to an honourable mind?
It is the effect of conscience. The Lover, by enervation of early
habits, or the results of secret disease, knows himself to be
disqualified, and dares not enter a state which has been
instituted by Divine Law for the fulfilment of important
ends. The wretched condition of such a being must subsequently be
beyond measure deplorable 1 Loving and beloved, he entails the
most miserable disappointments on the object of his choice, and upon
himself a desolation the most horrible, when the simple possession of
natural attributes would change the scene, and yield to both a life of
aaalleyed happiness. The subject is interesting, and deserves the
attention of all. Those desirous of investigating it will find the
fullest and most satisfactory information in the little work entitled
SELF-PRESERVATION,
_ _ _

-
illustrated by forty coloured engravings on the anatomy, physiology,
and diseases of the reproductive organs ; with practical observa-
ions en the secret infirmities of youth and maturity, resulting from
solitary habits, excesses, or infection.
By SAMUEL LA'MERT, M.D.,

Doctor of Medicine, Matriculated Member of the University of
Edinburgh, Licentiate of Apothecaries' Mall, London, Honorary
Member of the London Hospital Medical Society, &c.
This treatise is the result of a long course of study in a peculiar and
mach neglected branch of medical practice, and the author having ob-
tattled the highest medical honours, is a guarantee for his profes-
sional experience, which has reference almost solely to the treat-
ment of these diseases.

REVIEW OF THE Nvoax.
La'Mert on the Infirmities of Youth and Maturity.—" There are
scenes is the drama of life which are acted with no spectator but
Conscience ; and of these the result is ever disastrous. Happy the
mortal who meets with a timely mentor to snatch him from the gulf
Into which such scenes must plunge him ! In the book before no
such a monitor is to be found, calculated to warn and lastmct the
erring, without impairing one idea that can vitiate a mind not al-
ready tutored by the vices of which it treats. It is written in a style
of masterly precision and lucidity, blending the profoundest truths of
philosophy and physics with the loftiest precepts of morality. It is a
production calculated to confer a vital benefit, physically and morally,
upon all who are tempted from the rigid path of abstemiousness and
propriety. A father may trust it in the hands of his boy. By un
taught innocence the book is not, of course, needed ; but wherever
laxity has prevailed, the tender yet awful voice breathing in these
pages is likely to prove as strikingly beneficial as the admonitions
a homily blended with the practical advice of a writer on medicine.
—United Kingdom Magazine.
The work may be had price 2s. 6d., of Kent and Richards, 52,_
Paternoster-row ; Hannay, 63, Oxford-street ; S
street, Haymarket ; Gordon, 146, Leadenhall-street • eif hborne
Mansell, 115,
Fleet-street; or, free by post, for forty-two stamps, from the author's
resideace, who may be consulted on these disoircderi:b t personally, or
Oy letter, daily, from Ten to Two, er from Five
t •
37. BEDFORD-SQUARE. LONDON.

" We find that death was mulled by suffocation, in con-
sequence of the gross negligence and total want of the
usual and necessary caution on the part of the captain,
Alexander Johnston, Richard Llughes, ',first mate, and
Ninian Crawford, second mate; and we therefore find
them guilty of manslaughter; and we further consider
it our duty to express in the strongest terms our abhor- .
rence of the inhuman conduct of the remainder of the
seamen on board on the melancholy occasion; and the
jury beg to call the attention of the proprietors of steam-
boats to the urgent necessity of introducing some more
effectual mode of ventilation in tho steerage, and also
affording better accommodation to the poorer class of
passengers."

TUB DIAMOND AND THE PEARL, BY MRS. GORE
—This clever novel is, we hear, exciting marked atten.
tion. The wits of the great world are busy in assigning
originals to the sketches of the Duchess of Dumfries,
Lord Stokesleigh, and Sir Horace Lumley ; but the
great majority of the public overlook these minor inte-
rests in the truth and energy with which a great moral
is worked out, and the valuable lesson afforded by the
career of the crack speaker and rising politician of the
,
day—one of the truest and best relieved social pictures TIM LATE C. BULLER, ESQ., -M.P . Wednesday
ever painted by Mrs. Gore.—Evening paper. being the day of Mr. C. Buller s funeral, all the shops
Dispatches were sent off yesterday evening from %Tom closed by all parties in the town of Liskeard, which
be rep reseated —a mark of
the Colonial-office for the Governors of Honct-lion.,
tiCS, which he well deserved respect, irrespective of poli-
.
and Ceylon.

THE FUNDS.
Three per Cent. Cousols, 86k; 'Tree-and•a-Quarter
per Cent. Stock, 86i I; Bank Stock, 192 h National
Bank Shares, 18i; City of Dublin Steam Packet Shares,
(501.) 35; Dublin and Kingstown Railway Halves, 9;
Midland, 16i