The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-15 00:00:00

THE d, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, AUGUST 15, 1846.

IRELAND.
DESTRUCTION OF THE POTATO CROP.
DUBLIN, AUGUST 12 —The calamity is univeral. A vast
amount of the potato crop has already been destroyed in
every county, and the remnant is rapidly decaying.
It is stated by the Limerick Reporter that Professor John-
ston, who is arrives in that city to lecture at the cattle show,
"counted upwards of 140 fields between Limerick and Dub-
lin in which not a single stalk escaped; and the same de-
struction has been observed between Belfast and Dublin by
Dr. Rogers, and other gentlemen coming to the cattle show."
In the county of Mayo the crop has suffered terribly, and
the people are in a state of consternation. The following
letter is 'from an intelligent and experienced agriculturist :
" WESTPORT, AUGUST 10 —There is an end of the potato
for this season. From the Killory to this town-18 miles
both by sea-board and by mountain, between this and
Newport—in fact, on every side, this country. presents
a most awful appearance. Judging by their looks,
the fields, oue would think, had suffered from a severe
frost; aid, worse than that, all vegetation is at an end. To
add to the misery of the poor, we were visited on last Friday
night by a most dreadful fall of rain, and many houses in
town had their cellars filed with water. In the country the
effects have been most serious, roads cut up, and crops along
the river sides covered by the mountain floods with stones
and gravel. Nothing can equal the dismay amongst all
classes; such a visitation as this no person living recollects,
and how the famine is to be averted God only knows. Our
fair was held on Thursday last, and cattle could not be sold
except at a ruinous sacrifice. Even mach cows fell Us. a
head, chiefly owing to the attempt to force sales at any
price, to raise funds to meet the coming evil. Oatmeal ad-
vanced at Castlebar, I understand, to 18s. per cwt. from 145.,
and potatoes to 6d. per stone. There is a dreadful calm—a
feeling of despair—mind and energy are prostrated ; and I
have no doubt, if means be not adopted by Government to
meet the evil in time, a loss of life by starvation will ensue
which it is fearful even to contemplate. A whole country
starving cannot be relieved by individuals."
At an extraordinary sessions, held in Castlebar on Friday,
the following resolution was adopted
" That we, the magistrates and cess-payers assembled at
special sessions for the barony of Carra and, county of Mayo,
cannot separate without expressing our unanimous opinion
that the almost total failure of the potato crop of the present
season, and the destitution which must consequently ensue
amongst the labouring population, renders it absolutely
necessary that timely precaution should be taken by the
Government to prevent the awful sacrifice of life and property
which must result therefrom.
" JOHN C. GARVEY, Chairman."
_ _

TARIFF OF AHE PAPAL STATES.

NAVAL AND MILITARY INTEL-

It would seem that his Holiness the new Pope, in addition
to the many other claims his clemency and liberality have
given him upon the affections of his subjects, is about also to
appear in the character of a commercial reformer. The
following translation of au official notice, published on the
2d ult., will be found to announce some important reductions :

LIGENCE.

WOOLWICH, Aue. 14.—Commander Smith, R.N., with
the crew and Royal Marines of the William and Mary yacht,
and Mr. Stuart, the pilot who navigated the Arnphion steam-
frigate down the river on her experimental trip on Thursday,
remained on board all night at her moorings at Greenhithe,
and the Lightning steam-vessel, Master-Commander Petley,
proceeded to Greenhithe, this morning, returning with the
Amphion in tow at a quarter past eight o'clock. A singular
and fatal accident occurred at nine o'clock on Thursday even-
ing to one of the crew of the Lightning, named George Ro-
binson. On the arr:val of that vessel opposite Woolwich
Dockyard on her return with the party who went down the
river in the Amphion, the late George Robinson was desired
to go down from the Lightning into the boat, and make the
vessel fast to the mooring buoy in the river, and he stepped
upon the buoy for that purpose, and placed the rope through
the iron ring attached to it, but some delay having taken
place in his returning the end of the rope to those on board,
be was repeatedly calledupon, without returning any answer.
Another of the crew was sent to the buoy to ascertain the
cause, when he was horror struck to observe that his com-
rade was dead, and lying on the buoy. The body was im-
mediately taken on shore, and Mr. Stuart, surgeon, was
promptly in attendance, but life was extinct, and all attempts
to restore him unavailable.
The Janus, steam-vessel, formerly experimented upon
with rotary engines by the Earl of Dundonald, has returned
to Deptford to be fitted with machinery, to render her ser-
viceable.
The Odin steam vessel, recently launched at Deptford, has
been removed to the East India Docks, to be fitted with her
machinery.
The Trident steam vessel, Lieutenant Commander Rigge,
left Woolwich on Wednesday afternoon, for Devonport and
Malta. The Trident is externally a very smart looking
vessel, and is to be placed at the disposal of Lieutenant Wag-
horn, of overland journey celebrity, to aid him in testing the
merits of the Trieste route.

" OFFICIAL DOCUMENT.

" llis Holiness our Lord, with the view of applying use-
ful reforms to sundry articles of the existing Customs' tariff,
whilst he has ordered us to confirm the generous premiums
established in favour of the manufacturers of woollen cloths
by the notifications of the 21st of August, 1835, and the 11th
of April, 1842, has authorised us, vwei voce, to publish the
following resolutions:—

" The import an export duties on the articles enumerated
in the following prospectus are reduced to the rate therein
indicated.
" This modification will take effect in the declarations for
duty which shall be presented at the Custom-houses dating
from the 7th of the current month. From the said day
thenceforward the introduction and deposit of any finished
article of clothing whatsoever will no longer be allowed in
the ports and the free cities of Ancona and Civita Vecchia,
under pain of immediate confiscation.
" The same arrangement will take effec
Sinigaglia in future years during the fair.
PROSPECTUS.—I3IPORT DI

for the city of

Remarks,

Formerly 605 c., re-
reduced 581-3 p.c.

No alteration,

Formerly 100 sc.,
reduced 50 per ct.

The Sidon is ordered to be commissioned immediately at
Woolwich, by Captain W. H. Henderson, C. 8., and the
following officers have been appointed to her:—Lieutenant,
G. H. Gardner; Paymaster and purser, R. M. Jeffery; Gun-
ner, John Rose ; Boatswain, William Tilbury ; and Carpenter,
Thomas Witey.
APPOINTMENTS TO WOOLWICH DOCKYARD.—Mr. Wil-
liam Chambers, acting inspector, confirmed, vice Stuart, pro-
moted ; Mr. Thomas Ridgway, to be acting inspector, vice
Chambers. _

Fortnerlyl2sc., re-
duced 23 1-3 pr ct.

Formerly 3sc., re-
duced 40 per cent.
Formerly 25c.751b.,
reduced 13 per et.

The following circulars have just been issued :
"Admiralty, July 3, 1846. ,
"MEMORANDUM—Whereas in article 5, sec. 1, chap. 2,
page 6, of the Queen's regulations, it is ordered that—' In
the event of an officer being in command of one of her
➢iajesty's ships abroad, as Commodore of second class, or
as Captain receiving official notification from the Admiralty,
or the Commander•m-Chief of the station on which he is
serving, of his having been promoted to the rank of Flag
Officer, he is forthwith discharged to the supernumerary
list for a passage to England, and another officer is to be
appointed to the temporary command of the ship, unless the
senior officer on the spot, or himself, if the senior officer
present, shall from peculiar circumstances consider it essen-
tially necessary for the benefit of the Queen's service,
that such promoted officer should continue for a time
to retain his command of the ship as Commodore
or Captain as the case may be; in which case it shall
be permitted for him to retain the command as long as so
requisite, and no longer; but he is not to hoist his flag nor
assume any rank or command beyond what he previously
held in the said ship, unless, while so employed, he should
meet with a flag officer, junior to himself, having a flag
flying, or shall be called to attend as member of a court-
martial; under either of which occurrences he is to hoist
his proper flag without any special order to that effect, and
to take rank and command accordingly. Every flag, how-
ever, so hoisted, without a special order from the Admi-
ralty, in consequence of so meeting a junior flag officer
with his flag flying, or being so called to attend as a member
of a court-martial, shall always be immediately struck, on
parting company from such junior flag officer, or on the
closing of any such court-martial, and no increase or alte-
ration of any kind, either of pay or of officers or retinue,
or claim of prize or freight money, or other advantage,
shall be allowed because a flag be so casually hoisted, un-
less the Admiralty, in consideration of any peculiar cir-
cumstances attending such occurrence see reason to order
otherwise.

The Rev. Robert Potter, a clergyman of the Established
Church, in a letter dated "The Glebe, Louisburgh (Mayo),
August 6," makes the following remarkable statement :
" The potato crop in this place has become so much worse
since my last communication, that I now feel bound to assert
in this public manner, and without the least hesitation or
doubt, that nothing but speedy and well-sustained exertion
can save the people from all the horrors of famine. It will
require forty thousand pounds sterling to avert this
calamity, with all its attendant evils, in the parish
of Louisburgh alone. The early crop is such, that
in some cases you will find one stone of potatoes out of
three (the remainder rotten); in others not one out of
six ; and every day growing worse. In some fields
the proportion is not yet quite so bad; but they are
very few. Some people, hitherto very comfortable, de-
scribe themselves as quite wearied in digging potatoes so
as to get so much as will be sufficient for one meal for the
family, and that all rise from breakfast and dinner almost
as hungry as when they sat down. This is the condition
of the people as to the early potatoes, but as for the large or
late crop, there will not be any potatoes whatever to be
found. I assure you most positively that already many are
suffering hunger. In another week the number will be
greatly increased, and in the course of one month or
two there will be absolutely no potatoes at all,
unless, perhaps, with two or three families out of
one hundred. It is the more necessary that all prepara-
tion should be made without delay, because, if not, this
whole district will be a scene of the most horrid confusion,
every kind of fraud will be carried on in the management
of the public works, a system of injustice and favouritism
will prevail, and the most feeble and destitute will be
trampled down, and left to perish. I can say for the people
of this parish, with whom I have lived on the most kind
and friendly terms for twenty years, that it would be no
easy matter to exasperate their minds against their natural
protectors, but I very much fear that means may be taken
to kindle up unkind and bitter feelings. Let the people,
therefore, see that the Government and such of the nobility
and gentry as are placed over them will not be slow to
attend to their calamity at this awful crisis. The first thing
to be done is to make a searching inquiry into the real state
of these people. This cannot be by circular letters to a few
clergymen and others; that is all nonsense. Other steps
should be taken." _ _

" And whereas no provision has been made expressly to
govern the cases of other officers similarly circumstanced,
such as a commander, whilst commanding a sloop of war, re-
ceiving official information of his having been promoted to
the rank of captain, but not appointed to any rated ship on
the spot ; or a lieutenant receiving official information of his
having been promoted to the rank of commander. My
Lords are therefore pleased to direct that the principles
established in the article before quoted is so far to govern in
the latter cases that such officers, notwithstanding their
having received intimation of their advancement, are not,
whilst they continue to perform the duties of :the inferior
stations they held previously to hearing of their promotion,
to be entitled to assume any superior command, or to receive
any higher full pay than previously possessed, except in the
event of a commander so circumstanced being required to
attend a court martial, in which case he is to take his
seat thereat according to his rank as captain. But officers
under the circumstances before mentioned are to be su-
_ _ _

The Tipperary Vindicator, in describing the rapid progress
of the disease in that county, says :—" The leaves and stalks
appear tainted as if with a corroding mildew, or as if vitriol or
some caustic material was thrown upon them. We learn
that linen left out to bleach near l'itckawn, last week, was
found much injured, in almost a similar manner, next
morning."
From numerous other districts the same gloomy reports
are made. Meantime great progress has been made with the
corn harvest. Wheat is described as a very good crop gene-
rally; but in various places oats has turned out a short crop.
DISTRESS IN CORK.—OPEN-AIR MEETINGS.

perseded from the ships in which they have been serving
with inferior rank, so soon as the public service will admit
of it, either by a senior officer placing an officer present to
act in the lieu of such officer promoted, or if the officer pro-
moted should be himself the senior present, then he is to
discharge himself from such inferior station, directing the
officer next in command to him to fill such vacancy, until
the pleasure of the Commander-in-Chief or of the Admiralty
be made known thereof, unless circumstances should induce
such senior officer so promoted to consider his thus acting
may prove injurious to the public service at the moment, and
in such case he is to act as before directed, immediately the
service will admit of his so doing.
" By command of their Lordships,
" H. CORRY.
" To all Flag Officers, Commanders-in-Chief,
Captains, and Commanding Officers, of
her Majesty's ships and vessels."
" Admiralty, July 20, 1846.
" MEMORANDTIM. —The Lords Commissioners of the Ad-
miralty are pressed to direct, that no clerks assistant shall in
future be rated or entered on board any of her Majesty's
ships at home or abroad without their permission.
" By command of their Lordships,
" H. G. WARD.

------- _ _
Referring to the projected open-air meetings in the county
of Cork, the Cork Reporter of yesterday deprecates such
assemblages, and warns the peasantry to consult their clergy
before attending them. But still that journal considers those
contemplated meetings of the labouring classes as the effect
of "the utter annihilation of the whole potato crop of the
district." That failure, with the stoppage of supplies from
the depots, has driven the people to the unwise courses upon
which they seem bent. The farmers' and the labourers'
wives wait by the ditch sides in despair, looking on while
their husbands break up the ground, in the vain labour of
seeking for the day's sustenance.
IRISH MUNICIPAL REFORM.

At the meeting of the Corporation of Dublin yesterday,
Mr. O'Connell said—" He thought himself safe in announcing
that a very considerable change in the constitution of the
Corporation would take place at probably an early period
of the next session. As matters stood at present it was ex-
ceedingly likely. This was not a thing that would pro-
bably operate in a party way; on the contrary, he trusted
hereafter to see more of the gentlemen who differed with
him in politics in that assembly. It was most material to
the worltirw out of the new system that all the citizens of
Dublin should have confidence in the Corporation—that
there should be a body established for the supervision of
taxation which would give satisfaction to every class. It
was time that there should be an end of party distinctions.
He thought that they were in better temper towards each
other now than they were at the beginning of that Corpo-
ration. That was a spirit which lie was sure the gentlemen
on the other side would be ready to cultivate—for his part
he would be ready to do so. The powers of the Corpo-
ration would be increased, and it would be then for them
to show that they were really a reformed Corporation, and
that the citizens of Dublin were to be benefited by their
exertions."
ILLNESS OF THE MARQUIS OF WATERFORD —The Marquis
of Waterford is dangerously ill. The Surgeon-General left
yesterday by express for Curraghmore, county of Waterford,
the seat of the Noble Marquis.
PARTY PROCESSIONS.

On Monday last Mr. Steele left town for Ballyhaise,
county of Cavan, where the Orangemen had determined
upon a procession, and the Catholic peasantry threatened to
have a counter procession. Mr. Steele has been quite suc-
cessful in inducing the Catholic party to abandon their in-
tention ; and it appears by the following that the Orangemen
have also abandoned their exhibition :
" ORANGE MEETING AT BALLymusE.—At a meeting of
the diArict masters and masters of Orange Lodges, held
in Cavan this day, the following resolution was unanimously
passed :
" Resslved, That in obedience to the recommendation
of Lord Farnham and other friends, to whose opinion we are
bound to defer, we have come to the determination of
having no procession to-morrow. We have come to this
decision solely because it is the conviction of those influential
friends that such a meeting could not take place without
great risk to the public peace. (Signed)
" ARTHUR, PATTERSON, D.M.
" 'WILLIAM MAGEE, D.M.,
" August 11, 1846."

BROMLEY UNION WORKHOUSE.
Returns have just been printed, pursuant to order of
the House of Commons, relative to the diet table now in
use in the Bromley Union Workhouse, &c. The follow-
ing are extracts therefrom :
DIETARY, ALTERATION OF.
Bromley Union, January 17, 1846.
Gentlemen,—l am directed 13% the Board of Guardians
to inform you that they resolved at their meeting yes-
terday to make the following alteration in the existing
dietary of the union workhouse :
Wednesdays and Saturda3 s, for dinner, one and a half
pint soup and four ounces bread, in lieu f seven ounces
bread and one ounce cheese ; all classes.
Thursdays, for children's dinner, meat- pudding, in'
lieu of bread and cheese.
The Board of Guardians request that you will sanc-

tion this arrangement.
I subjoin a copy of the report from the medical officer
of the union workhouse on the subject. I have, &c.
(Signed.) HENRY NOTTINGHAM.
Clerk to the Guardians.

The Poor-law Commissioners.
To the Committee on the Dietary.
St. Mary Cray, Dec. 10, 1845.
My Lord and Gentlemen—Having been requested to
offer my opinion on a proposed alteration of the diet
tables for the able-bodied and children, by the substitu-
tion, two days in the week, of soup and bread for bread
and cheese, I beg, at your request, to repeat in writing
the substance of what I have stated verbally.
During my six or seven years' attendance (id est, from
the first formation of the union), upon the able-bodied
poor at the Chislehurst House, my attention was much
directed to the diet of the inmates, and I always found it
sufficient to preserve a healthy person in health; and I
am, moreover, of opinion, after seventeen or eighteen
years' observation of the agricultural poor at their own
dwellings, that an able-bodied labourer, having a wife
and two or three children, does not obtain more, if so
much solid refreshment as the diet table affords; •but I
am of opinion that the form in which that solid nourish-
ment is given in the diet table is not the best, though 1
believe it was chosen from its approximation to that of
the labourers of the district. There is nothing warm be-
tween breakfast and supper ; the solid food is not insuf-
ficient, but in the winter especially some warm drink is
desirable, and in the Chisleburst House was to a certain
extent afforded, though not named in the diet table; I
therefore strongly advise the alteration proposed.
The above is equally or more applicable to the chil-
dren. I have, &c.

Yv
(Signed) THOS. H. SMITH, Surgeon.
On the 12th February, 1846 (alter some correspond-
ence had taken place on the subject), the following let-
ter was sent from the Poor-law Commissioners to the
clerk to the guardians of the Bromley Union :
Poor-law Commission-office, Somerset House,
February 12, 1846.
Sir,—l am directed by the Poor-law Commissioners
to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the Bth
instant, on the subject of the proposed change in the
dietary table of the workhouse of the Bromley Union.
I am now to state, in reference to this matter, that
tho Commissioners agree in opinion with the committee
of the guardians, a copy of whose report was forwarded
with your letter, and consider it inexpedient to make
the proposed change, always keeping in view, however,
the power of making temporary alterations in the diet
of the inmates, on the r, commendation of the medical
officer, which is vested in the board of guardians by the
workhouse rules. I am &c.
(Signed) E. CELAAVIOE,Se9ressm,

cause of its origin, the bull's eyes of all the vessels in the
dockyard exposed to the sun have been temporarily covered
with small sheets of tin; and the workmen are ordered on
no account to leave their working clothes on board the ves-
sels, but to hang them up in a place now appropriated for
the purpose.

The secretary of the Admiralty (Mr. Ward) is reported
to have said, that in addition to the sixteen iron steamers
already in commission, and four built which.•ar» not yet
in commission, " there were seven more now building
by contract, including the Sidon, the largest of the whole,
which was of 1,954 tons, and 780 horse-power.
The Sidon is a wooden vessel, built and fitted with engines
under the direction of Commodore Sir Charles Napier.
The Simoom is an iron vessel, building and being fitted
with engines, &c., by Mr. Robert Napier, of Glasgow.
The following are some particulars of this immense ship :
Feet Inches
Length, extreme ... ..... ... 250 0
.Ditto, between perpendiculars 243 0
Ditto, on the keel for tonnage
Beam, extreme
Depth from below the upper or sheer deck 30 0
Draught of water
Power of engines

Diameter of propelling screw
Distance of every part of the engines, boilers, and
steam-chest, below the water line, six feet. To stow 800
tons of coal.

She has X 32 gun ports on main deck.
Armament preparing for her—
Upper or sheer deck : Cwt.
2 8-inch guns, weighing
4 8-inch guns, weighing
2 32-pounders, weighing 25
Main deck :-
12 32-pounders, weighing
There is one chimney, which is the only part of the appa-
ratus connected with the engines or boilers which is to be
seen on the upper deck—the main deck—or the orlop deck.

63fr
1,198
461

634
3,285
6,247

2,071
1,281