The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-02 00:00:00

THE POTATO DISEASE.

DUBLIN, DEC. 31.—The weather still continues most
unpropitious, the rain nearly incessant, and. the wind a
perfect-hurricane ; notwithstanding which the accounts
of the potato crop are, on the whole, less unfavourable
Within the last few days than might have been. anti-
cipated'.
"EXTRAORDINARY CORRESPONDENCE."
tuder the above head, the Mail of this evening pub-
lishes the following strange correspondence between Mr.
T. Jefferson Hogg and Sir Robert Peel. Why Mr.
Hogg. should select a Dublin journal as the medium for
communicating these documents to the public, or why
their publication should be withheld for a period of
yearly 18 mouths from the date of his last letter to the
Premier, cannot be well divined

" Temple, July 20, 1844.,
" Sir shall be sorry to be obliged to make public,
because, although it relates to public affairs, it is, in its
nature, private, my correspondence with yourself, with
the Lord President of the Council, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, and the Lord Chancellor. The last having,
as he states, obtained the permission of Field-Marshal
the Duke of Wellington, continued to write two or three
notes to me every session, until a majority of 92 enabled
you to turn your back upon your friends, and with many
other good Coniervatives of great respectability, but in-
feirlor note. With so many, indeed, that selection is•
difficult.
‘ But are the remainder of my reports en municipal
corporations, allow me to ask you, to remain unpublished
for ever ? Are my services in composing these volumi-
nous reports to be always unpaid ? Is no remuneration
or recompense whatever to be awarded for my vexations,
labours, and losses? Am I tamely to submit to slights
and indignities which, most certainly, I do not deserve,
and which no honourable man ought to bear ? Be
pleased to consider these matters.

...,.
- - .. I am, Sir, yours very respectfully, '
. " T. J. H. HOGG.
" To the Right Hon. Robert Peel, Bart., &c."
" Whitehall, July 25, 1844.
Sir,—l have received your lettkr of the 25th of July.
You state that you shall be sorry to be obliged o make
POlic a ecirrespowlenceirtitVnlyself-04 other which,
.2titho*442.;matrttylii Otiriti4sOicita 4(
&1.,
vate. ' You proceed to ass, 'ls no remuneration, or iir
re •
compense whatever to be awarded for my :tabours,
vexations, and losses ?' And you desire me to consider
this matter. I beg leave to inform you that I have con-
sidered it, and that my opinion is, that you have received
the amount of remuneration which is due to you. Your
intimation that you may be obliged to publish corre-
spondence in its nature private, will have very little
effect in inducing me to add to that, remuneration. If
you think fit to publish any correspondence with me (and
I leave you at entire liberty to exercise your own discre-
tion in that respect), I must desire you will include in
that publication your letter of the 20th of July, and this
answer to it.—l am, Sir, your obedient servant,
" T. J. 11. Hogg, Esq." " ROBERT PEEL.
"Sir,—Your letter of the 25th of July pretends to be
an answer to mine of the 20th: that it is not; it is
merely unhandsome and improper.
" I have never been paid one farthing for my reports;
neither for those that were printed, nor for the remainder,
which are still unprinted, and in my hands. For seven
months' inquiry I was paid at the appointed rate, 700
guineas; but for my reports I have received nothing.
Whereas, a commissioner, who was engaged with me on
the inquiry less than four months in all, had 9001.; for
his reports, therefore, 5001., and so with the rest. If
this matter were referred, as it ought to be, to some im-
partial person acquainted with such services, as one of
the Learned Judges, for instance, I would show him, in
a quarter of an hour, that the assertions which you have
been instructed to make, `that I have received the
amount of remuneration which is due to me,' is utterly
false. Your informant knows that it is false, and you
must suspect that it is, if you will not submit to the arbi-
trament of some respectable person, to be named by
yourself if you will.

" But this is the least considerable part of my letter;
you do not touch the more important matter. I ask you,
first—' Are the remainder of my reports to remain unpub-
lished for ever ? ' You are mute, so I must answer the ques-
tion myself, and say—' that I shall be sorry to he obliged
to make public a correspondence with yourself and others,
which, although it relates to public affairs, is in its nature
private.' Nevertheless, I will, through a sense of duty,
publish it at once, rather than permit my reports on
Great Yarmouth, Saffron Walden, Sudbury, Colchester,
Carnarvon, and other boroughs, on which no report has
been made, to be unlawfully suppressed. I was appointed
a Commissioner under a Commission issued by the Sove-
reign, at the requisition and petition of the House of
Commons ; and was commanded to inquire and report.
I did inquire, and most diligently, and I made my re-
ports. The like reports have always been printed, as of
course, and laid before Parliament. There is no pre-
cedent for withholding such reports ; and I will do my
utmost not to furnish one, and it signifies nothing that
the Ministry have been changed.
" Your Chancellor well knows this, for he applied to
Lord Melbourne,; in public ,and in private, again and
again, for my reports. Parts were published in 1838 ;
as to the remainder Lord Melbourne did not venture to
answer—' I will withhold them.' The last communica-
ctOomsinupopnrseswshmeny
3r.eoptioarrets,
communica-
tion, made nor long before his happy resignation, was
only I will consider of it.' You have just as much
troigehntieranthdenHooumseoroef saps els. khianyge,
and order yuu to sit down and be silent. The Duke of
Newcastle, the Earls of Harrowby, of Wincbilsea, and of
Falmouth—Lords Wharncliffe, Lyndhurst, Skelmers-
dale, and Ashburton, and the Lord Bishop of Exeter,
and very many other peers, were permitted to ask for
my reports, night after night, when the production of
them might serve a turn. But now nobody dares to
name them, because some turn is to be served by sup-
pressing them. This will do very well, when your
new allies shall have put down the Queen, the Lords,
and the Church, but not before. I also asked you,' why
I am to submit to slights and indignities which I do not
deserve.' Your answer is money 1 money 1' what are
slights and indignities, so that a man fill his pockets ?'
Such is the tone of your letter, and the temper of your
mind. You can see nothing in my letter, but a demand
for money. Nor can a worshipper of wealth discern any
prineipte in opposing the rule, that an unprincipled Ad-
ministration shall reward their base tools, but be who
was honest in the worst times shall remain for ever un-
paid. Fear not that, in the exercise of my discretion, I
will suppress your letter of the 25th July, in which you
address me as if I were a robber, because, in stating my
determination to do my duty, I also ask for my own.
You shall be gratified by the publication of it, if you still
desire it, and of these poor lines.—l am, Sir, most re-
spectfully your servant,

" T. JEFFERSON HOGG.
" Temple, 27th July, 1844.
" To the Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel, Bart., 86c."

FLOOD IN THE SEVERN.—The river has been
rapidly rising the last day or two, and this morning its
waters have reached the house-steps on the quay, the
passage to and from which is only effected by boats ; in
addition to which, several barges are actually moored on
the quay, and the happy crews (to whom the occasion
presents a nice holiday) have taken care to locate them-
selves and craft pretty near to where her Majesty's
sc,abblionwtotpheir cloud" with the most
licenses Inve.been granted for rse,ttahileiyngltbwekerraonadadtoobnactchoe,
while,
wastosefaute,adteorns,tahaedir
philosophic and enviable indifference. It is, we believe,
the highest since the extraordinary summer flood of
1839.—Worcestershire Chronicle.

..e.•••• • I,IWWWW.N.JI•••
WINDSOR, JAN. I.—FRII`4CE ALBERT'S HARRIERS.
—His Royal Highness met at ten, at the Manor of Hooton.
The Prince was accompanied by the Earl of Lincoln, and
was attended by Major-General Wernyse and Mr. Anson.
His Royal Highness hunted on tile farms of Mr. Pullen and
Soldornea