The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-20 00:00:00

MARYLEBONE VESTRY.

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On Sattirday, at the meeting of the Marylebone Vestry,
Mr. John Williams, of the Regent-circus, in the chair,
Mr. NICTIOLAY gave notice that on Saturday next he
should bring before the vestry a resolution " To discuss
the propriety of petitioning the House of Commons to
take such measures as they may deem fit and expedient
to dispense with and relieve the country from the ser-
vices of the Poor-law Commissioners, whose arbitrary
conduct and haughty behaviour, and irregular and un-
business-like acts, render them totally unfit fur the office
they now hold ; while the cruel and oppressive mandates
emanating from them, independently of their being an
irrespansible body, have at length called the attention
and ?aroused the indignation of the country against them."
l'Ar. G. DaatrEm. said the subject of the conduct of
Vie Poor-law Commissioners having been mooted, he
begged to ask the Hon. Representative for the borough,
Sir Benjamin Hall, whether any, and what, steps had
been taken by the Committee of the House of Commons
to report to the House with respect to the district
asylums. It would be remembered that a committee of
that vestry had been appointed, of which he (Mr.
Daniell) had the honour to be chairman, to watch the
proceedings of the Parliamentary Committee, but they
were unable to report upon the matter, as they could not
ascertain what the Parliamentary Committee had done.
He wished to know, therefore, of the lion. Baronet, if
the report was printed, and what had been done?
Sir B. Haw. said that the fact was, that the committee
had not yet made their report to the House, and it was
not printed. He had consulted with his Hon. Col-
league (sir Charles Napier) on the subject, and he had
agreed to call the Committee together at an early day,
fur the purpose of reporting, and he (Sir B. Hall) should
take the opportunity of laying the whole matter before
the new Home secretary (Sir George Grey), with a view
to stop the proceedings of the commissioners in reference
to those district poor-law asylums.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. WILSON hoped that, pending the proceedings with
regard to the district asylums, Mr. Nicholay would net
persevere in placing on the paper such a motion as he
had given notice of. He quite agreed with that gen-
tleman as to the distaste into which the Poor-law
Commission had fallen with the public, but ho thought
the present was not the time to bring such a
wholesale condemnation of their conduct forward.

Mr. JOSEPH thought it would not be wise to pledge
the vestry at that moment to such a resolution. The
Andover Committee were pursuin; their inquiry into the
conduct of the Poor-law Commissioners steadily and
faithfully, and that, coupled with what had been elicited
in the district Asylum Committee, would, he had no
doubt, be sufficient to dismiss them from office.—(Hear.)
Mr. G. DANIELS said, he had been favoured by the
Right Hon. Baronet, Sir B. Hall, with nearly all the
evidence. He had carefully analysed it, and he found it
proved, that although at first all the opposition to these
district asylums was confined to Marylebone and another
parish, they had now increased to such an extent, that
the opposition to this asylum scheme of the Commis-
sioners amounted in number to no less than 1,254,000
persons, assessed upon a rental of nearly five millions of

money.
Mr. litcuoLAY observed that, in giving notice of this
motion, he felt that the time had arrived when a step
should ba taken by the country to rid themselves of that
irresponsible body, the Poor-law Commissioners. '
Several vestrymen suggested that the motion should
be withdrawn until the report on the asylum districts
should be brought up ; and others that that day fort-
night would be a good day for the discussion of the
question. The majority were, however, of opinion that
such a resolution should be passed as soon as possible ;
and ultimately Mr. Nicholay persisted in his original
resolution of bringing on the motion on Saturday next.
The vestry after some routine business adjourned.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

The statement of our Cork correspondent, that Vice-
Admiral Sir William Parker, Bart., had declined the
offer of the Government, of the post of first naval lord
of the new Board of Admiralty, is correct. We are
sorry to hear of this decision of Sir William, for we
think the country will be the loser by it. At the same
time, no one can blame the Gallant Admiral for pre-
ferring the comparatively smooth and quiet employment
as Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean to the ex-
tremely responsible, laborious, harassing, and, in many
respects, most unsatisfactory duties, as First Naval Lord
of the Admiralty. As Commander-in-Chief of a sta-
tion his income is above 1,0001. a year; more, strange
to say, than he would receive at the Admiralty, as
Commander-in-Chief, not only of all the naval stations,
but of all the dockyards, too, under the Crown. In the
former position, important and responsible as it is, some
relaxation can be enjoyed at times by delegating the chief
authority to the fl ig captain and the indefatigable
and always able secretary ; but at the Admiralty
there can be no cessation from continuous labour—even
Sunday brings no relief. Our correspondent added—
" The gallant admiral arrived on Monday in his flag-
ship, the Hibernia, 104, commanded by Captain Peter
Richards, C.B. He received his orders for coming to
Cork from the Trafalgar, 120, Captain Nott, which ship,
from Plymouth, fell in with him on the 9th instant, and
accompunied the Hibernia to this port. Sir William
Parker will wait further dispatches from the Govern-
ment, and will then proceed to sea in command cf the
Channel fleet." It is probable that when Sir William
Parker communicated his decision to the Almiralty he
had not received those pressing invitations to accept a
seat at the Admiralty, which is said to have been writ •
ten him by more than one Cabinet Minister; and it is
not improbable that, upon second consideration, the gal.
mat officer will be induced to alter his mind. Be this
as it may, however, dispatches have been sent off to
Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Adam, iu Scotland, offering
him the vacant seat in the event of Sir William's ulti-
mate refusal.
Captain Houston Stewart, C.B. (1317), has been ap-
pointed acting superintendent pro tem. of Woolwich
Dockyard, vice Captain Lord John Hay, C. 8., appointed
a Lard of the Admiralty, vice Commodore Sir F. A.
Collier, K.C.H., Commander in Chief pro tem. of the
Channel fleet. Captain Houston Stewart was made a
Lieutenant in 1811, and Commander in 1814. He was
midshipman of the Inipericuse, and served in her boats
in many of the gallant and daring exploits of Lord
Cochrane on the southern coast of France, and at Rosas
in 1807-8. Daring the operations on the coast of Syria,
and at the capture of Acre in 1840, he commanded the
Benbow, 72. The gallant Captain arrived at Woolwich
on Friday afternoon.
Commodore Sir James J. Gordon Bremer, K.C.8.,
on leave of absence from the Channel fleet, has left
town for Cork, to re-hoist his pendant on board the
Queen. He left Portsmouth for Plymouth en route on
Friday evening.
Captain Sir Watkin Owen Pell, Knight (1813), who
lost his leg while midshipman of La Loire, at the cap-
ture of the French frigate Pallas, in 1800, who was ap-
pointed, in February, 184.5, from the superintendentship
of Pembroke dockyard to Greenwich Hospital, will have
the vacant C entnissioiership. Sir Watkin's brother,
the late Lord Pell, Esq., who inherited the fortune of the
late Sergeant Pell, brought into Parliament the late
Lord Althorpfor Northampton. The pay of a Commis-
sioner is 6001. per annum, exclusive of perquisites. Capt.
W. B. Dashwood (1818), who was senior lieutenant of
the Active, and lost his arm at the capture of the French
frigate Pomone, in 1811, commanded the Snap brig, and
fought a gallant action with five loggers, capturing one,
off St. Valery ; commanded the Prometheus at Algiers ;
and Capt. F. Burgoyne (1815),, have been named as
likely to succeed Sir W. O. Pell.
THE PROMOTION AND RETIREMENT.—Various ru-
mours have been circulated with respect to the consum-
mation of this much-to-be-desired measure of promotion
and retirement, and anxious have been the hopes of the
old officers that they will speedily receive that justice
from the present Government so cruelly denied them by
the late Administration, but to which refusal, however,
we are assured their Board of Admiralty was no party.
It has been extensively reported that the scheme is to
be promulgated on Monday next, but there cannot be
any grounds fur expecting such an event so soon to take
place. As a matter of course, the Admiralty must
revise the proposed measure of their predecessors, and
we believe in this work they are now sedulously
engaged ; but as yet there is no senior naval Lord at
the board, and whether it be Sir William Parker or Sir
Chas. Adam who accepts the office, it must undergo his
revision and have his sanction. It cannot, therefore,
be promulgated on Monday, but we have faith in
the good intentions of the present board with re-
spect to the measure, and in the weight of their
recommendation to the Treasury, that it will be corn-
plated as soon as possible, and will not fall below that ofs
the late board in liberality and extent. We have heard
that Sir Charles Napier has recovered from his
lethargy, and latterly has been most industriously
employed in pushing on the adoption of some
scheme of retirement and promotion in fact, that
he will, on the naval estimates being brought for-
ward, raise a discussion on every vote, and divide
the house on every item. We confidently believe that
there will be no necessity for the execution of this
threat, which, under the circumstances, may be deemed
somewhat gratuitous.
STEAMERS' BOATS.—The recent wreck of the Maiden
City, near the Mull of Galloway, from which 110 per-
sons were providentially saved by the captain being
enabled to run the ship on shore after she had struck on
a rock, affords another proof of the necessity of adopting
the recommendation of the committee on shipwrecks,
that " all sea-going steamers should be provided with
paddle-box safety-boats." To the fineness of the
weather, and the assistance from the shore (which the
steamer was fortunately enabled to reach in her sinking
state), the passengers and crew, more than 100, owe
their lives. In the Steam Navigation Bill now before
Parliament, the boats to be carried by steamers are par-
ticularly alluded to,

CHURCH FOR THE SEAMEN AT THE ISLE OF MAN.--
The authorities having determined to erect a pace of
worship on shore for the seamen belonging tl and fre
quenting the Isle of Man, the Admiralty, who some
years since lent an old ship, called the Industry, for a
floating chapel there, have most liberally given the
vessel to them. The Industry will now be broken up,
and the materials will be converted towards the con-
struction of the new church.

THE ALBION'S SPARS AGAIN.—On the night of the
9th of June, after leaving Cork for Lisbon, the Albion'
90, Captain Lockyer, C. 1., from a shift of wind, was
obliged to bow a head-sea, when she pitched so
tremendously heavy (bowsprit completely under), that
she sprung her matntopmast, which,
.however, she did
not dare to shift until she arrived at Lisbon. Although
the rent is from the trussel trees to the cap, they have
bound it together with iron hoops, and have thus made
the defective spar to serve. We shall have some little
more to say about this ship shortly, and the manceuvres
on board.—lieruld.

A crab fish of prodigious dimensions was captured
yesterday Monday) morning, amongst the rocks near Lowca
Ironworks, by a youth who had scarcely reached his teens.
It measured nearly two feet from the extremity of one claw
to the other, and the thickest part of the claw was full six
inches in circumference.—Cumberland Packet.