The Sun.
London, England, 1848-02-10 00:00:00

Al' N 7 FEBRUARY 10, 1848.

century. He had devoted to this subject his best
energies, and it had demanded many hours of harass-
ing attention. In those days there were many diffi-
culties to be overcome—many interests to be recon-
ciled ; but to their chairman must the inhabitants of
Sunderland stand indebted for the accomplishment of
that great undertaking, and he trusted the inhabi-
tants would be grateful to him, and that posterity
would give him all praise. But for his determination
to be brief, he might have enlarged much upon this
topic ; he could not, however, sit down without
offering his fervent aspirations that the prosperity of
British shipping and the welfare of Sunderland docks
would be evially great, and go hand in hand.
D. JONASSOHN, Esq., proposed the next tent—
" The health of Robert Stephenson, Esq., the Member
for Whitby."
Mr. STErnmasoie, in returning thanks, said he
could not help expressing the pleasure he felt at see-
ing the foundation-stone of that great work laid—a
work which he believed to be most important to
Sunderland at the present time, and one which was
colculated eminently to increase the wealth of the
town, and excite the enterprise of the people.
WILLIAM DIGBY SEYMOUR, Esq., of the Northern
Circuit, said—l am called upon at a late hcur, and
when in no small degree fatigued by the heat of the
room, and the pervading excitement of the day, to
give a toast which certainly does not yield in impor-
tance to any which has preceded it this evening.—
(Hear.) Before addressing myself to my appointed
task, 1 must express my thanks to the directors for
the singular compliment they have paid me in send-
ing me a special invitation to be present upon this
auspicious occasion. lam connected with Sunder-
land by such a near and happy tie—(Cheers)—l am
so closely related by the bonds of kinsmanship and
by the impulse and affections of an enduring friend-
ship with one of the most honest, most able, and most
eloquent of her public men, and I have at all times
received Such proofs of attention and respect from the
people a Sunderland, that I would be failing in a
sense of duty if I did not—no matter at how great
professional inconvenience—come down to witness
and bear a part in the proceedings of this happy day
—a day the moat fortunate and remarkable in the
annals of this ancient town and borough.—
(Loud cheers.) The laying the first stone
of the Sunderland Dooks is an event in our
national as well as our local history, and suggests re-
flections full of public as well as private interest.—
(Hear, hear.) To-day an example has been set to the
industrial enterprise of the country.—(Hear, hear.)
To-day an impulse has been given to the energies of
British shipping and of our northern trade.—(Hear,
hear.) To day we commemorate an advance in our
maritime architecture—and to-day another stone has
been laid in the temple of general peace.—(Cheers.)
Suppose atithe beginning of this century some one now
present, who was then full of youth, and hope, and
eagerness, had seen a vision, and had heard a voice of
prophecy—that he had been taken to some com-
manding eminence whence he could view the port of
Sunderland and the surrounding country, and that
it was told him that within fifty years the genius and
industry of man would construct a highway between
London and, Sunderland, over which he could pass and
repass with arrowlike speed, accomplishing in nine
hours the journey of several days—what a look of
incredulity he would assume I But, suppose further
it was said to him—" See you those goodly ships
which lie crowded and nestling together, like water-
fowl upon the bosom of the river—(Cheers)—and see
you yonder those high and jutting banks, that rough
and rocky shore ; those ships will grow old and
decay, but within fifty years, and when other ships
trade in our northern sea, that headland will have
been removed, that rocky shore sunk and ex-
cavated, and there will be safe and inviting
docks, pleasant moorings, and sheltered harbours,
where the largest ships may repose in safety, free
from the rage of the ocean and the fury of the
storm.—(Loud cheers)—would he believe his in-
formant ? Would he not treat as a delusion this

promise of industry:so great, and enterprise so am-
bitious Yes ;he would rouse, as it were—he would
stir himself from a dream—and exchange for the
less cheering impressions of real life the picturings of
a romantic fancy. What he could not believe we
have witnessed—what he would have doubted we
have done.—(Hear, hear.) And yonder, on that wall
of the room in which we are now assembled, is a
writing which is fall of heavenly wisdom, of sublime
and eternal truth—a writing which needs no Daniel
to interpret it, a writing which is the proper motto
of labour, and should be inscribed on our banners
in every enterprise—" Nil desperandum auspice
Deo."—(Cheers.) My friend Mr. Wright has re-
ferred with his usual eloquence and power to the
shipping interest of Sunderland, but I cannot refrain
from a brief allusion to the subject. I know the topic
is a somewhat difficult one upon which to speak
without giving offence to some gentlemen here • but,
properly considered, I think the question of the
support or repeal of the navigation-laws is not a party
question, it is a public, a national, an imperial ques-
tion. It is an abuse of language to call it a question
of party politics. It is a question of life or death, of
rise or ruin to the port of Sunderland.—(Hear, hear.)
But if I must not speak in the language of argument,
lest I may disturb our harmony, I shall speak in the
voice of warning what will find a response in every
breast. I implore our rulers to be cautious. I ask
for calm reflection. I demand, in the name of British
shipping, that they will deeply meditate, that they
will patiently inquire before they lay their inter-
fering hands upon this ark of the constitution.
I would remind them that the shipping interest is not
a child of yesterday. I would bid them to become
students of history, and read how the shipping of this
country has steadily increased and is daily increasing
under our existing legislation. If they hesitated, or
doubted, I would tell them a significant and stubborn
fact—that in 1844 the tonnage of this port was
164,692—that rising steadily from that, in 1845 it
was 178,580, and at the close of 1847 the registered
tonnage of the port was 192,057.—(11ear, hear.) I
would say, beware of the fallacy, that the supply
cannot equal the demand.—(Hear, hear.) The argu•
ment which, justly or unjustly, overthrew the corn-
laws is not to be repeated here, for whatever the
demand for British;ships may be, British shipowners
can meet and satisfy it.—(Cheers.) If I was for-
bidden from using the word protection, they dare not
hinder me from using the word persecution. I would
say, pause before you provoke or injure the greatest
interest in the country; experiments in states are like
experiments in the human frame, and your empiric
skill must not make its first essays among the ship-
owners of England. Were my voice unheeded, I
would call to my aid the great name of William
Huskisson.—(Hear, hear.) I would remind them of
his opinion expressed in the debstes on the Reci-
procity system, and how he said, in effect, " Thus
far you shall go." Let this be the frontier and limit
of your concessions. If I was still unheeded, I would
appeal to the parent himself of political economy, the
author of the " Wealth of Nations," who said,
" Two interests require protection."—(Hear, hear.)
The first I must not allude to now ; but
the second was the shipping interest of the country !
—(Cheers.) Sir, the coal trade, too, must receive an
impulse from the construction of these docks, and
other carrying trades will visit us more frequently.
I believe it will lead to a better trade with the East
and West Indies, with America and the Baltic.—
(Hear, hear.) I believe it will lead to a larger ex-
port from the mineral districts around, and that
assisted by increased railway accommodation, and
facilities of transit, a wide field will be opened up of
inland traffic. I believe the most sanguine man in
this room cannot over-estimate the probable amount
of good to be derived from the construction of these
docks.—(Hear, hear.) It will lead besides to peculiar
results affecting us locally and at home in Sunderland.
Sir, I remember to have read in my schoolboy days
something in the elegant 2Eneid of Virgil, which is
applicable to the rising hopes and opening prospects
of Sunderland. He tells us that serpents at times
rub off their old skin among rough and pointed rocks,
and come forth in bright and glittering youth again.
And it seems to me as if Sunderland, flinging off the
slough of age and indolence, was rekindling the light
of her juvenile days, and bracing herself with new-
born vigour !—(Loud cheers.) When I look to her
Athenseum—when I hear of her Committees of Im-
provements—when I consider her sanitary measures
—I hail the advent of prosperity and happiness. I
admire the swift-going wheels of this moral revolution
—and I regard the construction of these docks as a
record—a monument—and a perpetual triumph of
this patriotic and enrerprising spirit !—(Cheers.)
The architecture of these docks is also of uncom-
mon merit. I remember that Sallust, the Roman
historian, speaking of the luxury and extravagance of
the splendid age he lived in and adorned, alluded to
"the building out of the sea," as he expressed it.
Had he lived in our time, I think we could have
shown him a work of public utility, of which old
Rome, in her paliniest days, would ihave proudly
claimed the execution. It seems to me as if Sunder-
land was happily destined to exhibit to the world the
rarest :specimens of British engineering, talent, and
architecturallong
m
go n ee i
bs it u
skill. i
when
surpassed
thousands
at t
ed h; r
hastened
bridge—itb (Cheers)—
and tell
hither toe
is the time
gaz.2 upon it as an arch flung 11
-y very magic over
your tall ships and busy river?—(Cheers.) And
where else can we find labour so wonderfully directed

[PRiek5D.

and applied as in these docks ? Where else such
piles of huge and solid masonry ? Where else such
vastness of general design, such carefulness in minute
detail ? For my own part lam lost in wonder and
delight when I look upon these works, now rapidly
advancing, and this delight is not lessened when I
consider that every pile driven, in the construction of
those docks, is a new fulcrum for the prosperity of
the country.—(Hear, and cheers.) Lastly, Sir, when
you laid the foundation stone of the Sunderland
Docks, you laid another stone in the Temple of
General Peace.—(Hear, hear.) Amidst commercial
difficulties, springing, in the main, from providential
afflictions, amidst the fall and ruin of old esta-
blished houses, and the insolvency of the most
respectable merchants—amidst the depression of
trade, the suspension of labour, the impeded action
of credit, and checked circulation of capital—amidst
this dark and gloomy parenthesis in the history of
our national fortunes, we hear the mutterings and
menacing, of war—we are threatened with the ap-
proach of hostile invasion—and our unwilling ears
are startled by the dismal tones which call for mili-
tary preparation ! Sir, I believe the French are
not a nation of buccaneers and freebooters.—(Hear,
hear.) Piracy is not part of their tactics, nor is it
legalized by the code of Napoleon. Besides, they
are an essentially discriminating people—they know
there is a difference between an Arab chief and an
English yeoman.—(Cheers.) Nor will they argue
so strangely that John Bull msy be taken asleep,
because they coaxed Abd-el-Kader to Paris.—(Hear,
and laughter.) Far he it from me to say that we
should slumber when danger approaches, or be slew
to assume an impo,ing attitude when an enemy is at
our gates, or frowns upon our shores—(Hear, hear)
—but I would not have our national energies roused
unnecessarily into action. I would not have us irritate
the foe by providing too zealously for the supposed
consequences of his vengeance.—(Hear, hear.) To
fear an enemy is to flatter him; and too eagerly to
make ready for war is to shake the stability of peace.
—(Cheers.) Sir, I respect great military talents, and
no fame is more deservedly bright than that of him
who has led our armies to battle in defence of our
rights, our liberties, our national existence. I would
not detract from the honours our soldiers have ga-
thered on well-fought battle-fields, or pluck a laurel
from their victorious brows. I would not lower the
dignity of our flag—that flag which has floated tri-
umphantly in every clime under which a Sydney con-
quered and a Nelson fell—that flag
Which has braved a thousand years
The battle and the breeze."—(Cheers.)
But, if I am to learn the state of a nation from the
character of its triumphs I would sooner argue for
the wisdom and stability of England from a triumph
at which you, Mr. Hudson, presided—(Hear, hear)—
a triumph over natural difficulties surmoatn;ed, over
time and distance vanquished—a triumph of waggon-
roads led across fens and marshes—of merchandise
and passengers carried through divided hills and
filled-up vallies—of bridges crossing deep and rapid
streams, and spanning them with giant arches—of
rocks excavated—of heights levelled—of matter and
masses yielding to human industry and skill---a tri-
umph of peaceful labour and successful enterprise—
than from the proudest triumphs of our most memor-
able battles.—(Loud cheers) Who would not prefer
that campaign of art, and science, and skill, to the
squandering of a nation's money, or the shedding of
a people's blood P—(Hear, hear.) Who would not
prefer the glory of a newly-opened dock or railway
to the brilliant recollections of a Blenheim
or a Waterloo ?—(Cheers.) Who would not
prefer the peaceful works we have this
day witnessed to the tells, the troubles, the tears of
war ? War ! the lord of desolation! the autocrat
of ruin t widowing and wasting, depopulating and
unhallo wing —paraly zing the strong man's arm and
frenaying the • ood man's heart—sacrificing the
hopes, the eom'forts, the liberties of a free people to
its own overwhelming and tyrannous necessities !
(Loud cheers.) Sir, lam told of national defences,
and that the necessity for them is urgent. If by
national defences it be understood that we should have
a sufficient standing army at home ready to check
the advance of an invading foe, and show a battlefront
in the hour of peril and the first alarms of war, I
agree with the wisdom of such a preparation ; but if
forts and bastions, and watchtowers, and military
bulwarks and erections be the national defences in-
tended, then, Sir, I think there are other defences
more worthy of attention. I think that inland traffic,
maritime trade, security to the shipping interests, a
steady rate of wages, a mild and humane poor-law,
an extended education of the people, sanitary im-
provements, commercial credit, and a more freely-
acting currency, are far better national defences.—
(Hear, hear.) Am Ito be told that an enemy would
feel less jealousy at seeing the ships in our northern
harbours freighted with British coal instead of being
armed with British cannon ? Am Ito be told that
an enemy would look with more disquiet at a new
fort built upon the heights of Dover than upon new
docks constructing in the ports of Sunderland ? No,
Sir. The first best way to defend the country is to
make the country best worth preserving.—(Loud
cheers.) Merchant ships and merchant seamen,
maritime trade and commercial credit—here lie our
true strength—no foe can be really terrible while we
are girt around with this national panoply !—(Hear,
hear.) The man who leaves his plough to defend his
fireside may be unskilled in military tactics, but he
supplies the deficiency of his skill by the bravery and
fervour of his heart, and believe me, Sir, it is not the
fear of future defeats, nor the memory of ancient
triumphs, but it is a spirit of peaceful enterprize—
the steadier action of labour and capital—domestic
happiness and social contentment—which can keep
alive in this country a genuine and indomitable cou-
rage—which can foster our native strength—which
can develop our insular resources, and make us
feared, envied, and respected by the nations of the
world !—(Cheers.) Therefore, I rejoice, above all,
in the proceedings of this day, for we have given to
the public good, new hostages of public tranquillity
In conclusion, Sir, when you gave "The Docks,"
and Mr. Wright "The Shipping Interest," you gave
between you the toast which I have now to give con-
jointly. The shipping interest is so related to the
docks, and trade to the shipping interest, and
the port of Sunderland to all of them, that in
wishing success to one you wish it to all. Sir,
I do wish success to all. May they form an
enduring and happy co-partnership. Long may
they flourish, dispensive of local and general good.
Whatever clouds lower elsewhere, may the sunshine
of prosperity be upon the dccks, the shipping, and
the trade of Sunderland I (Loud cheers.)
May they advance and be promoted together; and,
inasmuch as they are so closely and intimately con-
nected, may their success be one and mutual !—and
may this golden band be never disunited !—(Cheers.)
" Prosperity to the Port and Trade of Sunderland,
was then drunk with enthusiasm.
Dr. BROWN proposed the health of 31rs. Hudson,
to which the Chairman responded.
THOMAS BROWN, Esq., next proposed the health.
of the Master and Brethren of the Trinity
House.—(Applause.)
The CHAIRMAN then proposed the health of the
contractors and their workmen, which was responded
to by Mr. CRAVEN. He then gave " The Ladies of
Sunderland," after which the company separated.
GRAND DRESS BALL.
At night, a ball on a very extensive scale, which
by e thers a
n d
rank
nt directorshkeran offriends,
th
station,D tookok
including
caelcmue
dpiainnngy
thet theo
Athenaeum, which was deco-
rated with a profusion of laurel and evergreens.
wasthe
Polytechnicsghlavreenh obl
Between four and five hundred cards of invitation
were issued, and full that number of persons were
who were at the dinner, and
Hall of the
pprriensecniptargtehnetlaseisneembly. These included most of the
several ladies of r
Countess of Essex and Mrs. Hudson.

IRELAND.
STATE OF THE POOR.
DUBLIN, Fen. 7.—The accounts from the western
counties are not al ogether so deplorable as those received
last week. In Galway union, where paid guardians
are installed, steps have been taken to save the desti-
tute peasantry from absolute starvation. The Poor..
law Commissioners have directed that there shall be
no election of guardians this year, so that the affairs
of the union will continue to be administered by the
paid vice-guardians.
The Limerick Examiner gives a further most
afflicting account of the condition of the poor in that
quarter. That journal says :
" Some unaccountable fatality must attend the
deliberations of the Limerick board of guardians. It
comprehends many men of undoubted intelligence
and great personal humanity, and yet its measures
are defective and abortive ; the depopulating process
thrives under it as well as under the most landlord-
ridden board in Ireland. Within the
.workhoreuese.
the deaths for the last week were. thirty- -t'=
veer
and without, the number, preventibleby
osuone hundred
as many more. In this union per hap
3 defective orra-
application of the poor-law,. must am
graves are filled every week by the
of 301. was recently
tion of the poor-law. A bill
of patients from
paid one party for the. conveyance Hospital, and some of
the workhouse to Barrington 's
these ill-fated beings were. taken. from their beds in
rit atop twice
trundled into a
I the very 0/13i5 of their name.,

.--•_ 7,..,,,,arj-, /7 Az...-
• " covered" car, carried through populous strtets, andy'
dropped at Barrington's, where, beforelAey-rtifild
be removed farther than the entrance all, they pe-
rished. In one day, nine children, Iled from their
beds, in measles, in which exposure to cold is fatal,
and conveyed to Barrington's, dropped dead in the
hall, one after another."
There are some further accounts of deaths from
starvation in Kerry, Limerick, and King's County.
)STATE or CRIME.—The accounts from the pro-
claimed districts exhibit a decided diminution of
crime. In the county of Limerick, in some in-
stances, the peasantry are voluntarily surrendering
fire-arms.
REPEAL ASSOCIATION, THIS DAY.—Thii body
met to-day ;N. V. Maher, Esq., M.P., presided. The
secretary read a letter from lr. John O'Connell,
M.P., in which the Hon. Gentleman acquainted the
association that he had given notice of his intention
to bring under the consideration of the House of
Commons, on an early day, the question of the repeal
of the union; the document also recommended a " re-
peal mission" through the country, with a view "to
revive the repeal organization in every quarter." Mr.
J. H. Dunne submitted to the meeting the recent
letter from his Holiness the Pope to the Romaa
Catholic Primate of Ireland, and argued that the
appearance of that document proved to demonstration
that English influence was operating on the Court of
Rome. The letter from the Propaganda proved that,
but it also demonstrated that the machinations of
England had been entirely defeated. On concluding
his observations Mr. Dunne read, "as the best com-
mentary on the letter of his Holiness," the answer of
Dr. Higgins, Roman Catholic Bishop of Ardagh, to
the Primate. (This document will be found below).
The secretary announced the receipt of 30/. from the
clergy of the diocese of Kilmacduagh, forwarded by
the Right Rev. Dr. French. At the termination of
the proceedings the rent for the week was said to
be 761.
Dr. O'Higgins, Roman Catholic Bishop of Ardagh,
has addressed the following to the Freeman's
Journal :

" Dublin, February 6, 1848.
"I\lr. Editor,—Finding that a recent letter from
the Propaganda Fide, seeking ecclesiastical informa-
tion regarding the systematic defamations of the
sacred character of the Irish bishops and priests, and
inserted in the Evening Post newspaper, well known
to be Lord Clarendon's organ, has been introduced to
the public (with what fidelity of translation the
learned reader will judge), I think it due to the pious
solicitude of the Propaganda, and the Catholics of
the empire, to publish, through the columns of your
honest and invaluable journal, the following corre-
spondence between the Most Rev. Dr. Crolly, Primate
of all Ireland, and myself.
" My object is to secure the co-operation of all true
Catholics in supplicating the Holy Father to insitute,
through some neutral and unpurchasable agents, a
minute and searching inquiry into the conduct of our
priesthood, in order that the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth, may be known.
" The former Mr. Villiers, of a certain celebrity in
Spain, and now our self•lauding Viceroy, will, I hepe,
condescend to submit to his diplomatic comrades, the
present Premier, and Lord pinto, that this is the real
fair play of which the English Government boasts so
much, but which, as the world knows, they practise
so little.—l have the honour to be, Mr. Editor, your
obedient servant, " Pti W. O'HIGGINS."

"THE PRIMATE TO THE BISHOP OP ARDAGIT.

" Drogheda, Jan. 27, 1843.
"My dear Lord,—l have the honour to submit to
your Lordship's consideration a communication which
I lately received from the Holy See, of which I give
you a correct copy, and after you have read it, I hope
that you will favour me with a line on the subject.
[Here the text of the letter of Cardinal Fransoni,
with a translation, are given.]
" I have the honour to remain, with the highest
respect, my dear Lord, your obedient servant,
" 9C W. CROLLY.
"The Right Rev. Dr. O'Higgins, Ballymahon."

" THE pallor OF ARDAGRTO THE PRIMATE.

" Ballymahon, January 29, 1848.
"My dear Lord,—l have the honour to acknow-
ledge the receipt of your Grace's note of the 27th
inst., together with a copy of a letter from his
Eminence Cardinal Fransoni, dated the 3d of this
month. On the subject referred to in that letter
your Grace desires to have a line from me; and
compliance with your request I beg to say, that I
believe your Grace is now bound to make known to
the Propaganda Fide, that a most wicked and diabo-
lical conspiracy is being carried on by almost all the
English and Irish press against the Catholic hierarchy,
the Catholic priests, and the Catholic people of Ire-
land ; that Lord Minto was sent to Rome to deceive
the Holy See, and that the means he and his friends
use are notorious calumnies against us all.
" I think also the Cardint stetted be informed that,
under the name of legal right the body of the land-
lords of Ireland are literally starving the poor, and
doing so without a single remonstrance from our
Lord-Lieutenant, or his employer, Lord John Russell,
and that neither ever published a single word
in vindication of the Archbishop of Tuam, the Bishop
of Elphin, and other Irish ecclesiastics, notwith-
standing that they demonstrated the charges made
against them and their priests to be the premeditated
slanders of their enemies. Of course you will further
state, that whilst the whole of the English and Irish
Government press publish daily every sort of ruffian
libels on ourselves and clergy, they scarcely ever
publish our defence. i think, too, the Propaganda
ought to be solicited to send over to Ireland some in-
telligent, pious, and independent Italian ecclesiastic,
with instructions to go from diocese to diocese—visit
our priests and our poor—see matters with his ows
eyes, and report to Rome without consulting the feel-
ings of any party, religious or political. I have my-
self publicly suggested that England should semi
honest Protestants among us to ascertain the truth;
and if this be done, and that the Propaganda send the
ecclesiastic referred to, Rome will soon be enlightened
—the conspiracy blown up—the real friends of order,
justice, and mercy made known to the world, and the
intrigues of the unprincipled exhibited to the execra-
tion of every lover of truth.
" For my own part I have for the last two years
constantly gone through the most afflicted portions of
this diocese, preaching patience and resignation to my
persecuted and half-starved people, and my reward is
to be involved, in common with my brethren, in the
infamous calumnies that are heaped on our heads.
Our Viceroy, too, has proclaimed portions of the
diocese as free from agrarian outrages as the streets
of London, and yet he calls himself our friend and
protector ! The people are dying everywhere from
cold and hunger, and still he refuses to apply, in
their favour, the laws or the other means at his dis-
posal ! Were Rome to know (and please God she
shall know) how we are persecuted, she would look
on our forbearance almost as miraculous. If we
write a line in an honest journal to repudiate calumny
and bring public opinion to bear constitutionally upon
our heartless rulers, we are at once gazetted by the
infidel press as the disturbers of that peace which we
alone are preserving.
" As for my priests, they never directly or indi-
rectly denounced any landlord or other citizen from
their altars, nor have they up to this been accused of
doing so. Their flocks are patient and resigned, with
death staring them in the face, and neither they nor
myself shall ever seek redress except by those peace-
ful and constitutional means to which every subject
of the empire has an inalienable and undoubted right.
" Finally, I say, let effective means be taken to
enlighten Rome on every detail of this infamous anti-
national and anti-Catholic conspiracy, and the ene-
mies to our creed and of our race will be humbled, and
some little justice done to poor calumniated and per-
secuted Ireland.
" I have instructed Dr. Cullen to furnish to the
authorities in Rome an authentic copy of my letter
to Mr. John O'Connell.

" I have the honour to be, my Lord,
" Your obedient servant,
" W. O'HIGGINS.
" Most Rev. Dr. Crolly, Primate of
all Ireland. '
CHANGE IN THE ENGLISH MAILS.—DUBLIN,
FEB. B.—From and after the Ist of next month the
morning snail via Birkenhead will be discontinued,
and a mail will be dispatched each forenoon by Holy-
head for London. The mail via Liverpool will re-
main without change for the present. This is the
first move in anticipation of the completion of the
communication by railway between Holyhead and
London, after which the Irish mails will be trans-
mitted by the Holyhead route.
The Irish inlrnd mails, after the Ist of March next
will be dispatched from the post-office at seven
o'clock, P.M., an hour earlier than at present.
EXECUTION AT LIMERICX.---Williamßyan (Puck),
found guilty of murder at the Limerick Special Com-
mission, was executed yesterday.

KING'S COLLEGE HOSTITAL.—OVVing to the great
Prevalence of; sickness, and the very material increase of
applications to
Ring's College Hospital, in Portugal-
street, Lincoln's Inn, the committee of that institution
have benevolently augmented the benefits of the charity,
by occasionally placing. extra beds in the wards, and re-
ceiving the more afflicting and urgent cases. The de-
mands upon the ont-door treatment having increased to
a corresponding degree, it was stated at a recent meet-
ing that the co-operation of the affluent was urgently
nee& 1 to enable the continuance of the benefits of the
institution.

PROTECTION PROM FIRE.—A large and respectable
meeting of the inhabitants of Alarylebone was held last
night, for the purpose of considering the propriety of
sending a deputation to Government, to urge the neces-
sity of some general measure for the protection of life
and property from fire. Lord Dudley took the chair ,
and was supported by Sir B. Hall, M.P. It was finally
adopted that a deputation should wait upon Lord Mor-
peth on the subject.
The debate on the Jewish Disabilities Bill will be
resumed on Friday.