The Sun.
London, England, 1869-06-23 00:00:00

TILE' DUE OP YETTC.ZSTL;;'S CALI:

There is something pathetic about the sale of the Duke
)f Newcastle's household goods, as there is always in the
!all of nobility. There was a great crowd in his house
Dn Tuesday. The policemen who kept guard at the foot of
the great staircase and at the entrances to cellars and
rooms have no sinecure, for the applications to wander
freely through the mansion are both numerous and per-
sistent ; the man who stood in the ball with catalogues
had disposed of his stock at a shilling each socn after
3 p.m., and even such things as japanned water
cans, housemaid& boxes and baskets, band-brooms, and
dust-pans gave rise to animated bidding. This
increased when more interesting articles came to
be offered, and between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., when hand-
work and gilded chairs and tables were put up, what may
be termed "fancy prices" were obtained. The house in
which this scene is taking place is one of the largest in
Carlton-house-terrace, and stands at the Spring-gardens
end, with offices which cross the road, forming a cul de
sac, and communicating apparently with a house on the
other side. The auctioneers' bills tell their story directly
the corner by the Duke of York's Column is passed,
making the duke's ruin manifest on both sides of the
road. The words " Heirloom—Clumber" on a large
case of stuffed birds meet the visitor's eye directly
he is in the ball, and they are repeated upon marble
busts and other articles which stand between him and the
dining-room door. The vast place seems to be in many
respects as its unfortunate holders left it. The fine oil
paintings are banging in the accustomed places, some
with "heirloom" on the label attached, others, and those
the most numerous, numbered as lots. It is seldom that
anything so disastrous as a sale by auction takes place in
Carlton-house-terrace, and the idlers assembled there on
Tuesday might be suspected of deriving a gloomy relish
from the knowledge of this fact. That- a duke should
be sold up " just as you or me might be to-morrer,
my dear," was an unfailing source of trite moralising on
the part of one stout lady, who bought nothing, but prosed
much ; and that the sale was taking place within half a
dozen doors of the residence of the Premier of England,
the Duke's father's friend, was given out quiie frequently
as an item of news by an old gentleman who took posses.
sion of a snug corner early in the day, and never once
looked at the auctioneer. It is, of course, not to be
expected that sympathy for reverses—even when due to
unavoidable misfortune—should be found in an
auction-room, but its utter absence was never more
marked than on Tuesday. Everybody present
who touched on the subject at all seemed to consider
themselves entitled to have a fling at the absent prodigal.
The sorrowful indignation of a silent and solitary old man
in drab, who was said to have been a servant to the
preset t Duchess since infancy, culminated when certain
articles of furniture were offered up; but his pained look
did not stop the gossip or the covert sneering, and for a
day or two the household goods of the Duke of Newcastle
will continue to be distributed to just such a running fire
of cynical criticism as generous minds shrink from and
loathe.

THE TROUBLES OF AN 112ISH LAND

SOCIETY.

The Court of Queen's Bench of Dublin has been occupied
four days with the trial of an action for libel which excited
considerable interest. In the year 180 a company was
started under the title of the National Building and Land
Investment Company. The prospectus would have done
credit to a statesman, embracing, as it did, the settling of
the land question by converting the Irish peasantry into
landed proprietors. Looking around for an eligible field
the directors selected a tract of land at Mount Partry,
near Ballingrobe. The company gave to their first
purchase the auspicious title of the Port Royal
Estate. This valuable acquisition, for which they
paid £10,500, included some mountain ranges, where
attenuated sheep roamed in search of pasture, and some
picturesque clusters of hovels, dignified by the name of
villages, in which the inhabitants lived in rather primitive
fashion. Animated by a lofty purpose of regenerating
the country, the directors laid down a grand scheme of
improvement. Mr. Brett, a competent surveyor, was
employed to lay out the estate in suitable divisions,
and it was resolved that such of the tenants as desired
it should have leases for their holdings. Here was fixity
of tenure, the first condition of Irish contentment,
voluntarily offered. But there were two drawbacks
which impaired the value of the gift, In utter disregard
of traditional habits, it was attempted to reduce the
primeval chaos of the villages into order for erecting sub-
stantial houses. This scheme sheaved a want of regard for
national feeling. Some of the tenants were induced to
agree to the redistribution, others objected to leave the
" old spot" where their grandfathers dwelt. Causes of
dissatisfaction arose on both sides. The tenants were,
in some instances, required to surrender their tenancies
from year to year, and to enter into other agree-
ments. Hard times came upon them, rents were raised
and ejectments were served by Mr. Proudfoot, the agent.
the subject of an irregular seizure for rent, and—greatest
grievance of all—a mountain called Derasse, which had
served as a commonage for all the tenants, was at least
partially closed against them. Distress set in, and the
people, it was said, had to subsist upon meal obtained by
subscriptions. The Rev. P. Lavelle stood forward as the
champion of the peasantry, and wrote a series of letters
denouncing the management of the estate and the con-
duct of the plaintiff. To his first letter Mr. Proudfoot
wrote a reply, substantially accusing the rev. gentleman
of being the cause of all the discontent which had arisen.
For this letter the Rev. Mr. Lavelle brought an action
for libel, which was tried at the last assizes for Galway,
and he was awarded one farthing damages. The
chairman also wrote a reply, which was pub-
lished in the Irish Times, with an article laudatory
of the company. To this the rev. gentleman issued a
rejoinder, which was one of the publications complained
of in the present action. Proceedings were then taken to
heal the wounded feelings of the chairman. Mr. Butt,
Q.C., and Serjeant Dowse presented his case with all
their ability. Major Knox, the defendant, pleaded fair
comment, and Mr. Heron, Q.C., and Mr. Falkner, Q.C.,
conducted his defence. The trial came on before the
Chief Justice and a special jury in the Irish Queen's
Bench, and has terminated in the discharge of the jury,
who were unable to agree to a verdict. It is understood
that eleven jurors were for the defendant and one for the
plaintiff.

Prince Alamayoo, son of King Theodore of
Abyssinia, will leave England for India, under the care of
Captain Speedy, by the next steamer from Southampton.
The T 'llan climate will probably suit him better than our
own.

NEW SILKS.—The Ga:ette contains the appoint-
ment of fourteen members of the outer bar to the honour
of the silk gown. Amongst them are four members of
the House of Commons :—Mr. T. Hughes, Mr. H. James,
Mr. H. C. Lopes, and Mr. G. 0. Morgan.
MR. LAMONT'S POLAR EXPEDITION.—The new
steamship Diana, equipped for geographical explorations
and scientific research in the Polar seas, which started a
few weeks ago from Glasgow, is now reported at Hammer-
fest, near the North Cape of Norway. Her owner, Mr.
James Lamont (late M.P.), author of "Seasons with the
Sea Horses" (in Spitzbergen), accompanies the expedition,
and hopes to be able to approach more nearly to the North
Pole than any previous explorer.

RAPID OCEAN STEAMING.—A race has just acci-
dentally occurred between the City of Paris and the
North German Lloyd screw-steamship Main, Captain K.
von Ortendorp, both these magnificent vessels having left
New York on the sth inst., within an hour and a half of
each other, the Inman steamer having the start. The
Main passed the Needles, en route for Southampton, at
11.15 a.m. on the 15th inst., the City of Paris having arrived
off Queenstown at 12.15 a.m. on the same day. There was
a result in favour of the Main of 123 hours over the cele-
brated Inman steamer.

MYSTERIOUS DEATIL—Mr. Bedford on Tuesday
resumed an inquiry at the Sessions House, Westminster,
into the circumstances attending the death of a female,
name unknown, whose body was found floating in the
Thames, off Millbank, on the sth inst. The body was clothed
in apparel of a superior description, and three valuable gold
rings were upon the fingers, and a black jet necklace and
cross round the neck. Mrs. Sarah Smith was examined,
and said she was a nurse and widow, living at
Chelsea, and had attended from seeing the notice in the
papers. She had missed her daughter since the 24th of
May. On the 22nd of May her daughter arrived at her
house, having just come home from Malta, where she had
lost her husband. She appeared in good health, but low-
spirited at the death of her husband. Her daughter's
name was Jane Bunker. and that of her husband,
Charles Bunker. Her age was 25, and she was a tall,
dark, thin young woman. She left witness's house
on the morning of the 2lth of May, saying she was going
into the City to see her husband's brother, a Mr. William
Bunker, a clerk in a tea warehouse in the City, but she
did not say where. Witness had not seen or heard from
her since. The witness was here shewn the clothing, rings,
and other articles taken from the body of the deceased.
She identified the articles. The coroner said he had
received a letter from Liverpool from a person named
Shoolbred, who stated that he had a female relative miss-
ing since May, and that the description of the body of
deceased and her clothing exactly answered that of his
missing relative. lie further remarked that although the
witness Smith had identified the clothing and rings as
those of her daughter, her description of her person varied
materially from that given by the medical man who had
made a post-mortem examination of the body of the de-
ceased. He should feel it is duty again to adjourn the
inquiry, for the protNction of William Bunker.