The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-02 00:00:00

THE SEINE STEAMER.

SOUTHAMPTON, Saturday Morning.
The passengers and crew of the West India mail
steamer Seine, who have been transferred to the
Parana and /lola at the Motherbank, are to be
released from quarantine to-day, an order to that
effect having been received from the Privy Council,
provided all are well on board after a 24-hours'
quarantine of observation fron the transfer, which
took place yesterday. They were expected to land
in the docks about 1 o'clock to-day.

IRELAND.

-

DUBLIN, Feb. 1.
Great interest is felt about the appointment of the
Provost of Trinity College. The position is one
involving deeper interests than the appointment of
a bishop, as it may affect the higher education of the
country, as well as the character of the Irish Church
for many years. There are two names before the
public in connexion with the vacancy. Dr. Lloyd,
the Vice-Provost, and Dr. Todd, on whose behalf
it is said a pressure is being put upon the Govern-
ment by very influential personal friends. The
Daily Express, which is devoted alike to the inte-
rests of the University, the Church, and the present
Government, freely canvasses the claims of these
two gentlemen. and most earnestly deprecates the
appointment of Dr. Todd. It is admitted that he is
an eminent and a learned man, as well as a good
writer. But he is regarded as too much of an anti-
quary, too mediaeval in his tastes, too priestly in his
spirit, " well known to belong to the most extreme
section of the High Church party among the Irish
clergy." Now, the Provost is the head of the Di-
vinity School, and has absolute control over the
services in the College Chapel, at which the students
are compelled to attend. On this ground, it is
affirmed, the appointment of Dr. Todd would be in-
defensible, "a heavy blow both to the Church and
the University." In fact, the authorizing of Ritual-
ism in the Dublin University would be nothing short
of a national calamity. It would never do in this
age to attempt to convert it into a semi-monastic
institution.
Lord Rosse, the Chancellor of the University, is
decidedly in favour of the Vice-Provost. He has
ascertained the feelings of the Fellows on the sub-
ject, and found that they are unanimous for him,
with the exception of a single junior Fellow, who
was a former pupil of Dr. Todd, and wishes to take
no part in the matter. Perhaps the contrast be-
tween the two candidates could not be better ex-
pressed than by saying that Dr. Todd would be at
home in the Presidential chair of the Royal Irish
Academy, and Dr. Lloyd in the chair of the British
Association for the Advancement of Science. The
University has special claims upon Lord Derby's
Government, which it would be ungrateful as well
as imprudent to disregard. These claims the Daily
Express urges with much force :
The appointment of the Provost is a trust reposed in it
to be exercised for the benefit of the University, the Church,
awl the nation at large. No Government would venture to
do an act which would proclaim to the world that public
interests are sacrificed to private friendship and importu-
nity. Still less conceivable would such a sacrifice be when
the University of Dublin is the victim to whose throat a
Conservative Government is asked to apply a sacrificial
knife. To no constituency in the United Kingdom is Lord
Derby more deeply indebted than to the Universiy of
Dublin. It is of vital importance to the conducting of the
business of the nation that the chief law officers of the
Crown should have seats in Parliament. At the risk of
being called a nomination borough, Trinity College has
never refused to return the candidate in whose election the
Government were interested. She elected Mr. Walsh with-
out opposition, and is ready to return the Solicitor-Gene-
ral. Her Chancellor and her Fellows now unanimously ex-
press the modest desire that they should have as their pro-
vost the man who is at once their brightest ornament and,
in academic standing, at the head of the university. A
very little inquiry will suffice to satisfy the Government
that the opinion of the governing body is endorsed by the
university at large. if it be disregarded, with what face
could the Solicitor-General present himself at the hustings
to obtain a favour, in return for which the Government, of
which he is an officer, had refused to acknowledge a posi-
tive right ?
Deputations from the committee of the conference
of Irish railway directors, and from the Mansion-
house and corporate bodies of Ireland, waited on his
Excellency the Lord Lieutenant at the Castle yes-
terday, for the purpose of presenting memorials to
him on the subject of Irish railway reform. The
deputation of railway directors was received by his
Excellency in the Presence Chamber.
The Attorney-General was present with the Lord
Lieutenant. The Lord Mayor, after some intro-
ductory remarks, read the memorial, from which I
quote the following :
It appears that the capital in Irish railways on the 31st
of December, 1865, was £26,395,100, and the net receipts,
after payment of the working expenses, £927,147, or at the
rate of £3 10s. per cent. The working expenses might be
materially reduced by amalgamation, and a large reduction
might be made in the rates and fares with as fair a prospect
of repayment as in Belgium. They desire particularly to
call your Excellency's attention to the fact that the Impe-
rial Government has sanctioned important encouragement
for the construction of railways in India and Canada,
and they respectfully submit that the peculiar disadvan-
tages which Ireland has had to contend against, and from
the effects of which she is still suffering, entitle her to as
much consideration for the development of her resources
as has been shown for the distant portions of the empire.
In conclusion, your memorialists most respectfully urge on
your Excellency that the severe losses which Ireland has
sustained by the famine, the slow adaptation of agriculture
to the altered condition of the country, the absence of
mineral wealth and of extensive manufactures, and the
smaller means of the people, entitle her to government con-
sideration. They earnestly trust that your lordship will
recommend the Government you represent to introduce
measures into Parliament for the purchase of the Irish rail-
ways, and, by thus promoting its improvement, strengthen
the ties which unite the separate but component parts of
this great empire.
Similar memorials were also presented on behalf
of the municipal bodies of the leading towns in
Ireland. His Excellency, in reply, stated that the
Government were fully aware of the great import-
ance of the question, and had already given the
subject their most serious consideration. Some
little delay, however, consequent upon the issuing
of the report of the Royal Commissioners, might
arise before the Government could give a definite
expression of opinion on the matter; but he trusted
that that report, when it did appear, would be in
favour of some action being taken. As far as he was
himself concerned, the deputation might be assured
that he would give the movement every reasonable
support in urging upon the Lords of the Treasury
the importance of railway reform in Ireland. The
Attorney-General, who was in attendance on his
Excellency, in the absence of Lord Naas, Chief Sec-
retary for Ireland, stated to the deputation that the
Irish Executive, from the Lord-Lieutenant to the
most subordinate member, were unanimous in re-
commending in every way the carrying out of the
wishes suggested in the memorial. The deputation
then withdrew.
The Cork, Herald mentions the names of several
possible candidates for the vacancy which has been

created in the representation of the county by the
death of Mr. G. R. Barry, M.P. We quote a few
of them :—Mr. Isaac Butt, Capt. Smith Barry, Mr.
Pope Hennessy, Mr. V. Scully, and Mr. H. L. Puxley.
DUBLIN, Friday Evening.
An inquest was held to-day at IG, Middle Gar-
diner-street, on the body of Mrs. J. Scott, a young

married lady, who killed herself yesterday morning
_ . _

by falling from her bedroom window, on the third
floor, into the street area. She had previously at:

tempted to poison herself with laudanum, to avoid
singing at an amateur concert. Dr. Beatty deposed
that she was of unsound mind. Verdict accordingly.

THE PLACE FOR SPORTSMEN.—WiId game has
always been found in abundance iu the vibinity of Napa,
but the present season surpasses any that has gone before
since the flood—the flood of 1862. Geese, brants, and
honkers aro seen in untold numbers on the foothills in the
neighbourhood of Caneros, covering hundreds and hundreds
of acres, and their gabbling can be heard for miles and
miles around. Ducks aro so numerous that in their flight
overhead during the night they entirely obscure the moon
and stars, and the noise produced by their wings sounds
like "the rushing of mighty winds." Hundreds aro killed
by night hunters, and leaving the honroosts in disgust, the
fox and the coon alike lick their chops in the anticipation
of their night's feast, and proceeding to the tulo swamps,
"lay low for black ducks." Quail now go in flocks on
account of their numbers, and will no doubt continuo to do
so until spring. Hares are many, and their oars are longer
than usual. All other small game in like proportion.—San
Francisco paper.