The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-09 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, ATLI 9, 1860,

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, SATURDAY MORNING.
THE GALWAY LEVER CONTRACT.

The report of the Canadian Government having
become the purchasers of the Galway line, subsidy
and all, is, fortunately for the shareholders, all but
an accomplished fact. This piece of agreeable in-
telligence is thus announced in the Mail of last
night :
" Attempts have been made to throw doubts upon
the account we gave on Wednesday of the nature
of the arrangements in contemplation with a view
to the winding up of the Atlantic Royal Mail Steam-
ship Company. Our statement was nevertheless in
the main correct. The bargain is a little more fa-
vourable for the shareholders than we believed it
to be, inasmuch as the sum of £200,000, agreed to
be taken by the directors of the company from the
Canadian Government, is intended to be a conside-
tion for the postal contract with the British Go-
vernment only. It is exclusive of the value of the
old and new ships, and of any other contract or
property belonging to the company. The sale must
be approved by tile shareholders, and sanctioned
by the British Government and Parliament before
it can be confirmed. It was clearly understood to
he a condition of the bargain that the Canadian
Government should guarantee all the commercial
advantages which the company proposed to confer
upon Galway and Ireland. We still hold to our for-
mer opinion that this arrangement is not a bad one
under the circumstances. More money might pos-
sibly have been got by holding out; and this was
the opinion of some of the more respectable of the
directors. It is not to be forgotten, however, that
the company is now in close grips with great com-
mercial difficulties, with the determined hostility
of the Post-office, and with a large amount of origi-
nal sin of its o wn. If money and a respectable
Irish direction were in the category of possibilities,
we would give our voice against concession."
THE IRISII BRIGADE IN ROME.

The Nation of this day publishes in its second
edition a letter from Rome, giving a full and suit-
able account of the affray which took place in the
Eternal City on the 27th of June between the Papal
troops and a portion of the Irish Brigade, enlisted
for the purpose of maintaining the Pope's autho-
rity against all his enemies. Subjoined is the more
material portion of the ation's version of the royal

row:—
" We had a row on Wednesday evening, which
has been the great topic in Rome during the last
two days. A young man named Laffan, very re-
spectable, and nicely educated, but with not very
much discretion, not being satisfied with the posi-
tion of full private' (being like a namber of those
who seem to have expected officers' commissions to
be as plentiful as berries), put off his uniform, and
turned out in plain clothes. The officer in com-
mand, Mr. Howley, ordered him to put on his uni-
form. He refused. Lieut. Howley ordered him to
be arrested, and called on a sergeant named Wise-
man to arrest him. The latter, who was close by,
and seems to have had some partiality for Laffan,
instead of obeying the order, hailed some men at
hand to assist in resisting the execution. Others of
the battalion, however, most properly, with alacrity
turned out to arrest the insubordinates. These ran
off and took refuge in the Irish College. Some
French officers, not aware of the rglits of refuge,
wanted to enter and arrest the men. The college
authorities refused to permit this, and the time bor-
rowed thus in representations, &c., allowed the
temper of all parties to cool, and Laffan and Wise-
man heartily to repent of their conduct as an offence
not merely against military discipline, bat against
the credit of their native country. So they one and
all gave themselves up quietly that evening. Mean-
time the barracks where the Battalion of St. Patrick
is stationed was the scene of the greatest tumult,
on hearing that some of the men had acted in such
a manner as I have described—some saying this,
some saying that—some furiously calling for prompt
chastisement on those few who had as they asserted,
brought disgrace on the brigade and on Ireland,
and given a handle to their enemies ; others,
on the other hand, palliating the conduct of
the malcontents, and censuring the great strict.
ness of drill and discipline ordered by General
Lamoriciere. The Irish crowded in groups, ex-
citedly discussing the whole affair, the crowd being
swelled by Swiss and French idlers, all waiting to
see the upshot of affairs ; and at the eross roads, as
well as at the Palazzo Aldobrandini, there were
crowds of Romans looking on in amazement at
what all the noise was about. By this time several
officers of the battalion began to arrive on the spot
from various parts of the city, and they instantly
ordered the men back to their barracks. The men
obeyed grumbingly, as the curiosity of all was
greatly excited, and they wanted to learn the re-
sult of the affair. By singular and most fortunate
chance that very evening, by the train from Civita
Vecchia, who should arrive but the Major of the
Irish Battalion—Mr. Miles W. O'Reilly, of Knock-
abbey Castle. He barely reached the hotel from
the terminus when he heard of what was going on,
and off he hurried to the barracks. He came up
at the moment while the Irish were all gathered
together outside the barracks, about to enter it.
He instantly ordered the men to fall in, and put
them through their drill, and made them a brief
but beautiful address.. You never saw any change
so sudden and complete. The men became as docile
and contented as possible, and everything wore a
most cheering appearance, when a deplorable inci-
dent changed the aspect of affairs. At the end of
the file next the barrack entrance there was a stoat
athletic Irishman. I forgot to tell you there is
one division of Belgians and Romans in the same
barracks as our men. The Belgian officer in com-
mand had, at the very first outbreak of the row,
drawn up his men under arms in front of the bar-
racks. This gave great offence to the Irish, who
felt indignant at being, as they thought, guarded
over by Belgians, and the man I have alluded to
kept saying, with bitter excitement, to his com-
rade, Look at these fellows ; they would sell the
Pope and join Garibaldi in the morning, and
look at them with their bayonets like sentries to
terrify us: `The thing seemed to sting bitterly,
and the moment Major O'Reilly gave the order
to right about face, this private passionately
dashed at the nearest of the Belgians or Romans,
and with one blow of his fist between the eyes
laid the poor fellow kicking and sprawling in the
dust, to the utter amazement and horror of every
one. The Belgian officer, with sad lack of discre-
tion, instantly gave the words, Prime and load—
make ready—present—fire.' O'Reilly rushed for-
ward, and putting himself brte een the muzzles of
the guns and the position of the Irish, in a voice of
thunder countermanded the rash and terrible order.
It was a moment of painful excitement. At,
O'Reilly's voice of thunder—though having so re-
cently arrived he was personally unknown—the
Belgians held the levelled guns, but pulled no trig-
ger, then O'Reilly ordered his men once more into
line ; but by this time out poured every Irishman
in the barracks, and a strange scene ensued—the
Irish, however, merely desiring to disarm the others
—wresting away the guns, twisting the bayonets
off like twigs, and tossing them is the air by
dozens. The Belgian officer drew his sword and
made a stroke at an Irishman, which, however,
wounded him but very slightly. This was the
first actual blow struck. On this another Irish-
man flung a stone at the officer, which missed him,
but hit one of his men. These, nstwithstanding
the serious nature of the whole affair, proved to be
the only blows given throughout. O'lteilly's tact,
energy, and presence of mind were above all praise.
Ile soon, assisted by his officers, succeeded in bring-
ing them to obedience, and in a few minutes had
order once more restored, and by 9 o'clock every-
thing was as orderly as if nothing had occurred.
Upon all this I must make one observation. One
of the evils always and inevitably attendant on
volunteering is here seen. Men seem to imagine
that because they volunteer they must in a measure
be their own masters, and dictate, and choose, and
criticise instead of obeying discipline. The Irish
here display this exacting spirit. They underrate
all others, and imagine that they must be treated
in a special manner. In a special manlier, no
doubt, they will eventually be treated, in so far
as to be deemed the 3
crack' brigade of It. 1 • ,
for already
marked them out quicki
.ortbacty of
;e
but Lamoriciereoltt
their at i r
special treatment is specially strict drill and
discipline. Lamoriciere sees that that is all
they require to be the first soldiers in Europe. This,
however, is not the taste olmauy among them, espe-
cially the young officers, who cannot at all under
stand or stomach lAmoriciere's order, that they must
(French fashion) take their place in the ranks till
they learn their drill, &c., reserving for them, of
course, however, their positions as officers. In my
opinion the Commander-in. Chief looks on the Irish
Brigade as a man would on a young horse of incom-
parable mettle and bottom, needing, however, great
trouble to break in, hut, if once broken in, worth. a
stuff. Of 1,500 out here, only 40
sheao:ee
beeno f or i n ary
rejected
on
presenting theinselves for pp-
rolment. Some navvies from Youghal modestly
asked I:14 bounty, and 2s. a-day. Of course they
were spurned. gurne ttO mon from Limerick seem
to have come out in the same
Then, in all about arc the only mereettariee tbat
have rea.alled this country from Ireland."

pospot, ELECTION.
The Abereorn interest iu th.p puunty has pre-
vailed. Mr. Stewart ha 3 quietly sueoutubed, and
Lord Hamilton will walk 9Vcr the course.
KIDNAPPINO.
Another ease of alleged kidnapping—this time

" at the other side"—came before Mr. justice Hayes
yesterday in chambers, in the form of an applica-
tion for a writ of habeas tr.:opus. The facts are
these :

" Mr. Dowse moved for a wait of habeas corpus
to bring up the body of a boy named Win. Diver,
ho was alleged to he in illegal custody. The facts
upon which the application was grounded was stated
in the affidavit of Win. Diver, the father of the
person who is alleged to be in custody. The affi-
davit stated that the boy Wm. Diver would be 14
years of age in October next ; that his mother was
dead, and that he bad an only sister named Mary
Jane ; that the father was a tradesman, and being
obliged to go about from place to place, kept his
two children at lodgings, and paid ls. Bd. a
week for William ; that William went into the
employment of a person named Wilson, resid-
ing near Ballyshannon, county Donegal ; that
Wilson was a Protestant, but had never attempted
to interfere with the religion of the boy, whose
father and mother were both Roman Catholics, in
whose religion William had been always reared ;
that William Diver left Mr. Wilson's service, and
went, without his father's consent, to the house of
a person named Jennings, and that his father heard
that Jennings was bringing him up as a Protestant,
and sending him to the Protestant church ; that the
father went to Jennings' house and demanded his
son, but Jennings said he would not give him up
until May-day; that the father went hack on old
May-day (the 12th), and ngain demanded his son,
and that Jennings, his son, and his wife refl:ed to
give the boy up, and put him into a room ; that the
father then went to the magistrates and got a sum-
mons to have the boy delivered up, but the magis-
trates said they had no jurisdiction, and refused to
entertain the summons ; that the Rev. Messrs.
Kincaide and Crookshanks, Protestant clergymen,
attended before the magistrates, and asked the
father not to interfere with the boy; that the father
persisted in demanding his son, but that the parties
refused to give him up, and that he was still in
Jennings' house. Counsel referred to Alicia Race's
case to show that until the boy was 14 years of
age the father was the guardian and entitled to his
custody. lie also said there was no pretence that
the boy was kept in custody, on the ground that
his term of service had not expired.
" Mr. Justice Hayes gave a peremptory order for
a mandamus, to be returnable early next week,
before the first judge of the Queen's Bench, who
would be easily accessible."

without complicating it by propositions the truth
of which few persons would be ready to concede,
and which if once admitted would inevitably lead
to a reaction, and very likely end in depriving the
Peers of the power to render a similar service in
future.

With the result as it stands we, at least, have no
reason to be displeased. Large as is the interest
which the Times has in the abolition of the Paper
Duty, we have always felt that the present was a
most inopportune moment for the change. We have
painted out again and again that the demands of
the Imperial Treasury were so urgent as to render
any wilful and deliberate sacrifice of revenue some-
thing little short of a crime against the public inte-
rest, and we have steadily maintained that in avert-
ing the great calamity likely to be brought upon
the nation by Mr. Gladstone's finance the House of
Lords was doing no more than its duty. We have
thus once more had the opportunity of proving to
Mr. Bright and Mr. Gladstone howlittlethey know
of the real opinions and wishes of the country, in
whose name they perpetually presume to speak.
Mr. Bright, if he is capable of learning anything
from experience, must at lust have learnt that it is
quite sufficient for him to come forward as the
advocate of any course of action in order to insure
its repudiation by the great mass of his fellow-
countrymen. Mr. Gladstone must have learnt that
he is not in a position to direct the storm of public
obloquy against the Government of which he is a
member, and may conclude his retrospect of the
transactions of the week with the not very com-
fortable reflection that he and his policy have been
most emphatically censured by a large majority in
the House of Peers and by an union of both par-
ties in the House of Commons.—limes.