The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-22 00:00:00

Just published, 2d., sent by the Author for three stamps,
ITGLINESS and BEAUTY. A closely-printed
klj Pamphlet, descriptive of articles and means used for
improving the appearance. By ALEX. ROSS, 245, High
Holborn, London.

ALMON AND TROUT FISHING,—
CHARLES FARLOW, Manufacturer, 191, Strand,
near Temple-bar, invites anglers to inspect his large and
varied STOCK of superior seasoned SALMON, TROUT,
and SPINNING RODS; salmon, lake, and trout flies;
improved reels and lines. Artificial baits in every variety.
Superior stout salmon and extra fine silkworm gut. Flies
dressed to pattern, and sent by post. Rods repaired and
made to order. Catalogues gratis. Sole agent in London
for Phillips's Dublin Hook; and Brown's Phantom Min-
nows. Prize Medal 1862.

BILLIARDS.—D. HARRIS having erected, by
order of the Directors of the Metropolitan Music
Hall Billiard Rooms, Edgware-road, London, two of his
improved METALLIC BILLIARD TABLES, begs most
respectfully to call attention to the superiority of those
tables, which can be seen as above, and at the Manufactory,
3, Pall-Mall-place, Pall-Mall, London, where testimonials
can be seen from many of the nobility, gentry, and secre-
taries of club-houses who have favoured D. Harris with
orders for his Metallic and Slate Billiard Tables.
N.B.—Sole Maker and Patentee of the Tubular Ribbed
Metallic Billiard Table.

THE SMEE'S SPRING MATTRESS
(Tucker's Patent, or "Sommier Tucker,") price from.
255., received the ONLY Prizo Medal or Honourable Men-
tion given to BEDDING of any description, at the Inter-
national Exhibition, 1862.
The Jury of Class 30, in their Report, 'page 6, No. 2,905,
and page 11, No. 2,014, say :
4"Che Sommier Tucker is perfectly solid, very healthy,
and moderate in price."
"A combination as simple as it is ingenious."
"A bed as healthy as it is comfortable."
To be obtained of most respectable Upholsterers and
Bedding Warehousemen, or wholesale of the Manufacturers,
WILLIAM SMEE & SONS, Finsbury, London, E.G.

BY HER 11AJESTY'S ROYAL LETTERS PATENT.
Received the Prize from tho Agricultural Hall, 1864,
JOHN COPPARD and CO.,
Patentees and Inventors of Appliances for
ROUGHING HORSE SHOES, AND ANTI-SNOW

CORRODICIPLATES,
84, FLEET-STREET, LONDON, E.C.
We respectfully beg to call your attention to our Patent
Roughing Appliances, which are now perfection, and
effectually answer the
Purpose of roughing without remov-
ing or preparing the shoes.
The patentees' experience having taught them the use-
lessness of roughing when the snow is on the ground, in
consequence of the snow clogging the feet, they have in-
troduced the Anti-snow Corroder, which consists of a
metal plate so arranged as to resist the snow, thus prevent-
ing the foot balling (as it is termed).
In recommending the Patent Roughs, &c., we submit the
following among the many advantages :
A great saving of time; they can bo instantly applied
and as speedily removed. The shoes of the horse have not
to be taken off or prepared. They may bo with the horse
at all times, yet only used when required ; in fact, they are
so
simple, a lad can fix them in a few soconds, rendering
the horse perfectly safe on his feet, and the price is consi-
derably less than paid for the old method of roughing.
PRICE 3s. THE SET OF 4. Straps Extra.
Communications or orders (with remittance) will receive
prompt attention By your very respectfully,
JOHN COPPARD & CO., the Patentees.

BENJAMIN RD.—The old House
RI HDLEL-ABITTCS, FS°TIRRUPS, and SPURS,
11 UPPER
ST. MARTIN'S-LANE, London W.C.
,
By Appointment to Her Majesty and H.R.H. the Prince of
Wales.
for
Banbury (revolving mouth) Bits' Sliding Mouth Bits,
Dick Christian Bits, Dunchurch Bits, Segundo Bits, Chif-
ney Bits, Hanoverian Bits, Pelham Bits, Lincoln Bits,
Stockton Bits, Brighton Bits, Leicester Bits, Melton Bits,
Bontinck Bits, and all other Saddlo-horse and Harness
Bits; also, Hunting, Military, and Ladies' Spurs, Ladies'
and Gentlemen's Patent Safety Hunting Stirrup-irons.

FOR SNAFFLE HORSES.
The Yorkshire, Wellington,
tnh,eßausduiaclal,soPrtesrsoiafn,plDaionuhanled-
mouth, Double-ring, Roller-mouth, Meadows, Duncan gag,
Box
for IndiaSP UR.
tilweilsstuend ;gaa gl
o laVo odvariety ofg eottthinesr curboiit oand r
repair—no
bits.no
l 0
sing
and the Co-
lonies;s --
PuNl.oseethepealinPcaeartti—civoenss-P.cannot injure the boxes.
THE NEWenel PATENTaiy.

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, Feb. 21.

The words of the National Anthem have seldom
had a more gratifying illustration than in the tre-
mendous blow just struck at the Fenian Brotherhood
by the Government. Their " politics" and "knavish
tricks" have been thoroughly " confounded." The
leaders, waiting with their weapons in their hands
for the moment when her Majesty was to be deposed
in Ireland, have been quietly gathered into prison,
while the rank and file of their enlisted host—sworn
to defend the Irish Republic—have been scattered
like chaff before the wind. Already, it is said, had
the lands and the mansions of the gentry and the
merchants in the several counties throughout the
country been surveyed and allotted among the
American adventurers. Already had the houses of
the loyal inhabitants been marked with a cross, in
this case the symbol not of valuation but destruc-
tion ; and it was believed that the Head Centre
would have cried " Havoc," and let slip the dogs of
war last Sunday night, had not Parliament with
such wonderful celerity enabled the Government to
prevent horrors such as Ireland has not known since
1641, for the leaders of the insurrection were to be
men who had been familiar with burning and
slaughter and plunder for three or four years in the
Southern States of America. Those who made light
of the danger with which society has been threatened
knew not the desperate character of those men, or
the effect of the training they had undergone for the
sanguinary mission they had sworn to accomplish,
and for which they had made such marvellous
preparations under the greatest possible difficulties.
Among those arrested yesterday is Patrick J.
M'Donnell, who has, it appears, been at the head
of the movement since the arrest of Stephens, to
whom he was next in command. Some months
ago, it is said, the police learnt something about
his position in the conspiracy from a box containing
arms, addressed to him, which they found in the
goods' store of the City of Dublin Steampacket
Company, North-wall, but he eluded their vigilance
till yesterday morning, when he was found con-
cealed in a yard in the rear of North King-street.
As the deputy of the Head Centre, it is believed
that he was in close communication with him up to
the last moment ; and that he and others now in
custody formed not only his council of war, but his
bodyguard, deprived of which his capture may soon
be expected. The temptation to win £2,000 by
betraying him might easily be resisted so long as it
was possible that he might take the place of Lord
Wodehouse in Dublin Castle ; but it will be dif-
ferent when all such hopes have perished, and de-
spair succeeds panic.
The least success would have caused persons of a
higher class to join the conspiracy. Of this there
is some indication in the arrests made at Trim,
county Meath, on Monday. These included Mr.
Malone, one of the wealthiest and most respectable
merchants in the town ; Mr. Sheridan, son to the
postmaster ; and Mr. Leonard, draper. In Ath-
lone, on the same day, Mr. J. P. Fitzgerald, for-
merly a clerk at the Broadstone terminus in this
city, was among the prisoners. In Limerick 14
persons were arrested yesterday, mostly young men
engaged as clerks in respectable establishments, one
an extensive grocer, another a draper, and three
publicans.
A correspondent writing to the Express, from
Limerick, yesterday evening states that at a quarter
to one the warrant for the committal of the pri-
soners was signed by Mr. Collins, R.M., who had a
strong party of Lancers in attendance outside with
the prison van, in which the whole were conveyed
to the county gaol. The cheering of the populace
was immense, and taken up by the prisoners, who
waved their hats in recognition, and appeared to be
in excellent spirits.
On the arrival on Monday of one of the Liverpool
steamers belonging to the Dundalk Steampacket

PRICE.... 4d.
STAMPED sd.

Company Constable Lynam, and a coastguard named
Patrick Head, seized a case containing nine horse-
pistols and 20 of smaller size. There were also in
the same case two double-barrelled fowling-pieces,
together with a number of rifle-bullet moulds.

WEDNESDAY EVENING.
A body of armed Fenians, assembled for drill on
Saturday night in a house at Cullen, in the county
Tipperary, fired repeatedly on a patrol of police,
and shot one constable, who has since died of his
wounds. Among the Fenians was a private of the
17th Regiment on furlough. The Fenians have fled,
but most of them are known.

This afternoon the police found in St. Andrew's-
lane 142 pikes and 36 pike handles.

Government Interference with Steam
Shipbuilding.

Yesterday evening, the Society of Arts held one
of the most crowded and important meetings of
the season, to hear Mr. Thos. Gray, of the Board of
Trade, read a paper " On Modern Legislation in
regard to the Construction and Equipment of Steam-
ships." Amongst those present were :—Mr. Farrer,
Board of Trade ; Mr. Mayo, Registrar-General
Merchant Seamen ; Mr. H. Maudslay, Mr. Money
Wigram, Mr. Samuda, Mr. E. Chadwick, Captain
Selwyn, R.N., and an immense number of ship-
owners and others interested in steam shipping and
the passenger trade. In the absence of Mr. Lowe,
M.P., the chair was taken by Professor Huxley,
F.R.S., supported by Mr. Wm. Hawes, president of
the society, and several other members of the council.
Mr. GRAY, who was loudly cheered on rising to
address the meeting, began by laying down
the principle that Government interference with
trade, commerce, or manufacturing industry was
decidedly injurious, and that in free and
healthy competition was to be found invariably the
best security for having the public well served.
Applying this to the matter in hand, he showed
that the Legislature had sought to secure safety for
passengers in steam ships by providing that each
such vessel should be divided into three watertight
compartments, but this was entirely insufficient, as
might be seen in diagrams which he had placed on
the walls. The Great Britain, Samphire, and other
vessels had been saved by their watertight bulk-
heads, but not those provided for by the act of
Parliament. Had those stood alone the vessels
must inevitably have gone to the bottom. It was
the bulkheads in excess which the judgment and
prevision of the owners had taught them to provide
that saved the ships. All Government regulations,
Mr. Gray argued, must be based on fixed and in-
flexible rules, and these must soon become inap-
plicable to the ever-varying exigencies of commerce.
Having cited the instances of the Great Britain,
which was divided into seven distinct compartments,
and the Golden Fleece into six, to show how imper-
fect was the Government regulation, he further il-
lustrated its fallacy by pointing out that the same
rigid rule was applied to the Persia and Scotia, of
4,000 tons, the Great Eastern, of 20,000 tons, and
the Lady Bird, of 9 tons. The bulkhead clauses,
as they were called, had at last been repealed, and
their failure was a proof how inexpedient was Go-
vernment interference in mercantile transactions.
Other clauses equally mischievous were still in ac-
tive operation, and the object of his argument was
to show the expediency of their repeal also. Mr.
Gray next turned to the question of boats, and
showed very happily how absurd were the regula-
tions which ordained provision of boats according
to tonnage, without any reference to whether or no
the vessel carried passengers, and gave several
forcible illustrations, and then most successfully
ridiculed the Government regulations with re-
spect to safety valves in steamers. The instances in
which these were either defeated or evaded were lu-
dicrous, and were loudly cheered by the meeting. Hav-
ing examined the cases of the Times, the Tonning, and
the Cricket in some detail, Mr. Gray inferred that
Government inspection was a perfect failure, having
been completely satisfied in all the above instances,
and explosions took place nevertheless. The paper
in conclusion showed that in the cases of compasses,
anchors, and chain-cables, all Government interfer-
ence had proved perfectly futile, and in many cases
positively mischievous. His conclusions were that,
in all matters connected with the building and
management of shipping statutory regulations and
Government inspection were of the slightest possible
value, whilst they were decidedly obstructive to the
free course of trade and destructive of the individual
responsibilities of shipbuilders, shipowners, and ship
masters. Between 1856 and 1865 there had been
21 Board of Trade inquiries into shipwrecks, and in
all these cases the accidents had arisen, not from
non-compliance with statutable regulations, but
from gross neglect of the simplest nautical precau-
tions on the part of the master. Mr. Gray's paper,
of which the above is an imperfect and brief outline,
was listened to with great attention all through, and
was loudly cheered at the conclusion.
In the discussion which followed, Mr. F. WOOD
feared that the lecturer had been taking lessons from
the great modern chief of philosophical heresy, and
had taken a work called " Liberty" as his model.
He (Mr. Wood) believed that the inferiority of the
crews was the main cause of modern marine disas-
ters. (Hear, hear.) The British sailor was almost
extinct, and his place was supplied by a medley of
foreigners who did not understand or distinguish
it port" from " starboard" when the captain gave
his orders.

SAMUDA complained of the sharp competition
which, cutting as low as possible, compelled ship-
builders to send out inferior work. He approved of
Government interference in so far as inspection went,
but not to the extent of direction. In the case of
emigrant ships, it was decidedly beneficial.
Mr. W. HAWES entirely concurred with the views
of Mr. Gray. In 1852 he had seen our steam trade
with Australia nearly ruined by Government inter-
ference. The inspectors knew nothing about steam-
ships, and nearly brought the trade to a deadlock.
Mr. EDWIN CHADWICK would leave matters to
individual responsibility and self-interest, but under
certain restrictions. When we first began to send
convicts to Australia the majority were thrown
overboard en route. (A laugh.) However, he
arranged that the shipowner should be paid, not for
the number he took on board, but for the number
he landed in good condition, and the improvement
was marvellous. (Laughter.) In that case the
principle of self-interest did good service. (Hear,
hear.) The same results subsequently occurred in
the case of the pauper emigrants, amongst whom
there was a terrible mortality at first, but which en-
tirely ceased when the head-money became payable
on the safe landing of the cargo. (Loud laughter.)
Mr. MONEY WIGRAM approved of Government
inspection as a protection to the shipowner. The
shipowner was obliged to trust to the shipbuilder,
and the services of the Government inspector were
very valuable, as between the two. He approved
also of Government inspection in the case of pas-
senger ships.
Mr. FARRER thought there was no medium be-
tween thorough and incessant inspection, and com-
plete reliance on the interests and responsibilities
of the owners. He preferred the latter, and if
the owners failed in their duty he would make them
amenable to the common law.

Mr. 'lv. MAuDsLAY pointed out that a ship
might be built perfect in every respect, but after-
wards might deteriorate ; in which case he thought
Government inspection might be very useful and
necessary. Mr. Maudslay gave some amusing in-
stances of the ingenuity of engineers in defeating
the precautions of the Legislature.

After a few words from Sir E. BELCHER and
Captain SELWYN, a vigorous attempt was made on
the part of the meeting to have the discussion ad-
journed ; but Mr. Hawes pointed out the inexpe-
diency of adjournments, and

.. ..
The CHAIRMAN put the question, when it was ear-