The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-08 00:00:00

THEI t SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 8, 1859.

sides of the river by an almost countless multitude.
It is very probable that another such ship may
pass down the Thames, but it seems not possible
that the same amount of interest can be manifested
in any other vessel again, no matter what her size.
Once past -Woolwich, all the difficulties were
over. The tugs continued their assistance, but the
vessel was so perfectly under control that while the
tide was against her their assistance might have
been easily dispensed with. But for the delay at
Blackwall Gravesend would have been reached by
11 o'clock. As it was, however, the tide turned and
set with the ship before that hour, when the vessel
was at the Long Reach off Purfleet. An immediate
halt was therefore necessary, as in turning a few
sharp corners with the tide the vessel's whole bron d-
side would become exposed to the full force of the
stream, and not all the tugs in the river would pre-
vent her going ashore at once. It was therefore
determined to anchor off Purfleet till this (Thurs-
day) morning. A single one of Trotman's anchors
was let go at the bows, and the course of the ship,
which it was said no anchors could ever hold, was
at once checked, and the Great Eastern actually
began to swing round in the Thames as much
under command as a cutter. For the single in-
stant during which she swung and remained broad-
side to the stream she seemed literally to bridge
across the river. There was room enough for her
to swing, but not a foot to spare. The vessel came
round to the full force of the tide, and her chain
cable tanghtened up out of the water for a moment
like an iron bar, but the single anchor never
yielded an inch from the spot where it was first
dropped.
This day (Thursday ) the Gre4 Eastern will re-
sume her course, and arriTe off the more soon after
12 o'clock. Our readers may be interested to know
that there was not a single seaman on board the
Great Eastern during this river tfip, none of the
crew having joined when she left, and i,42 men in
board, with the exception of stokers and officers,
being all riggers from Mr. Westhorp's yard.

DESTRUCTIVE FIRE IN WATERLOO-
ROAD-THREE LIVES LOST.

ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS.

A fire, by which the lives of three persons were
sacrificed in a very awful manner, occurred at four
o'clock yesterday morning, in the Waterloo•road, a
few doors beyond the South-Western Railway Sta-
tion.
The premises were occupied by a man named
Burton, who carried on business as a dealer in second-
hand wardrobes. His family consisted of his wife,
her dau--chter by a former husband, and three sons,
respectively of the ages of 23, 17, and 11 years.
The house was an ordinary eight-roomed tene-
ment, two rooms upon a floor. The ground
floor was devoted to the purposes of the business,
and the upper rooms were used as a dwelling.
The attic windows are hidden from observation by
a wall recently run up in front of this and three
or four adjoining houses for the ostensible purpose
of giving increased architectural effect, but with
a result which prevents the possibility of pass-
ing from one house to the other, and produces
what may in truth be termed " a trap for the de-
struction of human life" in case of a fire occurring
in any one of the dwellings.
The outbreak was discovered at a few minutes
before 4 o'clock, by two constables of the A reserve,
attached to the Tower-street police-station. In
passing the shop they observed smoke issuing from
between the shutters, and on looking more closely
the interior of the shop was found to be in flames.
They instantly sprang their rattles and endeavoured
to alarm the inmates of this and the adjoining
houses, at the same link rousing the fire brigade at
the station nearly opposite, and despatching mes-
sengers for the nearest fire escapes. In a few mo-
ments Mr. and Mrs. Burton and other members of
the family were seen at the second floor windows
imploring aid from those below. The fire was
gaining a rapid ascendancy, and smoke issued from
both the first and second floor windows before even
a ladder could be obt lined. Presently one was
brought from the railway station by a porter, and
Police-constable Allshorn,l97 L, gallantly ascended
to the first floor window of the burning house.
While there he hoard the screams and trios of the
sufferers above, and called loudly to them to come
down. At this time the staircase was in flames,
and the unfortunate inmates, fearing to descend,
went up into the front attic, probably hoping to
escape over the parapet. The space between the
front wall and attic window was not more than 12
inches—a mere gutter, in fact—wnile the height
of the division wall between the houses on either
side was at least seven feet. Into this confined
space all the family seem to have been crowded,
the flames gaining upon them every moment, and
threateninc, them with destruction. Mr. Burton
and his eldest son contrived by some means to get
over the division wall bc,tsveen their own dwelling
and an adjoining coffee-house. The second son
made his escape over the other division wall, in an
opposite direction; but Mrs. Burton and her daugh-
ter, Miss Read, a fine young woman 23 years of
age, and the youngest boy, a lad of 11 years old,
remained in the gutter, and were there literally
" roasted to death."
The flames were subdued in little more than half
an hour after the outbreak, and before any of the
upper rooms, except the front attic, had been seri-
ously injured by the fire. The music which the
daughter had apparently been playing before she
retired to rest remained unseorched upon her piano
in the first floor sitting-room, and the book which
Mrs. Burton had evidently been reading when she
fell asleep lay upon her pillow in the second floor
front bedroom. The great ravages which the fire
made in the front attic had been evidently caused
by the door of that room being left open to the stair-
case while the others were closed.

On the firemen discovering the bodies it was found
that Mrs. Burton was partly dressed, having her
boots laced and stockings and garters on. This was
considered so remarkable that in the course of the
day Mr. Burton was asked if he could explain the
circumstance. He replied that he could not account
for it in any other way than as follows :—He said
that unfortunately during the evening he had an
altercation with his wife, after which he had left
home and gone to a neighbouring public-house; that
he returned about 12 o'clock and went to bed to his
wife, who was asleep at the time, and whom he sup-
posed might, in consequence of their previous dis-
agreement, have lain down without undressing her-
self. He said further that he was first alarmed by
his wife exclaiming that the house was on fire, upon
which he roused the different members of his family
and collected them in the front attic, where he sub-
sequently assisted them to get out into the gutter—
that he and one of his sons succeeded in getting
over the pa,r2.pet on to the next house in one direc-
tion, and that he expected the other members of the
family had escaped in the opposite direction. This
was all that could be gained from him, and he ex-
pressed himself totally unable to account for the
origin of the fire. It should be mentioned that Mr.
Burton and the two sons who were saved escaped
nearly in a state of nudity, having nothing more
than their shirts on.

In the course of the investigation set on foot by
Mr. Henderson, foreman of the Southwark division
of the Fire Brigade, yesterday morning, some words
recently written in . pencil on one side of the shop
door, were discovered, which excited some curio-
sity. They are written in a small but bold hand,
and with an apparent erasure of one word read as
follows :—" Mind 'you get at one o'clock."
What this can mean. is not very intelligible, but
the handwriting is believed to" be known, and the
police have thought it desirable to preserve it.
With two fire-escapes stationed within short dis-
tances—one at the Orphan Asylum and one at
Surrey Chapel—it seems deplorable that so serious
a loss of life should have occurred. The,fact, how-
ever, is accounted for by the extreme rapidity with
which the fire ran through the house, and which
prevented even the. close proximity of a fire-brigade
station being of any essential service. The second
son of Mr. Burton was taken from the rooton to
which he had escaped by the conductor of the'Mn-
chine from the Orphan Asylum, and it is said that
at the time he was removed the cries of his mother
and sister were distinctly audible through • the
flames, which unhappily prevented the possibility
of any attempt being made to rescue. them.
The bodies of Mrs. Bur:on and Miss Read were
so completely wedged into the gutter where they
were found that the firemen, in extricating them,
were obliged to. cut • away part of the window
frames. The upper portion of ther remains were
entirely consumed, but the legs and lower exiremi.
ties had suffered very little from the action of.fire.
Mr. Burton's pecuniary. loss is covered by,an in-
surance in the Phoenix 'Fire-office for £5OO. • '
It is
hasChuer rtgoer
a 'reliable and disgraceful fact that When
ch
thi,l firemen applia' d to the parochial official wha
offictlhoea6n..sluici:nebeinlon inc.. to St. John's
yighie% to placec the
body of the third
ce of a
.rer, it was positively mused,
obliged to go to the parish
awnodr workhouse, us police,
a wereistalme and. a half, to ob-
tain The excuse fur this piece of barbarity •
istbuate,oaffi4g I.Dehurch rates are permitted in Lam-
beth, there are no funds .out \vbieh to defray the
charges consequent upon deposit- '
31)e, a A4Quy }1:1 the
church vaults.

,*\!r._l.VoOdS,
POOL '.
LOPE-MEN T CASE.
I:lcikilvtivdillno,. 9,1?
TUE LIYER
the person eizargad with • eloping. Nyith Mrs,
wife of a coffee-hou&e deeper ill.liverpoqt,
party- to the plunder of i ewe' leey worth, a large 41}^--inb6(l)nq'.9.
was yesterday brought before the'Liverioe) ma'as4tr4telas.7 ,
remand. From statements made by the attcrnies on both
sides, it appeared that since the apprehension of Mr. Woods
certain explanations had been Knuth) and arrangements en-
tered into, which had satisfied Air. endino. and the charge
WaS therefore withdrawn, Voods set at liberty,

A PLEA FOR CENTRAL ITALY.

An able paper by the patriotic statesman Massimo
D'Azeglio indicates the character and meaning of
recent events, and defends the people of Central
Italy from the charges brought against them. The
writer first demands an European Congress, and
continues :

vV
" Granted, then, that the Congress meets ; in
what aspect will Italy appear before it ?
"We do not speak now of Piedmont and its
King, who is now bound up for life and for death
in the Italian cause, and who will know how to
defend it in the council chambers of diplomacy, as
he knew how to keep flying the banner on thefields
of Palestro and Solferino. We do not speak of
Rome, nor of Naples, Governments still in conflict
with the public opinion of Europe as well as with
their own subjects, and only intent on repressing
and misconstruing the aspirations of the latter.
Let us rather examine the conditions of that part of
Italy which, being now left wholly to its own con-
trol, has full power to show that it really is, and
may therefore be considered as the true expression
of the majority, in the Italian minsula.
" Tuscany, Romagna, Modena, and Parma, from
the year Is2l to the present day, yielded obedience
to their respective §gyereigns solely from being
compelled by the violence of the Austrian military
occupations. What instead did these Sovereigns
tell Europe ? What did Austria tell Europe ?
They said that q. few factious men; that a few rest-
less spirits, kept alive the ferment in the popula-
tion which but for their efforts would have lived
most happily 131a!1<er their governments.
" What happened the moment that the defeats of
Austria compelled her soldiers to withdraw to the
left bank of the Po?
" Had the case supposed by Austria been correct,
we ought to have seen these few factious men rush-
ing to the palaiees of the various Sovereigns in order
to hurl them from their thrones, we ought to have
seen the majority of the people combating these
factious men and twine them in pieces before they
ever reached the palaces; or at least, if we must
suppose :that the whole mass allowed itself to be
- struck with terror by a few discontented indivi-
duals, we ought at least to have beheld the entire
population desolate, weeping bitterly at the full of
their most excellent masters.

" Well ; what has really happened is widely
different. We have neither seen factious men as-
sailing the princes, nor faithful subjects defending
them. We have seen the princes stepping into their
carriages and driving away, and subjects drawn up
in line on both sides of the street to see them take
their departure without one indication either of
favour or of hostility, with the aspect of persons
contemplating an event the most natural in the
world, and which the whole world had already
anticipated.
" Tuscany, Romagna, and Modena were left
without any government ; and we may observe that
it would seem to be the duty of every head of a
state to make arrangements under whatever cir-
cumstances for the maintenance of public tranquil-
lity. And especially in the case of these princes,
who were described as so passionately beloved by
their subjects, and merely the victims of a few fac-
tious men, this duty might to have been fulfilled
with all the zeal which gratitude could inspire.
ci Now, it is right that out of Italy the truth
should at length be known. During the last half
century, as often as the Austrian Vice Consuls rul-
ing in Italy were overthrown by a national move-
ment, it was their regular tactics to abandon not
very honourably their states, without confiding to
any one the supreme authority, and rather to seek
in every possible way to make matters worse, in
order that disorders might arise sufficiently serious
to arouse the apprehension and indignation of
Europe to render by such means their own govern-
ments less intolerable, and to induce the people to
hail their restoration as a prospect of relief and
rest.
" As a proof of the truth of what we now affirm,
we would point to the conduct of the Papal govern-
ment in 1849, and to its constant refusal to listen
to the deputations sent by the Romans to the Pope
at Gaeta, for the purpose of maintaining with him
the ties of allegiance—a refusal which reduced
Rome to the necessity of constituting itself as a re-
public. Another proof is furnished by the conduct
of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, copied with few
variations from that of the Court of Rome, and by
that almost exactly similar of the sovereigns of
Modena and Parma.

" There is another fact which may also be little
known to Europe. and less intelligible to those who
are ignorant of the dark by-ways and the thousand
machinations of the Austro-Jesuitical party to the
injury of Italy, but a fact most painfully striking
to us who have been its witnesses, the fact of the
constant provocation of secret agents concealed be-
neath the mask of outrageous patriots.
" During the movement of 1848-49 we have all
known newspaper scribes publicly preaching their
theories, and audacious tribunes of the people but
too successful in hurrying on the most ignorant and
inflammable portion of the population to extrava-
gance and extreme courses. We have all seen them,
I say, on the return of the Austrian armies, walking
about our cities arm in arm with its officers, laugh-
ing in the faces of those very persons whom they
had made their dupes.
"We shall see now if the Italy of 1859 will
allow itself to be caught in the same snare. We do
not believe it. But it does not appear to us useless
to have thus publicly denounced to the conscience
of honest men of all nations this example of the
perfidy of that party which, by its incessant denial
of all justice to the Italian populations, compels
them to demand it from all civilised governments,
and which then, by means of its agents, drives them
on to acts of violence and crime, in order to justify
an armed intervention which may replace them
under its fall authority.
" It seems to us, then, proved that not a few fac-
tious men, but all the citizens of the States of Cen-
tral Italy are unanimous in demanding justice
against the Austro-Jesuitical party, and against the
princes who represent it. This justice they have
executed themselves, when from the most authori-
tative of lips there was announced to them the
manner by which they might become free citizens
of a great nation.
" The Italian cities have not risen up in an out-
burst of popular fury, they have not slain the re-
presentatives of power, nor their women, nor their
old men, nor their children, as happened afterwards
in Perugia, through the work of the mercenary sol-
diers of the Pope. Thousands ofindividuals hastened
in small parties to range themselves benQath the
national banner ; they hastened, leaving their fami-
lies by stealth, as if hiding themselves after the com-
mission of a crime, in order not to have any collision
with the police, or to incur the risk of exciting
troubles ; and so little were they intent on forming
plots against their governments, that in the Roman
States, just because the Swiss troops found Perugia
quite empty of its youth, they could treat it as all
the world knows ; and had not the recruits of the
Romagna been at hand, who were training in order
that when their regiments were once formed they
might join the camp of the allies, the provinces of
the Romagna would have been treated after pre-
cisely the same fashion.
" And after the course observed unanimously by
Central Italy towards its govoi.nments—after that,
by the will of Providence and by the least credible
of events, it has found itself in complete liberty and
independence—what spectacle did Tuscany present?
What spectacle Romagna ? 'What the Duchies ?
What employmc nt did the people make of their full
and absolute freedom ? What vent did they give
to the long indignation lurking in their hearts ?
What was their vengeance for all the ignoble
double-dealing, for the imprisonments, for the tor-
tures, for the banishments, from the scaffolds of
their governments ?

" The vent which they gave, the vengeance which
they wreaked was this :—Their princes, as we have
seen, drove off peaceably in their carriages, which
(excepting the Duchess of Parma) brought them
into the Austrian camp. She at least contrived to
terminate by an act of ability, because one of hu-
manity, a rule fashioned on the same model as that
of the other anti-national princes.
" The functionaries and adherents of the fallen
governments have not so much as a hair touched,
not one particle of their property was taken from
them. The men of these countries, divided in times
past by party rancour-and by personal hatred, the
rudEst and most ignorant individuals of certain pro-
vinces, become corrupted and degraded by bad
rulers, and prone to sanguinary revenge, appear«l,
so to speik, to awaken to a new life, to change their
'nature, to open their hearts to noble and honest
sentiments. The thought that Italy had need of all
.ler sons, that she wished them united, passed along
like an electric spark, obliterated fatal memories
and passions, rnd all wills panted for order, for
discipline, and for self-sacrifice. Such is the aspect
under which Italy presents herself before a Con-
gress, such is the spectacle which she now offers to
the world, a spectacle worthy to draw down the
gaze of angels, and which mu.t touch the heart of
every honest man, however severe his judgments
upon, however hostile his feelings towards, Italy.
" Well, the adherents of the Austro-Jesuitical
party have dared to assoeflio a:ad.yto
.adilyffucis.e, t4hper%sysctro•
tm
and revolution.
• ntitellahtertrhOCrr o°fld.iiialcoersder

"I owe it to my country and to myself to bear
witness to the truth, and therefore do I now come
forth and present myself before the tribunal of pub-
lic opinion, and deplore, qn h moilr, to ithirope,
that for long years the 'Romagna provinces have
never been as tranquil as they are at the present
moment, and ttho same thing. may be affirmed re;
specting the rest of Centrarltaly.
" All this I declare on my honour. and I am glad

that an opportunity has occurred in which I can
offer to these noble provinces a mark of the affec-
tion and of the esteem which I profess for them.
" The Austro-Jesuitical party declares the con-
trary. It is in the discretion of every one to choose
between it and

(Signed) " MASSIMO D'AZEGLIO."

(From the Morning Post.)
The representatives of the people of the Romagna,
we learn by yesterday's telegram, after solemnly
invoking the Almighty to witness the righteousness
of their intentions, have declared that the people of
the Romagna, strong in their right, will no longer
submit to the temporal government of the Pope.
With this declaration, which all in the slightest
degree acquainted with the feelings universal in
Romagna might have foreseen, commences the
greatest difficulty of the Italian question, one leading
to more important complications than those involved
in a mere redistribution of territory or an ordinary
transfer a allegiance. Five centuries and a half ago
Dante complained that the Church of Rome, by the
confusion of temporal and spiritual rule, fell in the
mire and befouled both herself and her high
charge. The unnatural union of the sword with
the crozier, he affirmed, at once weakened tempo.
ral and degraded spiritual authority. The decree
of the Assembly of the Romagna is but the latest
expression of the same truth. The subjects of the
' Pope soliunnly protest before God and man against
thj reimposition of the yoke which they have oast
off. The question whether their protest will be
favourably received by tho great European Powers
is, in other words, the question whether the most
sacred interests of right and justice and humanity
shall once more, as in 184 a, be trampled under foot,
that a clerical ea* may be maintained in the pos-
session -of extorted wealth and the exercise of a de-
tested tyranny.
. By what means, it will at once be asked, can the
Pope hope to reduce to obedience his revolted pro-
vinces 3 And the answer to this question has been
furnished, in great part, by the eloquent and lumi-
nous discourse of the Marquis Massimo d'Azeglio,
of which we published the translation yesterday.
Rome and Austria both calculate on the troubles
which they hope to excite in the Roman provinces.
Austria has already thrown open the criminal pri-
sons of Mantna, And let loose the very scum of the
earth, in the hope that by their vices and crimes
they may assist in fomenting the much-wished dis-
orders, Not daring as yet publicly to intervene by
armed force, Austria has sent her soldiers disguised
to Ancona, where they are at once received amongst
the Papal troops as regular recruits. These acts,
we rejoice to say, have been hitherto baffled by the
prudence and patriotism of the Italian people.
But, evPII should they succeed, it becomes a ques-
tion whether Europe shall any longer tolerate the
systematic prolongation of political and moral
anarchy which their success would inevitably
cause.

The Marquis Massimo d'Azeglio has pictured to
us the States of Central Italy as they have long
been represented by Austria and her partisans,
and as they now appear when left wholly to them-
selves. According to the Austrian accounts, the
people of those countries were fondly attached to the
paternal Governments beneath whose sway they
lived, and only the intrigues of a few factious men
—of a few restless agitators—kept the country in a
chronic ferment. Had this been true, one aught to
have seen, as soon as Austria was compelled to with-
draw her soldiers, these men of intrigue, of faction,
and of bloodshed, assailing their various Sovereigns
or the delegates administering in their stead ; but
ono ought also to have witnessed, if not the univer-
sal rising of the populations in defence of Princes
so dear to them, at least an expression of deep and
heartfelt grief at the cessation of their benignant
rule. " Well," says the Marquis d'Azeglio, " what
has really happened is widely different. We have
neither seen factious men assailing their Princes,
nor faithful subjects defending them. We have
seen the Princes stepping into their carriages and
driving off, and their subjects drawn up on both
sides of the streets to see them take their departure,
without one indication either of favour or of hos-
tility, with the aspect of persons contemplating an
event the most natural in the world, and which the
•,vhole world had already anticipated."
In thus acting, these fillers of Central Italy, the
Princes of Tuscany, Modena, and Parma, and the
Legates of the Pope, have but acted on their own
approved and notorious system. The Marquis
Massimo d'Azeglio, one of the most distinguished of
living Italian statesmen, for years the Prime Minis-
ter of his own country, and a truly upright, con-
scientious, and honourable man, publicly addresses
Europe to the following effect : —He says it is right
that the.truth should be made completely known,
that what regularly occurs in Italy should be pro-
claimed and understood out of Italy. Not once,
not twice, not in one crisis alone, not in one State
only, but as often as the Austrian proconsuls rul-
ing in Italy have been overthrown by a national
movement, it-has been their regular and prescribe 3
tactics at once to abandon their States, not to con-
fide to any one the authority, but rather to increase
in every possible way the confusion, in order that
by an easy transition their subjects might return
a pursuedrgs d'Azeglio con-
trasts by the Italian
I through anarchy to despotism. Such was the policy
of the Pope in 1849. When the Romans 9-
A to
deputation to him at Gaeta, when tkey wished
preserve their allegiance, he refused to accept it.
ui
The same thing was true of Tuscany, of Modena,
and
of
f thPeartturaethi
.aLlite
M
people to the agents and adherents of their
despotic rulers, no less than to the rulers themselves,
with the atrocious barbarities practised by the
Papal soldiers in Perugia. Tho functionaries and
adherents of the fallen Governments have not had
so much as a hair of their head touched ; they have
not been deprived of so much as a !single farthing
of their property. Nay, even in those provinces
where the worst abuses of the worst of governments
had stimulated and kept alive personal hatred and
party rancour and revenge, the poorest, the rudest,
the most ignorant have, as it were, awakened to a
new life of patriotism and of principle, exhibited a
self-sacrifice and a self-control that would be almost
incredible were it not manifest to the whole world,
and have given the lie to the slanders of those who
had so often described them as a mere horde of
brigands and assassins, The Marquis Massimo
d'Azeglio declares that he owes it to his country
and to himself to come forward and declare, on his
honour, to all Europe that for many a long year
Romagna has never been as tranquil as it is at the
present moment, and that the same thing may be
affirmed respecting the rest of Central Italy. And
the statement of such a man will carry With it in
every society in Europe the weight due to un-
blemished character, enlightened judgment, and
exalted patriotism.

ANK RE 7' URNS.

The _Bankers' Magazine furnishes the returns of the cir-
culation of the Private and Joint-Stuck Banks in England
and Wales for the four weeks ending July '3O. These
returns, combined with the circulation of the Scotch and
Irish Banks for the same period, and the average circula-
tion of the Bank of England for, the four weeks ending the
27th June (the nearest date furnished by their returns),
will give the following results of the circulation of notes in
the United Kingdom, when compared with the previous
month:—

_
July 2, ; July 30, 1859. 18A 1. !Increase. Decrease.
;----1 -
Bank of En.'land— 20,844,406, 21,773 399' 9:8 993 —• ~ 1 ,•
Private Banks 3,359,930; 3,365,649 5,719
Joint-stock Banks 2,930,8251 2,927,505 3,260
1— -
Total in England. 27,135,161; 28,06(1,613 931,452
Scotland 4,130,622: 3,975,977 154,945
Ireland
-----1 1 .

United Kingdom. ' 37,809,318 38,398,623! 58),305

And as compared with the _month ending the 31st of July
18.58, the above returns show an increase of £1,538,174
in the circulation of notes in England, and an increase of
£2,340,505 in the circulation of the United Kingdom.
On comparirig the, above with the fixed issues of the seve-
ral banks the following is the state of the circulation :
rhe English private banks are below their fixed
issue
The English joint-stock banks are below their
fixed issue £374,792

Total below fixed issue in England.... £1,414,678
The Scotch banks are above their fixed issue .. £1,226,706
The Irish banks are above their fixed issue .... £1,539
The average stock of bullion held by the Bank of Eng-
land in both departments during the month ending the 27th
of July was £17,798,196, being a decrease of £286,973 aP
compared with the previous month, and an increase of
£60,430 when compared with the same period last year.
The following are the amounts of specie held by the Scotch
and Irish banks during the month ending the 30thiuly:—
Gold and silver held by the Scotch banks £2,391,506
Gold and silver held by the Irish banks..

4643,139
Being a decrease of £109,260 as compared with the
previous return, and a decrease of £59,269 when compared
with the corresponding period of last year

RECORD OF WRECKS.--We publish our usual
monthly summary of wrecks, from which it appears that
during the month of August the number of wrecks reporta
in our columns was 127. In the month of January thip
were 177, in February 165, in March 151, in April 159, in
May 110, in June 94, and in July 81, making a total during
the present year of I,o64.—Shippiny and Mercantile
Gazette.

[AuvEwrisENlENT.j—Rolloway's Ointment and Pills.—
Dipbthoria, Sorg Throat, Glandular Swellings.—Some 20
yearn ago diphtheria raged in Paris to an alarming extent,
and in Boulogne in 1855 its presence produced conaterna.
Con by the desolation it left in its track, and gained the
appellation of the " Egyptian Potstilence." Diphthcrials a
variety of typhoid fev,ifo, perfectly under Curative control
by fle,liow.ay'n4 Ointment and Pills, which assuage the
fever, diminish the thirst, disperse swollen glands, prevent
inflammation in the throat, and speedily heal the hazardous
ulcerations on the tonsils which always awcattparky the
complaint. Various aro the reFtoto caAses of this pesni-
lenv,g, but impure WO direcily prodUces it, this Holloway's
ppeparations, by filtering everything deleterious from that
yit4l fluids ward off tiro disease,

THE QUEEN'S COLLEGES IN IRELAND.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—The opponents of the Queen's Colleges in
Ireland have lately become very urgent in their
complaints against these institutions, and seem de-
termined, if possible, to overthrow the system of
mixed education which has been successfully inau-
gurated in that country. During the past Few
months their attacks have been frequent, and it
has been repeatedly stated that a Parliamentary
inquiry into the condition and possible utility
of the colleges is likely to be instituted. A s
might have been expected, the arguments which
have been used against the colleges are most fal-
lacious—some of them founded on misapprehen-
sion, others upon positive misstatements, and all
of them appealing to very general ignorance of
their history and principles of incorporation. It is
now full time that some notice should be taken of
these attacks, and that an effort should be made to
correct the wrong impression which they are cal-
culated to have upon the public mind.
It is remarkable that, although the Queen's Col-
leges have been founded within the last 15 years,
the circumstances connected with their establish-
ment are already to a great extent forgotten. Many
even of the friends of the colleges do not remember
that the Act of Parliament under which they were
founded was introduced and carried by the Govern-
ment of Sir Robert Peel, and not a few of their
opponents at the present day denounce them as a
" Whig job." Before, therefore, inquiring what
are the progress and present condition of the col-
leges, it may be well to review their history, and
recall some of the circumstances connected with their
establishment,

On the 7th of December, 1837, a select committee
of the House of Commons was nominated to inquire
into " schools of public foundation in Ireland." The
report of this committee, presented on the 9th of
August, 1838, is one of the most complete and valu-
able documents that has ever been presented to
Parliament. The committee was appointed on the
motion of Mr. Wyse, and consisted of gentlemen of
different religious and political creeds. As might
have been expected, their report does not bear the
stamp of any party, but is singularly free from
sectarian bias. Among other things, the committee
recommended that a bill should be introduced into
Parliament "for the establishment and maintenance
of academical, collegiate, and professional educa-
tion in Ireland."

The following extracts from the report embody
the views of the committee as to the principles on
which the new colleges should be founded :
" Your committee are of opinion that the altera-
tions and additions they have suggested would
materially tend to accomplish the important object
for which they were appointed—viz., the extension
and improvement of academical education in Ire-
land. At the same time, they think that it has not
yet been carried out to the full extent which is
required, and of which, with little additional effort,
it is susceptible.
." The County Academy meets the more ordinary
wants of the middle classes, and offers a good pre-
paratory course for the higher branches, especially
professional, of education; but from many of the
witnesses examined your committee are convinced
that the want of a still higher department inter-
mediate between the academy and the university,
and to which might with propriety be given the
name of college, is sensibly felt, and particularly
by the very classes to which reference has just been
made. The Belfast Academical Institution ap-
proximates to the desired organisation, and, from
the great good it has already in many particulars
effected, little doubt has been entertained of the
importance of affording other districts the advan-
tage of similar institutions. It has, consequently,
formed one of the branches of inquiry to which
your committee has attended. They have examined
by what means such institutions may be improved,
adapted, and extended.
" Guided by the opinion of many of the most ex-
perienced witnesses of the necessity of such insti-
tutions, and the conviction that Proprietary Col-
leges will not supply the want, Your committee
think that there gradually should be established
and maintained, at the public expense, one college
at least of the description just referred to in each
of the four provinces of Ireland, under the name of
' Provincial Colleges,' and that it should be so esta-
blished and maintained at no great charge either
to the State or to the province in which it was placed.
" The object of these colleges should be to pro-
vide a high degree of education, preparing either
for the University, or, if the University were not
in view, for different public and private profes-
sional and unprofessional careers, thus obviating.
the necessity of recurring at great expense and in-
' convenience to other countries for a class of instruc-
tion which it would be desirable Irishmen should
have an opportunity of procuring at home.
" Though it might not be advisable the
the col-
leges, individually, should be authorised to confer
degrees, it might still be so that
members frona each of LI, a.BOard, formed of
leges of Physicians pfc, -e
four, from the Col-
gurgeons,, and from the
University of) 1.-
. uolin and other learned bodies
(as might '-ue deemed 'advisable), should sit in the
and, after due examination and certificates
being produced of having gone through, in a satis-
factory manner, the several prescribed courses,
should be empowered to admit to degrees such can-
didates as presented themselves from the Provincial
Colleges, excepting, however, degrees in divinity.
" Your committee are not prepared to give an
opinion how far such degrees should confer all the
privileges incidental to those given by existing
universities.
" It might be advisable to give a common charter
to the four colleges, under one common name.
"All situations in the colleges should be open to
all religious denominations. No tests should be
required."
These recommendations were not overlooked in
Ireland. Public meetings were, shortly after the
publication of the report, held in Cork and Limerick,
with the object of carrying out the suggestions of
the committee for the establishment and organi-
zation of Provincial Colleges in Ireland. At the
former meeting an address to her Majesty was
adopted, of which the following is an extract :
" In England four universities and numerous
colleges flourish under the sanction of Royal char-
ters ; Scotland, with two millions of inhabitants,
has four universities, and the intellectual character
of her people, the order and industry of her popu-
lation, are noble proofs of the wide-spreading and.
beneficial influence of these institutions. Ireland,
numbering eight millions of your Majesty's sub-
jects, has but one university, and it is obvious that
at a period when a demand has arisen for an educa-
tion proportioned to the rapid progress of know-
ledge, a single institution, even under the most
favourable circumstances, unless aided by provin-
cial establishments, cannot afford sufficient oppor-
tunities of instruction to the middle classes of an
entire nation.
" In humbly soliciting your Majesty's most gra-
cious sanction to the establishment of a Provincial
College in Munster, we adopt the suggestions and
general plan recommended in the report presented
during the last session by a committee of the House
of Commons—we are influenced by no adverse feel-

ing to any existing institution, we only seek for
the extension of the privileges of education to
every class and denomination of your Majesty's
subjects—we do not wish or intend to interrupt
private enterprise;' it is rather to be expected th at
Provincial Colleges, by facilitating the acquisi▪ tion
of knowledge, will increase the demand for educa-
tion, and give a new impulse to the lower schools,
and a more useful direction to their studies. And,
may it please your Majesty, we look , forward to a
still higher good, a still nobler result from this un-
dertaking, excluding as it does, in the first pri▪
nci-
ples on which it is founded, all political or secta-
rian considerations, and uniting men of all parties
and opinions in a great and national object, we ear-
nestly and confidently hope that it will be the
means of softening down those irritating asperities
which create so much misery, and so effectually re•
tard the progress of improvement in Ireland."
Nor was the opinion of the Limerick meeting less
explicitly in favour of the suggestions of the Com-
mittee of the House of Commons. In the report of
Mr. Thomas Wyse, M.P., to the Cork Provincial
College Committee (printed by order of the House
of Commons, July 19, 1843), the following testi-
mony is borne to the character of these meetings :
" It is, of course, unnecessary to recall to your
recollection, or to that of the Cork or Limerick
committees, the favour with which the pA)ject was
received on its first appearance in Ireland. To
their joint exertions this spirit was principally
owing. Never before, I believe, had there been
displayed in Munster, on a subject so removed from
the ordinary excitements of politics, so much en-
thusiasm or, where division was so possible, such
general co-operation of all classes, creeds, and
parties. The two great meetings held at Cork and
Limerick were unexampled.
," The requisition lists embraced the elite of the
province. Petitions to the Legislature, a memorial
to the Lord Lieutenant, and an address to the
Queen, praying for the earliest adoption of the flea-
sure, were at onco agreed on, and every other evi-
dence which' could be desired or expected of the
anxiety of the province was exhibited.
The memorial was immediately presented by
the deputation appointed for the purpose to the
Lord Lieutenant (Lord Normanby), who gave them
in answer assurances of his approbation and sup-
port, Not long after you transmitted the petitions
and address, signed by all that was respectable in
each county of the province, for presentation, to
London."

Sir Robert Peel having in July, 1844, announced
that it was the intention of the Government in the