The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-10 00:00:00

THE TRANSIT 'AGAIN!

Without setting up for the reputation. of prophets,
we cannot help reminding our readers ti tat a 'few
weeks since a warning appeared in these, columns
against .the employment of a certain unln.cky craft
called the Transit in. the. conveyance of 4zoops and
stores to the Chinese Seas. This vessel has, we
believe; a character of •-its own among those ac-
quainted with the: Transport Service., and is cele-
brated .beyond even the average of Government
vessels for its inability to perform any task allotted
to ,it in decent time, or, indeed, in any time
at all. • Some of -our readers may remember its
name in'conriection with the great r aval solemnity
of last „year.. The Transit was -the steamer in
which the hereditary branch of the Legislature
embarked on the. 23d. of April. lair, full of eager
curiosity and patriotic pride—destined, alas ! to
disappointment and mortification . We need not
recall the fate of the Peerage on. that day, how the
engines of the Transit broke dom.!), if, indeed, they
were ever in order ; how sere vr and helm refused
their office ; how she never got vut of Southampton
Water 'e how the Lords were entirely deprived of
all that accurate aad instructive representation of a
Baltic.campaign which the great naval review :so
properly supplied. What the Transit has been
doing since is known only toy the authorities ; but
now, after the lapse of •a y& tr., she turns up again.
It was. natural that a vessel with so suggestive a
name,ethough, as experience proves, sadly mis-
applied—should be select( ;d for the conveyance of
men and material on an emergency. The Transit
was accordingly ordered to be got ready for China.
The old acquaintances of the vessel were somewhat
staggered ; but,: of cOnrse, • in these things inter-
ference is impertinence, and criticism cavilling.
On Tuesday afternoon she took her departure
from Portsmouth for Hong Kong with 800 officers
and men of the 59th and 60th Regiments, a mail,
and a large quantity Of shot' and shell. On Wed-
nesday morning she returned to Spithead almost
in ar•• sinking state. .We may well congratulate
the country and the friends of the troops on
boardlhat the accident which brought her back
took' place before she had -been 24 hours at sea.
Rad. she knocked a bole in her bottom at some
anchorage on .a coast less hospitable than that
of the Channel, we might have had to re-
count a disaster as terrible as any in maritime
annals. The history of the affair appears to have
been., as follows :—The vessel encountered a fog
on approaching.the Needles. The lead was kept
going, and at last she anchored in five fathoms.
The' position was said•to be a good.oue, and not a
soul on beard was suspicious of the least mishap ;
but at dawn the nextnaorning the Transit was dis-
covered to have 5 feet of
.water in her hold. The
anchor was weighed and found to have half the
stock carried away. • The explanation was obvious.
The ship had been driven on her own anchor, and
a hole had been knOdked in her bottom. When 9 ,
feet water had.been reported the captain put back
to Spithead. The troops were transferred to an-
other vessel, the mail sent back to the Post-office,
amine powder and shell taken out to prevent her
from sinking. Engines were set to work to keep her
afloat, and by. this,time she is in dock for inspec-
tion and 'repair. .
This little episode in our new war warns us how
to expect that the lessons of two years ago have
taught us the right way of doing everything. The
whole proceeding as it is described is, m fact, ,
thoroughly Crimean, and recalls us to 1854. The
choice of a ship which had- failed more than once in
shcirt trips to carry .800 men a distance of 16,000
mile 4, the management which kuocked a hole in the ,
bottom at night and, did not.find it out till morning,
the delay which must now take place at a time when..
every day is .precious, are matters which may well,
renew the irritability and impatience of the coun-3
try.. We have no desire to impute blame, where.
it cannot be Shown' to be' due, but certainly, con-
sidering the immense resources of our dockyards,.
the great number of ships of all kinds which
the late war has- left us, and the knowledge
which our officers. ought to have acquired
during the last three years, such an occur-
rence as the bare escape of 800 men • from
destruction a
.few hours after quitting the English
shores does seem.incon.sistent w,th the presump-:
tion or proper supervision and management.
We trust that this Chinese expedition, for which
the authorities have time, materials, and money in
plenty, and therefore can urge no excuse for deft.;
ciency, may not again be illustrated by such a mis-
hap as the ..narrowly-escaped foundering of the
Transit —Times.

FEARFUL RIOTING IN QUEEN'S COUNTY.-
' ' POSTPONEMENT OF THE BLECTIO.Y.

DUBLIN, April 9.—Maryborough and Abbeyleix
have for the last two days been the scenes of fear-
ful rioting, which reached such a pitch on Tuesday
that the polls had .to be closed in several baronies
and the election adjourned. The rioters would ap-
pear to have been mainly the supporters of Mr.
Michael Dunne, who is opposed by the Right Hon.
Mr. Fitzpatrick. When the booths were shut, the
gross state of the poll was—For Sir Charles Coote,
1;254 ; for Dunne, 1,005 ; and for Fitzpatrick, 611.
But the entire election, it is supposed, must be de-
clared vitiated in consequence of the intimidation
which prevailed: Stift(ly after eight o'clock on
Tuesday morning; and pursuant to arrangements
concerted between the High Sheriff and Major
Hood,: a body of police, protected by a detachment
of infantry, proceeded to the market-place of Mary-
borough, and formed a cordon across the principal
roads leading from Abbeyleix, Mountwellick, and
Mouritrath, while a similar body of infantry and
police occupied, at the other extremity of the town ,
near the post-office, the roads leading from Strad-
bally and the collieries. and patrols of the 3d Light
Dragoons,. under Captain Sir G. Hampson, occu-
pied all the principal streets, and immediately
dispersed riotous mobs as soon as they at-
tempted to congregate. These precautions kept
the road leading to the terminus clear. The
same system was not pursued in the other
polling-places, ,the result of which has been the
most frightful scenes of riot and disturbance.
At Abbeyleix, a mob of fifty or sixty of Mr. Michael
Dunne's 'supporters began to assemble at an
early hour in the market-place, armed with sticks
and bludgeons.... There was at the time in the
place about thirty cavalry and fifty infantry, under
Major Younge, besides a police force, all under the
orders of a resident magistrate, placed there by
Government for the • purpose of protecting the
peace. .I•Totwitlistanding these forces (from causes
which must hereafter be more fully explained),
the mob 'was permitted to accumulate, and the
town became in a short time a scene of lawless
tumult. • Scores of men were soon engaged in
strife—several persons had their skulls fractured. A
mob broke into several houses and assaulted and
cruelly beat the inmates ; one man had his face torn
open from the eye to the mouth, and the cheek
completely cut through, in addition to other
wounds.
.Feeble attempts were made to quell the
riot at times. The Riot Act was also read ; but all
to no purpose. It was vox et preterea nil. In
consequence of the .serious rioting the poll had to
be closed, and the election postponed. The same
disgraceful scene of rioting took place at Clon-
donough, Stradbally, Upperwood, and Borris-in-
Ossory, and all efforts to support the lawhaving been
abandoned, the booths had to be closed and the elec-
tion adjourned. It is said that the High Sheriff sent
a special message by telegraph to the Under-Secretary
informing him of the frightful state in which the
county is-,--amounting almost to open insurrection.'
Pursuant to these applications a body of the 56th
Regiment, under their Lieut.-Colonel and adju-,
taut, arrived at Maryborough on Wednesday morn-
ing, and were immediately afterwards sent on by
the High Sheriff to Abbeyleix, accompanied by Mr.
Farrer, J.P. ; and another company of the
same regiment, who subsequently arrived from
Dublin; were at once despatched to Castletown.
Mr. Lyons, J. P., was yesterday assaulted in the
streets of thradbally, and received a severe
wound
in the head.

EMIGRATION FROM NORWAY TO CANADA AND THE
UNITED STATES.—lnformation has reached this country
that upwards of 10,000 Norwegians will proceed from
Norway to Quebec during the present summer. Several
of these will remain in Canada, but the larger portion
will pass on to the North-Western States of America.
Sir C. Roney has left England for Christiania to make
arrangements for the transit of these persons fro
mQuebec to their destination, and also to disseminate in.
formation with reference to Canada, on behalf of the
Government, .

IVILIVIBERS RETURNED TO THE
NEW PARLIAMENT.

(Front the London Gazette of this evening.)
CROW N-OFFICE„ APRIL 7.
Members returned to serve in the Parliament summoned
to be holden at Westminster, the 30th April.
County of York, Ea‘t Riding The Right Hon.
Beaumont, Lord Hotharn ; the Hon. Arthur Dun-
com he.
North Riding —The Hon. Octavius Duncombe ;
Ed ward Hillingfleet Carley,
West Ridina—Edtnund Denison, Esq. ; George Fre-
derick Samuel Robinson, commonly called Viscount
Goderich.
County of Somerset, Eastern Division William
'Miles, of Leigh-court, Somersetshire, Esq. ; William
7Francis Knatchbull, of Babington, Somersetshire, Esq.
Western Division - Charles Aaron Moody, of Kings-
don, Somersetshire, Esq. ; William Henry Powell Gore
Langton, of Hatch Beauchamp, Somersetshire, Esq.
APRIL 8.
County of Lincoln, Parts of Lindsey—James Banks
Stanhope, of Revesby Abbey, Lincolnshire, Esq. ; Sir
John Montague John Cholmeley, of Naton-place, Lin-
colnshire, Bart.
Parts of Kesteven and Holland—The Right Hon. Sir
John Trollope, of Casewick, Lincolnshire, Bart. ; An-
thony WilSon, of South Ranceby, Lincolnshire, Esq.
County of Lanark—Sir Thomas Edward Colebrooke,
Bart., of Crawford.
City of Glasgow—Walter Buchanan ; Robert Dal-
glish, Merchants, in Glasgow.
County of Southampton; Northern Division—William
Wither Bramston • Beach, of Oakely Hall, Hampshire,
Esq. ; George Sclater, of Hoddington House, Hamp-
shire, Esq.
Southern Divi4on—The Hen. Ralph Heneage Dutton,
of Titusbury Manor, Hampshire ; Sir Jervoise Clarke
Jervoise, of Idsworth Park, Bart.
County Palatine of Durham, Northern Division—
Robert Duncombe Shafto, Esq. ; the Hon. Frederick
Adolphus Charles William Vane Tempest, commonly
callad Lord Adolphus Vane Tempest.
Southern Division—Retry Pease ; Harry George
Vane, commonly called Lord Harry Vane.
Town of Southampton—Brodie M‘Ghie Wilcox, of
Portman•square, Middlesex, Esq. ; Thomas Matthias
Weguelin, of Giddings, Hertfordshire, Esq.
APRIL 9.
County of Chester, Northern Division—William
Jatton Egerton, Esq. ; George Cornwall Legh, Esq.
Southern Division—Sir Philip de Malpas Grey Eger-
ton, of Oulton-park, Cheshire, Bart. ; John Tollemache,
of Peckforton Castle, Cheshire, Esq.
County of Middlesex—The Right Hon. Robert
Grosvenor, commonly called Lord Robert Grosvenor ;
Robert Hanbury, jun., Esq.

Evening.)