The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-09 00:00:00

-.... -V- E-N I NB, A. U6II §T 0..:,..:..1844

FiiI;)AV

DINNER TO HER MAJESTY'S MI-
NISTERS BY THE CLOTH-WORKERS' COM-
-I,3,ANYt
Testeiday a splendid entertainment was given to
Sir Robert Peel and others of her Majesty's. Minis-
ters, by the Cloth-workers Company, at their hall,
which was fitted up or the occasion with great mag.
nificence.

Amon; qt th eompany went Air Peel, the Chan-
cellor of the Etchecluer, Lord Granville Socierget,
the Earl of Lincoln. Sir George M urray, the Solici-
tor-General, Lord Eliot, Mr. J. M. Gasket', and Mr.
A. Pringle, L ords of the Treasury, Viscount Can-
ning, Mr. G. W. Hope, Mr. Emerson Tennent, Cap-
tain Fremantle, Mr. J. R. Bonham, Sir Knight
Bruce, the Attorney-General for Ireland, Commis-.
sinners Fane and Goulburn, Mr. J. Young, M.P.,
Mr. T. Green, M.P., Mr. J. Masterman, M.P., Mr.
G. Lyall, M.P., Mr. H. Kemble, M.P., Mr. J. Trot-
ter, M.P., Mr. John Walter, the Right Hon. the
Lord Mayor, Mr. Sheriff Moon, Aldermen Lucas,
Brown, Sir Peter Laurie, Sir John Pirie, Farebro-
ther, Humphery, Farncomb ; the Governor and the
Deputy-Governor of the Bank of England, the Chair-
man and the Deputy-Chairman of the East India
Company, Sir F. Trench, Colonel Gurwood, Captain
Peel, Archdeacon Hollingsworth, Sir G. De H. Lar
pent, Mr. B. Dobree, Mr. J. C. Bever, Mr. Under-
Jheriff Anderton, the Master 'of the Merchant Tailors'
Company, Mr. R, L. Jones, &c.
Mr. Sheriff MUSGROVE, the Master of the Company,
presided. The health of the Queen was proposed, and
drank with an enthusiasm which it was impossible to
exceed, and the Master congratulated the country
upon the promise of a long succession of the descen-
dants of the present Royal Family.
The usual loyal toasts, " the Queen Dowager and
Prince Albert and the rest of the... Royal Family,"
were also distinguished by great applause.
The MASTER, in proposing "the Army and Navy,"
stated that he and his brethren were honoured by
the company of Sir George Murray, a gallant veteran
of the first of those services, and by the company of
Lieut. Peel, a distinguished voung officer in the naval
service of her Majesty.—(Loud cheers.)
Sir GEORGE M ORRAY returned thanks for the army,
and said it was exceedingly gratifying to him to he
associated with his young friend, who would no doubt
in due time realise the high expectations entertained
of him in the important branch of service to which he
belonged.—(Loud cheers.) He was convinced that
never at any time, was the army better prepared, or
more determined to keep up the character which it
had achieved by so many victories.—(Cheers.) He
was sure it would never lose that character, or the
efficiency for which it had been celebrated, so long as
it continued under the superintendence of the illus-
trious chief who was so deservedly at its head—
(Great cheering)—and who had no less claim upon
his country for the patriotic virtues he had exercised
in peace, than for those military achievements which
had shed so great a lustre on his name.—(Cheers.)
Lieutenant PEEL rose amidst great applause, and
said, I am too young to say much, but I hope my
conduct will justify that which has been said of me,
and I thank you heartily for having drank my health
in so enthusiastic a manner.—(Cheers.)
The MASTER, in a brief speech, proposed the health
of Sir Robert Peel, and the rest of her Majesty's
Ministers.
Sir ROBERT PEEL said it was his duty, on the part
of his colleagues and himself, to return their most
grateful acknowledgments for the kind find flattering
mariner in which the company had received the pro-
posal from the chair. Many of his colleagues were
absent, deeply to their regret, but they were detained
by the necessities imposed upon them by their duties
in both Muses of Parliament.—(Cheers.) The
Master had said that in entertaining her Majesty's
Ministers they were reverting to their former con-
dcustom
they would continue
they would long persevere
in i ti
thato
n
habit—(Laughter)—that after the
revival og ;Hot that trusted
t old.
to entertain the Ministers of the Sovereign, and that
the present Ministers would long continue to meet
them at their annual festival, and profit by the hos-
pitality of which they had that day witnessed so
a excellentth at
magnificent a specimen.—(Laughter and cheers.)
It happened thAt_ the first day on which he
and his colleagues enjoyed the pleasure of meet-
ing the Clothworkrs' em.npany, was the last day i
of the session, and he was therefore exempted from
the necessity of making a long speech; but he could
not refrain from returning his and his colleagues' ac-
knowledgments to a Company so remarkable for high
standing, and so conspicuous amongst the great
Companies for the appli ration of its funds to purposes
of benevolence and charity.—(Loud cheers.) The
Master had done no more than justice to her Majesty':,
Ministers, in attributing to them the endeavour to
accomplish good. They had endeavoured to maintain
peace, without compromising the honour or sacrificing
the interests of the country.—(Cheers.) They had
attempted to uphold the high character which the
British army had achieved, and to repair the disasters
in the eastern hemisphere. They had endeavoured
to maintain tranquillity, without having recourse to
the harsh enforcement of the existing laws, or requir-
ing new enactments.—(Applause) If they had made
these efforts—if they-had endeavoured to succeed in
maintaining the public credit, and in averting the evil
of an increasing debt in times of peace, it would be
for that company to judge whether the result was wor-
thy of their intentions. It was now three years since
the present Administration had been appointed. It
was for those whom he addressed to say, if, during
that period, the law had not been vindicated and sus-
tained, if commerce had not been extended, if manu-
facturing prosperity had not been restored, if the re-
venue had not been increased, if there did not exist a
prospect that the currency would be henceforth placed
on a safe and, permanent basis.—(Hear, hear.) If
such were the impressions of the company, their ap-
probation conveyed to her Majesty's Ministers a feel-
ing which, next to that of the honest approval of their
own consciences and of her Majesty, was the highest
encouragement to them to continue their exertions for
the public good.—(Cheers.)
The MASTER next proposed "Prosperity to be-
hind," a toast which the Clothworkers' Company had
been always in the habit of drinking. They felt a
deep interest in the good of Ireland, as well on account
of the people, as on account of the large property
owned by the Company there.—(Cheers.) The Master
then spoke at some length of the labours of the Com-
pany for the good of their Irish tenantry.
Lord ELIOT, in responding to the toast, said he was
sure the time was not far distant when the people of
Ireland would learn to value the motives and inten-
tions of his Right Hon. Friend.--((sheers.)
Several other toasts were proposed and drunk, and
the evening was spent with real civic hilarity.

A LONDON GIN PALACE.—Thire is not in all
London a more melancholy and spirit-depressing sight
than the area of one of the large gin palaces on a wet
night. There, the homeless and houseless miserables of
both sexes, whether they have money or not, resort in
numbers, for a temporary shelter—aged women-, selling
ballads tdmatchei„ gripples, little beggar boys and girls,
slavering idiots, pie-men, sandwich-men, apple and
draggle-tailed confusion. Never can human nature, one
shellfish-mongers, huddled pell-mell, in
orange-women,
would imagine, take a more abject posture than is exhi-
bited here. here is a character, an individuality, a fa-
mily likeness, common to the whole race of sorts. The
pale, clayey, flaecid, clammy face, pinched in every fea-
ture ; the sweeping, ferret-like, lack-lustre eye, the
unkempt hair, the slattern shawl, the untidy dress, the
slipshod gait, too well betray the confirmed drunkard.
The noises, too, Of the assembled topers, are hideous—
appalling, even when heard in an atmosphere of gin—
imprecations, execrations, objurgations, supplications,
until, at length, the patience of the publican, and the
last copper of his customers, are exhausted, when, rush-
ing from behind his counter, assisted by his shop-
eeper, he expels, vi et arias, the dilatory mob, drag-
ging out, by the heels or cellars, the miserable drunkards,
to nestle, as best they may, outside the inhospitable
door.—Here, unobserved, may you contemplate the in
finite varieties of men self-metamorphesed into beasts—
soaker, tippler, toper, muddler, dram-drinker, beer-
swiller, cordhl-tiller, sot. Here you may behold the
barefoot child, hungry, naked, clay-faced, handing up,
tip toe, that infernal bottle, which made it, and keeps it,
what it is, and with which, when filled, it creeps home
to its brutal father, or infamous mother, the messenger
of its own misery. Here, the steady respectable sot,
the good customer, slides in, and flings down his throat
the frequent dram ; then, with an emphatic " hah" of
gratification, drops his money, nods to his friend, the
landlord, and, for a short interval, departs. dere
.you
may behold, wish pity, and as much superadded virtuous
indignation as the inward contemplation of your own
continence may inspire, the flaunting Cyprian, in over-
dressed tawdriness, calling, in shameless voice, for a
quartern of" pleasant-dr nking gin," which she liberally
shares with two or three gentlemen, who are being edu-
cated for the bar, at the Central Criminal Court. You
may cos trast her short-lived hey-day of prosperous sin.
with that row of miserables seated by the wall, whose
charms are fled, and whose voices are husky, while they
raensdt,fotlri—athßitshentleis
implore you to treat them to a glass. of ale, or supplicate
beg for the benefit of the publican,
for the coppers they see you receive from the barman ;
and who are only permitted that truly wretched place of
peyroinfita,ypoison themselves with the alms of
others.
Miscellany.

RAILWAY COMI'ETITION.—It `"appears, from the
evidence given before the Select Committee by Mr.
Glyn, Chairman of the London and Birmingham Rail-
way, that m hen the competition between the Midland
Counties and Birmingham and Derby Railways was at
its height, the reduction of charges had put the working
, thofthat the
the
two
cgpries in such a deteriorated eon-
rmingham Board were obliged to
stockditio n
write to one of them (the Derby Company, we have no
The result of.. :the competition was
doubt), to tell them that they should be compelled, -with
reference to the safety of the public,, to prevent their car-
riages coming upon the London and Birmingham line !
cath,,d at a very low cost for a time, and ulti-
mately'es came to a
the companies combination, and then
gblrr.s
what
wGwelerypho a
vaed as
es
raised their fares to the full extent that they were be.
fors the combination entrlA*ed, and, in some lew points,
rather higher i'?....llailwaY 1.100-ro,

41 .

•.

WORCESTER CATASTROPHE.
INQUESTS ON THE TWELVE BODIES.
WoncTS7I4N4
,YVEnpDAY EvENlNG.—Eight of the
bodies of tile unioriunate ilafieitors were conveyed to
the Whitehall Inn, near to the city, but in th edutity Of
Worcester, These, having baen taken out of the river
on the
twestern bank, were conveyed to the nearest
county into, While those of the other four, which were
landed on the east bank. were taken to the Anchor Inn,
Deglis; in the city of Worcester. To explain this it is
necessary to ObSCri,e; that at the point where this dread-
ful catastrophe occurred, the &vein divides the city
from the county of Worcester. To-day inquests have
been holden on all the bodies ; on those at the Anchor,
before Mr. Hyde, the city c woner, and on those at
Whitehall, before Mr. W. S. P. Hughes, the coroner for
the county. The evidence adduced on each inquest was of
course almost precisely similar. One of the navigators
employed on the work, named Charles Head, deposed to
the nature of the accident, which he witnessed, having
declined to enter the boat, which he thought was over-
loaded. The real cause of the accident appeared
from his statement to have been a rope, by
which a barga was moored to the bank. To
cross the river the boat must necessarily pass
under the rope, and on reaching it ene of the men
(Richard White) lifted up the rope. At the same
moment the fifteen men standing up in the boat stooped
down to clear the rope, and this caused the boat imme-
diately to capsize, precipitating the whole of the ill-fated
fellows into the river, which, at this point, was deep and
rapid, from being contracted by the works in progress.
It was a flat-bottomed boat, and the men were all stand-
ing -on the bottom of the boat, and not upon the seats.
There was no " larking" going on at the time amongst
the man, as was at first stated, but all of them wfir very
steady. The witness (Head), on witnessing the accident,
seized a piece of timber, with which he succeeded in ex-
tricating one of the men, named John Dodson. This
John Dodson was also examined on the inquest; he c'e-
scribed the rope attached to the barge to have been lying
on the surface of the water, and thought the b.pat might
have passed over it had not White caught hold of it.
Head, however, was of a different'opinion.
The two juries returned verdicts of " Accidental
Death," with regard to all the deceased. Their names
are—

Richard White, aged 21, of Defford.
Charles Baker, aged 24, from near Brighton.
Mark Lewis, aged 27, from Walsall.
William Rose, aged 24.
Thomas Packwood, aged about 27, a native of Om-
bersley, near Worcester.
George Poulson, jun., of Cheltenham, aged 19.
John Pegg, aged 24, married, leering a wife, but no
family.
Charles Child, a Herefordshire labourer.
George Smith, aged 25.
Charles Aff,st-ow, aged 23.
Henry Manks, a native of Solihull, aged 24.
James Marshall, aged 45, married ; his wife keeping a
public-house at Liverpool, and having five small children

THE FIRE NEAR GRAVESEND.
OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE LOSS OF PROPERTY.

The premises where the fire originated, the cause being
attributable to the foulness of an oven flue, belonged to
Mr. Solomons, consisted of a cottage, which was ad-

joined by three others, all tenanted by labourers and
their families, employed on Mr. Solomons' estate. The
whole were consumed, and the walls have fallen in.
None of the parties are insured.
The farm in the rear (belonging to the estate) much
damaged ; the northern wing partly burnt.
Second Fire.—The greater portion of the agricultural
buildings on Queen's Farm (belonging to the same gen-
tleman, Mr. Solomons) consumed—namely, the barn,
two stacks in the rick-yard—one of beans, containing
80 gurters, the other of wheat, the produce of 14 acres ;
also a granary and some bullock sheds. The above
formed the east side of the farm ; the dwelling-house
and stable, forming the west frontage, saved. The barn
contained two floors, and was very large, being upwards
of 200 feet in length. The distance of the farm from the
cottages above mentioned, is nearly 100 yards.
Third Fire.—The King's Farm (the property of the
same unfortunate owner as the above) totally burned
down. The distance from the Queen's Farm, over a
meadow, is between 150 and 200 yards. It occupied an
immense area, and the number of buildings was greater
and more extensive than at the Queen's. They were as
follows :—Two barns, one 60 feet in length and 30 feet
in breadth, and the other 70 feet in length and 40 feet in
depth ; a granary, 24 feet long and 14 feet in breadth.
These buildings, with a range of stabling, 50 feet in
length, formed the eastern frontage of the farm, to be
added to which was the rick-yard at the back, contain-
ing several stacks. This is also destroyed. A brick
hen-house, and two four-stall stables (each separate
brick buildings, with lofts above) formed the south
frontage to the farm, of 160 feet. The opposite frontage
was likewise burneddown. It was upwards of 200 feet,
and formed of bullock and cow sheds. The farm-house
is partly destroyed. It was tenanted by the labourers
and families, eighteen in number.
A fourth fire occurred at the dwelling of Mr. Solo-
mons' shepherd, a wooden building, about 80 yards dis-
tance from the King's Farm. Part of the furniture de-
stroyed, but it- was fortunately checked without any
damage to the building.
In addition to the above, there were a number of carts
and waggons destroyed ; likewise a horse and several
pigs burned to death. All the fires were occasioned by
the first, the burning embers being carried by the wind
on tAt the roofs of the different buildings. . . .

One man lost his life, and two were severely injured
,7 the fall of burning thatch.

DREADFUL LOSS OF LIFE AT
NOTTINGHAM.

NOTTINGIIAM, AuG. B.—Yesterday evening the
Coroner (C. Swain, Esq.), and a most respectable
jury, sat on view of the bodies of the persons killed
by the pressure of the crowd at the execution of the
murderer Saville ; and the inquiry was postponed
until Friday, August 9, to give time for further in-
vestigation, after the evidence had been taken as to the
identity of bodies.
- - -

DEAD.

1 and 2. Eliza Smithhurst, aged 18, and her sister
Mary Stevenson, aged 30, of Daybrook, near Not-
tingham.
3. James Marshall, aged 14, Isabella-street, Not-
tingham.
4 and 5. Mary Easthope, aged 16, and Thomas her
brother, aged 14, New Lenton, near Nottingham.
6. Eliza Hannah Shuttleworth, aged 16, Albion-
street, Nottingham.
7. James Fisher, aged 22, Star Inn, Bulwell, near
Nottingham. (This man lost his life in endeavouring
to save some females who were in great danger.)
8. John Bedwell, aged 14, Old Radford, near Not-
tingham.
9. Hannah Smedley, aged 16, Carlton, near Not-
tingham.
10. Thomas Watson, aged 15, Kent•street, Not-
tingham.
11. Eliza Percival, aged 14, Convent-street, ditto.
12. Melicent Shaw, aged 19, Klaiberley, near
Nottingham.
IN TIIE HOSPITAL, SEVERELY AND DANGEROUSLY