The Sun.
London, England, 1850-01-10 00:00:00

SICILY

Letters from Palermo, of the 20th December, re- I
present the state of Sicily as horrible. The atrocities
committed by Filangieri are equal to those com-
mitted by Haynau in Hungary; and King Bomba
seems envious of the fame of the Red Emperor;
but it is not alone to imprisonments, shootings, and ,
extortions that King Bomba confines his attention ;
he has recently put in practice a scheme for obtain-
ing money, which surpasses in ingenuity the cleverest
devices of the swindling community. During the
years 1848-9 the Provisional Government of Sicily
raised certain sums of money by a voluntary contri-
bution, for the purchase of arms, ammunition, and,
among other munitions of war, of two steam-frigates.
A considerable portion of this money, which remained
unexpended, was given up to Bomba on the surrender
of the island, as were the arms and ammunition, and
steam-frigates, which had been purchased by the
remainder. Having thus plundered the whole of the
proceeds of these voluntary contributions, he now calls
upon each person who held the office of Finance
Minister to refund from their private property the
whole of the sums thus collected, the which sums, or
the produce of them, he bad himself seized. Nay,
more, he has condemned the Prince Granatelli and
M. Scalia, who were the Commissioners sent to England,
to pay to him the whole of the amount remitted
to them and by them expended in the purchase of arms
and ammunition, which arms and ammunition are
already in his possession. So that having first of
all seized the proceeds of the voluntary loan, he
demands it again of those from whom he plundered
it ; and in the case of Prince Granatelli
and M. Scalia, this most honest, most pious, most
brave, and in every sense of the word, most Bourbon
of Princes, wishes to extort for a third time,
money which he has been paid twice over, and to
which originally he had not the shadow of a title.

IRELAND.
REPEAL ASSOCIATION.

DUBLIN, JAN. B.—Mr. John O'Connell made his
weekly speech yester.lay, at Conciliation Hall. The
attendance was wretched in the extreme.

Mr. James Nugent (grocer), Kingstown, was in

the chair.
Mr. O'CONNELL, in allusion to his recent letter,
resigning the representation of the city of Limerick,
s,id it was quite true that as far as die British Par-
liament was concerned, his efforts in the cause of
Ireland were at an end; but he would not go so far
as to say—should they procure a Parliament of their
own—that he would not sit in that Parliament. The
feet of his resignation, together with the reasons
which had induced him to resign, were set out in
his letter; and the important question, there-
ore, remained to be decided who was
.o be his successor ? This was a point
to which he was most anxious to call
the attention of the people of Limerick, and in doing
so, he hoped he would not be considered as intruding
I is advice upon those into whose hands he was about
to resign his trust. He had seen in the newspapers
the addresses of two or three persons who intended to
come forward as c .ndidates, but as yet no one worthy
of representing a constituency of so much importance
had offered himself for acceptance. A son of Lord
Gort, a gentleman of high position in society, had
come forward, but, as he adhered to the
old principles of Toryism, he (Mr. O'Connell)
could not advise the people of Limerick to sup-
port him. The same objection applied with (qua;
force to another candidate—Colonel Vereker ; and he
trusted, therefore, that he would also be rejected.--
(Hear, hear.) Then came Mr. Ric•hird Russell.
This candidate was a gentleman of high standing in
society, hut, in his opinion, something more than that
was required in order to qualify him to be a represen
wive of the people.— (Hear.) In the first place, a
public man ought to identify himself thoroughly
with the feelings of the people ; and in the nex,
instance, he should resolutely advocate the principle
which they had most at heart. Mr. Russell, bows
ever, did not appear to come up to this definition, for
in his late letter to the electors of Limerick he had
stated, manifestly in allusion to the repeal of the
union, " that he was in favour of all other projects for
the benefit of the people which were of practical attein-
ment." Now he (Mr. O'Connell) begged to tell Mr.
Russell that repeal was a project of practical attain-
ment, and that its attainment was far more practi-
cable at the present time than it had ever been. But
what right had Mr. Russell to assert that repeal was
not obtainable until he had himself, first of all, come
forward and assisted in the efforts of that association,

to carry it ? It was his firm faith that repeal would
yet be obtained, for he believed that nothing was im-
pcmible to men who endeavoured to procure rights by
legitimate means, and with an unwavering resolution
to succeed.—(Cheers.)
The rent amounted to 141. 4s. sd.
Rarr,wAy FACILITIES.-The London and North
Western Railway Company, with the view of giving
increased facilities to the graziers of the south and
west of Ireland, for the conveyance of fat stock to
London and other large markets in England, are
at present engaged, in cenjunction with the City of
Dublin Steam racket Company and the Irish rail-
ways, in organizing a system whereby the sender
can book his cattle at once, from any station on
the Great Southern and Western, and Midland
Great Western, to any place on the London and
North-Western Railway. Thi3 will be a great
advantage to grazers, as they will thus be enabled to
calculate the cost of conveyance from cne point to
another, and will save the expense of consigning the
cattle to the salesmen of Dublin or Liverpool.
Now that house-feeding is likely to be greatly ex-
tended through Ireland, from the increased culti-

vation of green crops, this arrangement is a very
prudent one, and likely to be of great advantage both
to the public and the railway and steam-boat com-
panies.
WRECK IN THE WEXFORD HARBOUR.—The spring
tide on New Year's-day morning: was of sufficient

height to float the hull of the American barque Re-
peater, of Boston, which had lain a wreck for nearly
two months, nigh to Wexford Harbour's mouth. She
now lies safe alongside the patent slip, and is found to
have sustained much less injury than could well have
been expected from her perilous position and length
of time on the sand bank.

ANOTHER SAVINGS BANK
DEFAULTER.

The depositors of the Savings Bank in Aylesbury
have been caused the greatest anxiety and consterna-
tion in consequence of the absconding of Mr. Henry
Stratton, clerk to Mr. James James, solicitor, who is
the secretary to the bank. It is greatly feared, from
circumstances which have just transpired, that Mr.
Stratton, who has sailed for America, is a defaulter
to no small amount. In the Aylesbury papers of
la,t week appeared a notice, issued by Mr. James,
to the effect that depositors in the hank were
required to bring in their pass-books for
examination up to the 20th of November; the trus-
tees having appointed the 14th of this month for the
commencement of the examination, the depositors
were "requested to lose no time in leaving their pass-
books at the office, where a printed receipt will be
given for each book delivered up." Mr. Stratton, it
appears from the circumstance of his being clerk to
Mr. James, had much to do with the business con-
nected with the savings bank; and there is no doubt
that, fearing the disclosures which would be inevitable
upon the books being brought in for examination, he
judged it expedient to make himself " scarce."
Consequently, a few days since, he left Aylesbury
for the alleged purpose of visiting an uncle in
Gloucestershire, accompanied by his wife and family,
arranging with Mr. James when he left to return to
Aylesbury in time to resume his duties on the 14th
instant. Circumstances, shortly after his departure,
having excited the suspicions of Mr. James as to the
integrity of his clerk, in whom he had placed the
greatest confidence, he was induced to institute cer-
tain inquiries, the result of which will be gathered
from the following letter, dated January 3, which
Mr. James lost no time in transmitting to each
of the trustees of the bank :—" Sir,—l regret to
inform you that during the examination of the
savings bank vouchers, delivered yesterday, a book
containing items to the amount of 301., in the hand-
writing of my clerk, Mr. Stratton, and bearing no
folio number for the ledger, nor any manager's cheque,
was produced by a person of the name of Falkner.
Nly suspicions were immediately excited that he had
absented himself from my office under a false pretence ;
and on obtaining information as to his movements
from his brother, and as to his money transactions
from Mr. Self, of the London and County Bank, I was
forced to the conclusion that he had absconded with a
large sum of money, with which he had been just
intrusted by an aged relative. lat once sent instruc-
tions to London for a police-officer to board the
Julindar, bound from London to Adelaide, and
which was to touch at Plymouth yesterday; whilst I,
in company with Mr. Self, proceeded by the mail
train to Liverpool, in the hope of intercepting
him there ; but we found, to our mortification, that
he had sailed (under his own name) for New York, in
the steam-ship Canada, on Saturdey, with his wife and
children. I returned by the morning mail, and have
since had an interview with the Under-Secretaries of
State, in the hope that the. Government would obtain
his arrest in America ; but the treaty which exists
between the two countries will not authorise any
interference, unless he shall be found to have been
guilty of forgery, in which case officers will b.
immedie.ely sent to effect his capture. Although it
is not possible to speak with certainty upon the
matter, I entertain a very strong opinion that the
defalcations have extended over a very short period,
and to an amount exceedingly small, when com-
pared with the property he has left available to
cover them." A meeting of the trustees of the bank
has been summoned forthwith by Mr. Jqtre:,
'A hen every fur h - •.. •• .• -•
gentleman will be laid before them for their consider-
ation and guidance. Mr. Stratton, besides being one