The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-15 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EIENI NG, JANUARY 15, 1844.

STATE OF IRELAND.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUII.

SlR,—Politics are a means to an end, or they are
nothing. Repeal may be carried or fall to the ground,
but what is to become of the Irish people ? Irish-
man as I am, I have no desire to sever our commu-
nity with England. If, strictly speaking, we are not
one in race, we are as nearly so as the different por-
tions of the British and Irish communities themselves ;
our language is the same, and our interests are idea
tical. With England and her progress, are associated
the best interests of mankind ; no, I would not eat
into her resources, or paralyse her arm, but join with
with her in realising her best interests and our own.
I am against repeal, because I esteem it impracti-
cable, and, if practicable, undesirable. Did I sup-
pose that Ireland should linger on in perennial misery ;
did I suppose that the injustice of the past should be
the inheritance of the future, I should become a re-
pealer with the best of them ; I should resort to every
fair and equitable means to extort by force that
which should be conceded as a right. But I entertain
no such conviction. I am intimately persuaded that
justice—yes, justice in full—shall be conceded to
Ireland.
I am opposed to repeal, because I esteem it a
move in a false direction, ill-calculated to insure re-
dress of the grievances under which we labour. How
will the repeal rent, were it swollen to hundreds, in
place of tens of thousands, carry it ? Will England—
would any empire—consent to a virtual dismember-
ment ? Were the Irish people united, could they
realise repeal in face of English opposition ? Would
they become tributaries to any continental Power in
order to effect this purpose ? Would the bought
amity of France or America better replace the un-
bought protection of England; and, were it even
secured, are they certain to succeed? But the Irish
are not united; as for Protestants and Dissenters, they
are totally opposed. Are the repealers willing, single-
handed, to engage the might of England; are they
prepared to wage a civil war with their countrymen ?
Surely there are ether and better remedies in store ?'
In Ireland there is a surplus of hands beyond the
demand ; the population is never fully employed,
while the pressure from without causes labour to be
performed on terms altogether incompatible with a
decent subsistence. The perishable potatoe is the only
food which can be habitually reckoned on ; and when,
as often happens, the supply is bad or deficient,
and when the winter store deteriorates as spring
comes round, the wants of the people are miserably
aggravated. The deficiency in other articles of prime
necessity is almost equally great. The attire is at
once wretched, sordid, miserable. As regards the
men, clothes, which have served the coarse necessities
of half-a-dozen individuals; as respects women and
children, a flimsy cotton print, with a sad deficiency
of woollen and linen under-garments. In the country
a mud cabin, perhaps windowless, chimneyless ; in
town, a garret, a cellar, or a nook in some wretched
court, constitutes the protection against our often wet
and dreary winters. And even of these, the wretched
occupants continue to sublet a portion to casual way-
farers more outcast than themselves.

It may be conceived what dens of disease such
habitations prove; accordingly, sickness and death,
with fever and all its sweltering horrors, are never
absent. In 1780 and 1817, severally, eighty thou-
sand persons were carried off by fever, which, if we
reckon the mortality at one in thirty, gives for each
of those years an aggregate of two hundred and forty
thousand sick. What of the sufferers on such occa-
sions ; what of friends and relatives whose time is
occupied and substance exhausted; what heads of
families torn away ; what anguish—what despair ?
Of all the enemies of Ireland, commend me to the
absentee, to him who, with unscrupulous desertion of
all the duties connected with home and country,
spends abroad the pittance wrung from the vitals
of an impoverished peasantry. I know it has been
asserted that absenteeism entails no pecuniary disad-
vantage ; but I shall merely ask whether the four or five
millions annually abstracted from a community like
that in Ireland, constitute no loss; or whether this
sum, if circulated by the unwearying hand of human
industry, would not be calculated to ensure comfort
and competence to myriads ? How, I would inquire,
is production to be carried on without money ca-
pital ; or, how, without it, are the endlessly diversified
capabilities of soil and climate to receive suitable ex-
pansion ? No, the absentee is among the worst enemies
of Ireland. _

It occurs to me when I think of mouldering halls,
and the silent park where the mansion-house stood,
but stands no more, with what new titles we might in-
vest the absent owners. Here then, were the abode of
Duke Hardheart, that the Earl of Rattledice's ; here the
Castle of Lady Smallbrains, that the whilome seat of
the Countess of Dissipation. I have stood on the
strand where rows of roofless cabins attested the
former presence of human life and industry. Look
at that blackened wall ! Where are they whom it
once sheltered? where the hard-working peasant, the
anxious busy mother, the maiden whose carolling
was heard so early in the morn, and the children
whose little feet went to and fro—where, absentee,
where ?—borne to the sordid town, the hospital.
Who is that with haggard countenance—now he
gasps, anon he picks the bed-clothes with his hands !
The nurse plies the grateful wine in vain, the physi-
cian shakes his head and passes on ; for why, the
peasant's course is ended, his life is done ; nor can
the tears of that spent and faithful woman, nor the
sad inquiring face of the last and youngest, avail to
stay the parting agony. Hark ! it is the dead rattle ;
now—no once again ; now indeed, it is over for ever
more; the peasant has sped to a land where the L-rd
thereof will not tear down his dwelling, or expel him
and his from the light of his protection ! Mother
and child are gone ; the child has lain down
amid the straw, he asks why his father is away. But
where is the blythe daughter the while ? There, pale,
trembling, by that flickering lamp; the rains pours,
perchance it blows, no matter; she must earn the
wages of corruption, or go home to her garret and
die. But the son, the sturdy son, who was to work
and strive and make all things square, where is he ?
Look across the ocean—to far America ; there, hard
by the canal, in the swamp, are rows of graves. In
one of these, with others of his race, victims to disease
and neglect in a foreign land, lies the young Irish-
man ; his hand is cold, he'll work no more !
Who does not know that our few manufactories
are insufficient to supply the swarming population ;
that our minerals are not dug; that our fisheries are
neglected ; the tenure of the soil precarious ; that
rents are high, while produce, too gener'ally, is low;
that land, even on these terms, is let and sub-let,
so as no longer to afford a decent subsistence ; and that
the peasant is ground down, what by the outlay for
his humble necessaries, a heavy rent-charge, grand-
jury levies, tolls, taxes, poor-rates, and the support,
at once onerous and unavoidable, of Protestant,
Catholic, Presbyterian, and other establishments ?
The land is overstocked with labourers, the towns
with artisans ; while every trade, profession, calling,
swarms with needy candidates for employment.
There are few or no public works, no Government
dock-yards, and, with excellent harbours, no foreign
packet station. In other respects, we have canals on
which one sees nothing but turf-boats; a matchless
custom-house where there is no trade, and a cyclo-
pean harbour which only serves to shelter fishermen.
The centralization principle, carried toofar, has drawn
away the emoluments connected with most of the
public offices; money does not circulate; and if any
one experience unusual losses in his calling, he finds
the utmost difficulty in retrieving them. In a word,
the people do not receive adequate employment at
home, and are too generally destitute of the means to
seek it abroad.

Before any searching remedies for Irish grievances
can be adopted, there must be aproper understanding
with the parties to be relieved. The task must be
entered into with vigour, and a firm determination to
probe the canker to the bottom, and eradicate it.
If Ministers for the day, if Hon. Members set out
with repugnance and disgust, view the affair as a
nuisance to be abated and abandoned, how do they
expect they will accomplish their undertaking, or
conciliate those whom it most concerns ? The Irish,
too, must relinquish their prejudices, their ostentation,
`their pride, their desire to spend before they earn,
their distorted conceptions, and their expectations,
often sadly at variance with the every-day realities
of life. I would adjure the political agitator, ere he
evoke the vengeance of heaven and earth on English
misrule, to correct his own faults. Man, have you
never been your own enemy ? have you never slept
the hours you should have been waking; never passed
in rude debauchery the time that should have been
spent with your anxious partner, in instructing your
children, and in making provision for the period of
age and sickness which is sure to come, and which
often, alas too often, finds you wholly unprepared ?
Among other follies of which we have been guilty,
is the recent attempt to found a barrier on the dis-
tinction of race, as if Saxons were better or worse
than Celts • Celts than Saxons. But the fact assumed
is quite otherwise; the aborigines of these islands
were all Celts ! Are not Irish, Gaelic, Welsh, Cor-
nish, dialects of one and the same language, once
spoken over Great Britain and Ireland by a race that
has left indelible traces of its existence in the remains
of its language, and the still adherent namea of places?
In England the after irruption of Romans, Saxons,
and Norsemen settled in France, gave rise to a diver-
sified population, just as the invasion and settlement
of Ireland by Danes, Normans, Saxons, and We!sh
led to a similar result here. It is unlikely that there
is a single Irishman, whatever it may be in the high-
lands of Scotland or Wales, who can boast unmingled
Celtic descent; and were it even otherwise, the gain
would be very small. The Deity, who knows better
than us all, has designed his children, Celt, Saxon,
and Norman, alike to mingle together; and wherever
a consummation so desirable fails to be realised, de-
terioration and decay are the only results.
Freer ingress as regards the productions of other
countries, freer egress as regards our own, would, I
conceive, realise a high degree of prosperity both for

England and Ireland. Abolition of the corn-laws is
not perhaps the commercial avatar which some esteem
it; but as matters now are, abolition would doubtless
prove of the utmost importance to Great Britain and
the world. Providence dictates, reason suggests, the
unshackled interchange .of every production of men's
hands, of every growth of the soil. I need not dilate
on the rival establishments too often the result of
British gold and influence, or the singular anomaly in
America of the trees of the forest giving way, not to
fields of corn, but mules and spinning-jennies, the
fruits of our restrictions ; I would merely advert to
the fact, that in Ireland there are hosts of idle, im-.
poverished individuals, to whom free trade would
prove the signal for occupation and competence. Our
linen manufacture would be revived, our almost un-
productive fisheries encouraged, and our ports would
become emporiums for all nations. The vast increase
of occupation in England, whose workshops would
ring again with the varied processes of her multiplied
industry, would create an incessant demand for
Ireland's sons, then sure to receive a hearty well-
paid welcome. Pat might then rear his cabin by the
pleasant shores and green-hill slopes of his native
country ; then might he have land and the means of
paying for it too; while dark-eyed girls and curly-
headed boys, no more to perish in aguish America
abroad, or of want-created disease at home, would
gladden his heart !

Let the holder of the soil have a longer, say a
twenty-years' lease, with security for specific outlay
and improvements, and let the landlord realise those
admirable agricultural improvements for which Ire-
land is so well adapted, and for which the tenant
would so gladly pay. With drainage, sub-soil
ploughing, alternate grain and green crops, change
of seed, turnip culture, and to a certain extent spade
labour,incalculable advantages would be realised by
the tenantry and community at large. The landlord
might, with great propriety, lay down a mode of cul-
ture mainly founded on the Scotch system, and see
that it was carried into effect. At present, the
country is not half tilled; it is just as if so much
land or produce were cast into the sea. Irrespective
of defective culture, vast tracts are wholly unre-
claimed ; rich slopes subsist to the south and west,
which no plough disturbs, and into which no spade
delves ; while mountains that might be planted to
the summit, are with few exceptions, bare and barren.
The proprietors, I submit, should be compelled to
plant these mountains, to reclaim those wastes. Un-
like Mr. Blacker or Lord Headley's agent, agents in
general, have neither the power nor the means to
insure the proper culture of the soil. Let the land-
lords, then, go home and do it. Who, and what are
they to absent themselves from the country of their
birth, at any rate the community, to which by all the
ties of property and humanity they belong ? Either
a heavy absentee tax should be levied, or the rents,
with narrow restrictions, handed over to the actual
resident owner of the soil. Thus peace and plenty,
contentment and capital, would spread over the land,
and propitious Astreeit be seen again to smile.
The anxiety on the part of the labouring classes in
this country to obtain a little ground is very great,
and has been turned to rich account in the way of
high rents, renewal fines, fines for abating rent, and
the like. Does any one propose to leave his holding,
eager competitors are willing to bestow what should
seem the value of the ground ; but this, which is
termed buying land, only confers the privilege of
paying rents, fines, tithes, taxes, cess, as may be.
In my opinion, it should be optional with
the tenant to purchase, at least in part,
the fee of the soil. That this is feasible may be seen
from the example of the Channel islands, where poverty
and wretchedness are unseen. In some cases the
landlord in Guernsey and Jersey retains a lien on the
soil, which is acknowledged by a proportionate yearly
payment, to the mutual advantage of the joint own-
ers. An industrious proprietary has banished mendi-
cancy from France. I should consider the general
introduction of such an arrangement, such as that
which subsists in the Channel islands, as great an
advance in civilization as the abolition of serfage
itself. The slave must be supported, whether he
work or remain at rest, whereas the Irish labourer, in
one sense the slave of many masters, starves in the
intervals of employment!
Thanks to the home consumption and to John
Bull's enduring appetite, to the union, and to steam,
the poor Irish trader often brings his produce to a
eghoaod nnmelakr with
F t.
as
sliatitrl
ewheeastihr or foul,
taeti
en a
sihe crosses
if
were
et the
hnext
parish, and disposes of his live and dead stock to the
highest bidder. Many, considering their station in life,
thus realise a fair independence. This, therefore,

. .
would enable such to purchase their holdings, and
further facilities might be afforded by means of
loans. As at present conducted, loans, what
with bonds, deeds, searches, interests, and foreclosures,
too often prove ruinous to the borrower. If a legis-
lative enactment enabled holders of land to purchase
so as to become part proprietors, is it too much to
expect that capitalists, well satisfied with their 4
or 5 per cent., would come forward with the requi-
site amount ? For what can be more anomalous than
a condition of society that compels a hard-wrought
race of men to borrow money on usurious terms,
while the despairing capitalist is obliged to retain vast
sums in his coffers, for which he can realise no ade-
quate return ?
In Prussia, Poland, and Belgium the Governments
respectively have established a fund for the express
relief of landholders, who may borrow any sum not
exceeding half the value of their unencumbered pro-
perty ; for this 6 per cent. per annum—in the Duchy
of Posen it is less-4 per cent. for interest, and
two for cancelling the debt, is paid during eight-and-
twenty years, at the expiry of which period the debt,
both principal and interest, without costs, fresh
loan, or ruinous foreclosure, is extinguished. These
loans are duly registered, the lender holding in return
scrip or notes (Pfandbrief), which pass
from hand to
hand as money. Sustained by the credit of a whole
community on the imperishable basis of the soil, they
are even preferred to gold ; circulation does not re-
duce their value, and, still more unlike gold, they
are earning their four per cent. while in the chest of
the holder. As two per cent. is yearly poured into
the treasury of the fund, the owners of the pawn-
briefs, when a certain sum has accumulated, are paid
off by lot in succession, the debtors of course continu-
ing to hand in their six per cent. per annum, to the
end of the eight-and-twenty years. Is there any
reason why this system of loans should not obtain
currency, or indeed why the scrip of our national
stock should not circulate as current cash ? HOW
prodigious the impetus which every
species of indus-
try would experience by the circulation of an inde-
structible paper money equivalent in amount to our
present mortgage bonds. It can only, I should
conceive, prove a question of time. Prussia, under
Frederick 11., devastated by the seven years' war,
owed her sOcial regeneration to the pawn-brief sys-
tem. Poland—not to speak of Belgium—was almost
equally benefited. Even at the taking of Warsaw,
as during all the previous unhappy
struggles, the
pawn-briefs, which John Czynski states could at any
time be exchanged for gold, never once lost their value
Emigration to other, as yet unpeopled, portions of
God's earth, seems a natural resort when population
presses on the means of subsistence; but the love of
home and kindred, with the cost and risk of transit, are
weighty impediments. The first might be overcome
by numerous individuals starting from the same dis-
trict and settling in the same locality;
.the expense,
as regards the poorer classes, I really think ought to
be defrayed by Government. Emigrants are often
so unaware of the soil and climate of the place of
their election ; so deficient in resources ; so ignorant
of the best means of proceeding, as to suffer miserably
in the attempt. They, venture in unseaworthy ves-
sels; perchance their provisions run short ; the place
is unhealthy, or the demand for their labour nil.
Multitudes of the poorer Irish perish in different
parts of the United States—eigh thundred, I believe,
annually, in New Orleans--of the effects of climate
alone
n
;
whilead all
many
i are condemned to in-
occupation ts consequent wretched-
ness. I am surprised at the apathy with
the hardy labouring
hisgreatepire sees its life-blood, as
population maya wpeeollplbee
in some
respects squandered s o
inimical in a
as and amid
those of the United States.
There are tracts in the Canadas, the uplands of
BArt;ilteirshiea?uNianew a, the Cape, the western shores of
Zealand,
and Australia, where the
people and the institutions of. Great Britain and Ire-
land might wax and thrive for ever more. A few of
our unemployed ships of war might at a moderate
expense be made the means of throwing a tide of
to the great
relief of
population
advantage
of
fn
the
ee
emigrants,places
those they left behind.
Much has been done of late years to promote edu-
dation among the Irish poor, but I do not think
sufficient attention is paid to impart a mastery over
the mother tongue, and thus to lay open the endless
appliances for mental cultivation, Which this single
acquirement would realise. Education, too, has be-
come sectarian ; and children of different persuasions,
who should learn and play with each other, without
a thought of such matters, are imbued with exclu-
siveness from the cradle. _

most varied instruction that it was possible to
impart. Our clergy, as a whole, are by
far the best educated portion of the com-
munity ; but if teachers, however able or esti-
mable, were taken from their ranks, persons of
different persuasions would hesitate to place their
children under their care. It would, indeed, be in-
finitely desirable that the children of the gentry, the
mercantile classes, and those intended for professions,
should be brought up at the same institutions; any
other procedure must be productive of exclusion,
narrow, one-sided views, and distorted, abortive
conception of men and things. The Catholics, in my
opinion, make a great mistake, in conducting the
preliminary education of so influential a body as their
clergy, in a theological seminary ; and in further
debarring them from the advantage once enjoyed of
a partial residence abroad. Finally, I must regret
that nubile opinion does not yet appear to sanction
establishments for imparting a higher grade of educa-
tion to females than what seminaries for the young can
reasonably be expected to afford.
That estimable individual M. Theobald Mathew,
with others, has effected a most beneficial revolution
in lessening the uncalculating addiction to in-
toxicating drinks. The advantages yielded by the
Mathewite reform, I may be permitted to observe,
would be considerably enhanced by a reduction in the
duties on tea and coffee, for which civilising bever-
ages the Irish working classes have already a great
addiction. I would further attach great importance,

-
In the way of improving the social condition of our
abouring poor, and generally consolidating the
union, to a more perfect intercourse between the
countries. There ought to be a daily steam-boat
communication between Glasgow and Londonderry,
Belfast and Liverpool, Bristol and Waterford, as
between Dublin and one or two points there already
is. The charge :perhaps is low enough; but the ac-
commodation for humble wayfarers is infamously de-
ficient. In the old sailing packets straw and a refuge
in the hold were always available; but at present
even during the coldest weather, exposed to wind,
rain and drifting surge, men, with women anddelicate
children, divide the crowded decks with swine and
cattle, destitute of the accommodation which decency,
not to say comfort, enjoins.
I would have no Irish Parliament, whether inde-
pendent or federal, since I fear they would only prove
the source of strife and disunion, an arena for secta-
rian disputes, clashing interests, trashy harangues,
and petty ambitions. American federalism hardly in-
vites imitation. We had a Parliament once, and those
who composed it, Irish as they were, sold their inhe-
ritance. Who is to say that successors equally un-
principled might not repeat the sale ? The shame, as
on all who make a trade of their country's wrongs,
lay more in the selling than in the buying—out upon
the wretches and their memory for ever ! Would
that the union, however desirable, had been accom-
plished by honester means ; an honest end
neither needs nor sanctions a dishonest re-
sort. I would maintain the Union indeed, but
on the principle of equal justice; I would maintain it,
but not to be cast in the shade, to be treated with
scorn and obloquy, neglect and poverty. Let not the
iron heel of despotism be planted in the faces of the
widow, the fatherless, the miserable. Do not further
alienate the energetic, the enlightened, and the de-
termined of the Irish ; do not push beyond endurance
the sufferings of the poor. The rattling cutlass of
the heavy dragoon, the clanking musket of the red-
coated
soldier—horse, foot, artillery, are poor and
passing expedients to allay starvation and despair.
We may be trampled on, but we still would have
strength left to drag our oppressors into the mire.
Yet rancour towards Ireland is not so potent, nor the
love of order and justice so extinct, as to suffer the
continuance of ineffaceable wrong : bright and con-
fident are my hopes in the well-doing of generous
England as in the progress of our race.
If not a local Parliament however, elective grand
juries, or other similar local elective jurisdictions, in
order to transact local business, and watch over local
interests, should assuredly be established. Bills for
particular purposes before the Imperial Legislature
might well be discussed in Standing Committees ; an
institution that we might borrow with every advan-
tage from the Congress of the United States. In
other respects, the unnecessary and expensive juris-
diction of the Lord-Lieutenant being abolished, I
would urge, with all my heart and soul, that the Im-
perial Court and Parliament should sit triennially in
Dublin, of course, triennially in London and Edin-
burgh. It is quite absurd to say that the members''of
an itinerating Parliament, as it has been termed, could
not as readily meet in Dublin as in London. Never
will there be happiness, never perfect peace or pros-
perity in Ireland, till this vital measure be accom-
plished. If Mr. O'Connell, with his powerful talents,
his unwearying energies, had agitated for this in place
of the dislocating expedient of repeal, he would have
had the hearty concurrence of myriads who otherwise
never will join with him. Suitable accommodations
were easily, and how cheerfully provided ; we
have a palace and houses of parliament already
constructed, with means of communicating with
London in a few hours. Absentees, one and
all, would flock without coercion homeward; we
should be further visited by multitudes of our Eng-
lish and Scottish neighbours ; and more would be
done in a single year by this simple and constitutional
measure, which I am well 'assured must one day be
carried, to conciliate the Irish, appease the differences,
unite the countries, and introduce order and pros-
perity, than during long years of previous abortive
legislation.
These remarks now close. Without a wish to give
offence to any party, they have been dictated by an
earnest desire to promote the prosperity of my native
land, and to secure in reality, as well as name, a tho-
rough community with England ; that we might in
all things be one with a country which in many re-
spects, as I trust she will one day prove in all, is the
hope of surrounding nations, the bulwark of the op-
pressed, and the glory of the world.—l am, &c.

HENRY M'CORMAC, M.D.
Belfast, January, 1844.

National seminaries might be better organised, and
teachers of a higher
grade, interchanged too with
those employed. A piece
of groundEnglandmightwh eretaught
aagriculturalScotland,
onla
and horticultural pro-
cessesa yet effective
scale, should be attached to every school. The
various handicrafts as regards the boys, with occupa-
tions suitable to females, should be attended to within
doors. Numbers of poor children, lam sorry to say,
does not huma-
nity be overcome ?
keep away from school because destitute of food and
clothes
dictate; is
that i tat this drawbackchimericalt o suggest,shld o
oneAosrrmegoarrodssomhooorelsa, gymnasia,dv or colleges, for everyanced culture, there should be
hundred thousand of the population. I would have
them endoWed by Government, and - thrown open
to the public ; while they should afford the

THE NOTTINGIIAM TRADE-
CHINA LAC E.

The state of the most exten lye branch of the
hosiery manufacture—wrought cotton stockings—
has very little varied for some tin c past, the frames,
with the exception of those : 1 ove forty guage,
being in general fully employe d. The cut-up
cotton hose branch continues brisk, and as most
of the firms are coming gradually in to give
the penny advance, the hands have some hopes
that another rise in wages may be obtained.—The
drawer and pantaloon branch, we are sorry to report,
is worse this week than it was the last, the masters
coming from the warehouses with empty bags. An
abridgment of the labour in some cases has been
adopted by the workmen being directed to widen
up the thighs of the drawers by taking the thread
round the needle, instead of removing the troops,
in the usual manner. These articles are not
like the drop-offs ; they are perfectly sound,
but the selvages are raw and unsightly.
The hands complain that too much is deducted
from their wages for this abridgment of labour.—
The silk glove branch is in a better condition. The
articles generally made are cut-up, and of the most
inferior kind, but still the increased demand is felt
most beneficially. A new fashion is coming into
vogue, of making long-armed mits. These are made
from the shoulder to the hand on wide frames ; they
are then run on narrow frames, to ornament the
hands. The fancy bobbin-net trade is dull, more es-
pecially the plat and' other ornamented laces. Yet
there are few or no machines standing, the nets being
in general consumed. The plat-net machines keep
going, though the sale prices are extremely low.
Lace has been for some years much cheaper than
muslin, and will wear longer, being made of hand-
spun two-thread yarn, of the best quality. Muslins are
made of single yarn, the shoot being very slightly
twisted. 'We have been favoured with the sight of a very
singular production, a amely, cushion bobbin lace made
in China. This article was obtained by' a British
soldier,who was a lace-maker, at the time the armament
advanced up the great river, to obstruct the
grand canal, and to attack Nankin. It was near this
place that the soldier saw the women at work, and
conceiving it to be a great curiosity, he took out his
knife, and without ceremony, cut off a yard, which he
brought to England. The ground is that of a
mechlin, a sort of Brussels, being plaited at the
close, and twisted on the other sides of the hole.
It is coarse, having only about four holes to the
inch—a scallop pattern is worked into it, by shoot-
ing the threads cross-wise, near three quarters of
an inch. It has large prominent spots, in which
the hole is closed with no less than fifteen bouts
round the pillars. To the naked eye it has
the appearance of being made of yellow Bengal
silk, in the gum, but no sooner is the microscope
applied, than this vanishes, and it has all the resem-
blance of being a vegetable substance, as though com-
posed of a sort of fine basket twig. Several experi-
ments have been made, to ascertain its real quality.
Upon being boiled, it produced a thick, foetid, glu-
tinous substance, and the material had all the ap-
pearance of twisted cotton, though not the
least twist can be observed in the thread
when in the gum. At a distance it has
somewhat of a shining appearance, as though
it were a metallic substance. This is considered
rather important to this district, as it demonstrates
that the Chinese wear and use lace, and that such
articles will be in request in that extensive empire,
which is said to contain a third of the human
race.—There is no material alteration in the
cotton warp lace trade, the hands being fully em-
ployed.—The silk blond hands are, however, confined
to certain limits, nor does there appear much prospect
at present of a renovation taking place in that branch.
—Nottingh am Review.

The Great League Fund already exceeds 60,000/.
and the metropolis -has yet to begin its subscription,

COURT CIRCULAR,
The Queen and Prince Albert, and the ladies and
gentlemen of the Royal suite, attended Divine service
yesterday at Claremont. The Venerable Archdeacon
NATilberforce officiated.

Archdeacon Wilberforce arrived at Claremont on
Saturday, on a visit to the Queen, and had the honour of
dining with her Majesty.
Her Majesty and Prince Albert rpromenaded in the
grounds of Claremont Park on Saturday afternoon. In
the forenoon his Royal Highness Prince Albert, attended
by Sir Edward Bowater, Equerry in Waiting, Lord
Rivers, Hon. C. A. Murray, and Mr. G. E. Anson, went
out shooting. The Royal party returned to Claremont
to lunch.

We have authority to state that her Royal Highness
the Duchess of Kent has withdrawn her name as Pa-
troness of the Royal Belg-rave Lying-in Institution.
The Governor of the Bank of England, and the Deputy
Governor, had an interview with Sir Robert Peel on
Saturday.
The Commissioners of the Model Prison at Pen tonville
had a meeting on Saturday, at the Council-office,
Whitehall. The Commissioners present were the Lord
President, the Duke of Richmond, Earl of Chichester,
Lord John Russell, Sir Benjamin Brodie, Dr. Ferguson,
Major Jebb, Mr. W. Crawford, and Mr. Whitworth
Russell. The meeting broke up at three o'clock.
Sir R. Peel and Sir J. Graham had an interview with
the Earl of Aberdeen on Saturday, at the Foreign-office.
Dispatches from Sir Charles Metcalfe, Governor of
Canada, and from the Governors of the other North Ame-
rican Colonies, were received yesterday at the Colonial-
office.

Mr. Driver had an interview with Sir Robert Peel on
Saturday, at his official residence in Downing-street.
Mr. Dean, Chairman of the Customs, had an interview
on Saturday with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in
Downing-street.
Dispatches from the Governor of Van Diemen's Land
were received on Saturday at the Colonial-office.

IRISH STATE TRIALS.

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH, DUBLIN.

FRIDAY, FIVE O'CLOCK.
At an early hour in the morning the Attorney and
Solicitor-General, Mr. Brewster, and all the rest of the
Counsel engaged for the Crown, appeared in Court. Mr.
Moore, Q.C., Mr. Henn, Mr. Pigott, M.P., asd the other
Counsel for the traversers, were also present.
At a quarter past ten o'clock Mr. Justice Perrin sat
for the disposal of motions of course. At eleven the full
Court sat, and proceeded to deliver judgment in the case
of " the Queen v. Samuel Grey."
Mr. Justice PERRIN recapitulated the facts of the case.
He gave it as his opinion that a venire de novo should be
issued, and the motion on the part of the prisoner in
arrest of judgment should be granted.
Mr. Justice Crampton, Mr. Justice Burton, and the
Chief Justice, were of the contrary opinion, namely, that
the motion should be refused.
The CHIEF JUSTICE then passed sentence upon
Grey. His Lordship said, that he had been convicted of
discharging a loaded pistol, or some other deadly weapon,
at, and wounding James Cunningham, but whether with
intent to kill him or not was probably only known to the
Divine Searcher of the human heart. The Court, taking
the enormity of the offence into consideration, had unani-
mously come to the conclusion that the sentence should
be a heavy one—transportation fur life. Sentence was
then passed in the usual terms.

Mr: NAPIER said, that as it was his intention to sue
out a writ sf error, it was necessary that this sentence
should be respited, to enable him to do so.
The CHIEF JUSTICE replied that this should be done.
At :Os enty minutes to four o'clock, the Chief Justice
called upon the Attorney-General to know whether or
not he had anything to move.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL replied that he understood
two motions were to be made by the Counsel for the tra-
versers, in the case of the Queen v. O'Connell.
Mr. MOORE, Q.C., rose and moved that the special
jury in this case be quashed, and that a mandamus be
issued, directed to the Recorder of the city of Dublin,
calling upon him to replace on the special jury list the
names of certain parties excluded therefrom. And, fur-
ther, that until this be done the trial of this cause be
postponed, and that the special jury to try the same be
taken from such amended list. The motion was
grounded upon the affidavits of Mr. Pierce Mahony and
others. Counsel proceeded to call the attention of the
Court to the Act under which the jury list was formed,
namely, the 3d and 4th Wm. IV.. c. 94.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL opposed the motion, which,
after some remarks from the Bench, was refused.

Saturday, Jan. 13.
THE QUEEN V. DANIEL O'CONNELL AND OTHERS.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved, on the part of the
Crown, for an order that in the event of the trial in this
case not having terminated on or before the 31st instant,
that Thursday, the Ist of February, and every day until
next term, or as many as shall be necessary, shall be
fixed by the Court for the purpose of said trial, and be
deemed and taken to bo part of the present Hilary Term.
He could not say the precise time that would be neces-
sary for the trtal, but he thought it well to have the
order made. He applied under the Ist and 2d William
IV., section 3, by which it was provided, that if any trial
at bar shall be directed by any of the said Courts, it
shall be competent for any of the Judges of said Courts
to appoint any day for the trial thereof ; and that
if such day shall be in vacation, it shall be deemed
and taken to be part of said preceding term.
lle apprehended there could be no difficulty with regard
to the propriety of making this order ; and he thought it
would not be right to make an application pending the
trials for such an order, and he deemed it to be the most
proper course to have the order made before the trial.
That order would be eontered upon the record, and thus
the proceedings which it might be necessary to take in
vacation would be perfectly regular and legal. If there
was any difficulty in making the order, of course the
Court would take it at their peril.
The CHIEF JUSTICE—Is there any occasion for mak-
ing an order at all ?
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL referred his Lordship again
to the provision of the Act of Parliament.
The CHIEF JUSTICE—When the Court directs a trial
at bar to take place, and fixes a day for it, does not the
Act make the provision that, in such case, the vacation
shall by virtue of the statute be part of the term ?
The ATTORNEY -GENERAL—But it is the safest Course to
have the order made that the vacation shall be part of
the preceding term, and I apprehend there can be no
difficulty in making the order. It will, on the contrary,
prevent any difficulty that might be suggested hereafter,
for if the order were not made and entered on the record,
it might be said that the proceedings should not be con-
tinued in the vacation.

Judge CRAMPTON—At present there is no order for any
rial in the vacation.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said that, in consequence of
some allegations over which they had no control, with
regard to the time the trials would extend to, he
thought, even though the construction of the Act be
what the Chief Justice said, that this order should be
made in the terms of the notice. In point of fact, if
it were contemplated when the original order was made
that the trials should continue so long, it might be made
part of the original order. But lest any difficulty should
arise hereafter, they applied for this order, and when
that order was entered on the record all the proceedings
would be perfectly regular.
Judge PERRIN—Cannot you make this application at
any other time. I have art objection to make an order to
this extent, for you anticipate that the trial will continue
for three months, and it would be a formidable precedent
to make such an order. I cannot see why the trial
should not be closed within the term, but if necessary
you can make this application at any other time.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL—The Court, by the Act, is
to fixa day. . _ _

Judge PERRIN—But I have great difficulty in con-
senting to appoint a month or months. What I mean,
Mr. Attorney, is this :—Here we have fifteen days of
term before us, and we will better see our way in the
course of that time than at present, and I have a great
objection to make an order of this kind unnecessarily.
'fhe ATTORNEY-GENERAL said the Course they pro-
posed to take was desirable, as it was necessary that
there should be no opportunity hereafter of suggesting
any irregularity.
Judge PERRIN—But that order will be as good any
day in term as to-day. It is not an order to fix the day
of trial, but to extend the time, and you have the same
facility of moving it any day during term if it should be
necessary as at present, and you would then have much
better grounds for applying to the Court than you have
in calling upon us now to anticipate that a trial by jury
would exceed fifteen days, and there are yet fifteen sit-
ting days in term.
Judge CRAMPTON—If that anticipation were likely to
add a single hour to the trials I would object to make
the order. But I cannot see how making the order now
can affect the trial except to abridge it.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL--If there be any point be-
hind which may affect the regularity of the proceedings,
that may be a ground for delay. When I speak of the
vacation I have not the slightest anticipation that the
trial will occupy all that time. But if we fixed a parti-
cular day within which the trial should only last, it will
hold out a bonus to extend it beyond that time.
Judge PERRIN—You call upon us to make an order
which contemplates the trial lasting until the first day of
next term, and that, I think, would be really holding out
a facility for prolonging it. If gentlemen found that a
certain time was given they would consume a great deal
less time than if three months wero given.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL—With great respect to
your Lordship, I cannot concur in that view.
Judge CRAMPTON said the application might be made
on the last day of term as well as that day. But he
would like to give every facility to make it ; and argu-
ments might arise on the last day which would create
embarrassment ; and as it might give rise to discussion,
time might be lost in making it.
The ATTORNEY GENERAL said they thought it would
be more convenient to the Court, and more proper for
them to make the application before the trial com-
menced, and not delay the proceedings by a discussion
of this kind during the trial. The Court might say, if
they had postponed this application, why not make the
application before the trial commenced. He thought it
probable that the circumstance of this order being made
would lead to the trial being concluded within this
term, and he thought if the order were not made it
would not be concluded.

The CHIEF JUSTICE—We understand that no opposi-
tion is made to your application by the traverser.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL—We understand no.

Mr. MONACHAN—The_traversers don't appear on this
motion.

The CHIEF JUSTICE—I am not including you at Till.
Of course, as there is no opposition made to the motion,
the Court—however they may think it might be unne-
cessary, and it is my own opinion—conceive it will do
no harm, and the majority of the Court are for granting
the motion according to the terms of it. I don't think
my'brother Perrin agrees with the order of the Court.
Judge i
apprehend great difficult n at, and