The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-30 00:00:00

SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
THE PROPOSED CONSTITUTION.

We have received files of papers from Adelaide to
the 24th December inclusive. On Friday, the 21st
December, a great public meeting was held in the
Exchange, Adelaide, in accordance with a requisition
of the Sheriff of the Province, C. B. Newenham, Esq.,
to adopt resolutions and appoint a committee to pre
pare petitions to both Houses of Parliament on the
subject of the proposed new constitution. Many of
the shops were shut, and business was altogether sus-
pended during the progress of the meeting.
The following resolutions were unanimously
adopted :
" Proposed by Mr. J. H. Fisher, and seconded by
Mr. G. S. Kingston :
" 1. That the Bill laid before Parliament, entitled,
A Bill for the better government of her Majesty's
Australian colonies,' so far as it relates to the colony of
South Australia, meets the wishes and wants of the co-
lonists in mo't of its most essential provisions; and by
recommending the concession of a representative Go-
vernment with such extensive powers, deserves to be re-
garded as a wise, liberal, and comprehensive measure;
and that the thanks of the colonists aro due to the Right
Hon. Earl Grey, Secretary for the Colonies, and to Mr.
Hawes, Lord John Russell, and Mr. Labouchere, the
Members of the House of Commons who prepared and
brought in the Bill.
" Proposed by Mr. Samuel Davenport, and seconded
by Mr. Ge3rge Elder:—
" 2. That the formation of a general assembly of the
Australian colonies, however desirable on the majority of
matters proposed to be left to the decision of such As-
sembly, is in principle, as in form, a federal union; is,
in a British sense, unconstitutional, as morally opposed
to the social institution of the colony, and endangering
our colonial independence.
" Proposed by Mr. G. A. Anstey, and seconded by
Mr. A. H. Davis:—

"3. That the resolutions recently passed by the Le-
gislative Council, recommending a second chamber, do
not represent the opinions nor convey the sentiment of
the colonists, particularly as the proposed Act confers
all needful powers for amending the constitution, and
adapting it to future exigencies; and that any provision
which should enforce upon the colonists a system of life
nominees is such a chamber, this meeting deprecates as
an int )lerable evil, which might neutralise all the good
to be anticipated from the proposed measure.
" Proposed by Mr. F. S. Dutton, and seconded by Mr.
G. M. Waterhouse:—

"4. The colonists being prepared as heretofore to
bear the whole expenses of their civil government, con-
sider that they have a constitutional right to regulate,
by means of their representives in Council, the mode of
raising and of appropriating the colonial revenue, free
from all direction and control by her Majesty's Trea-
sury, or by the Commissioners of Customs; and they
further consider that the local Government should have
the power of appointing all officers of Government, and
that the salaries should be fixed by the c' lonial legis-
lature.

" Proposed by Mr. J. B. Montefiore, and seconded by
Mr. W. Peacock:—

" 1. That this meeting considers the provisions in the
Sydney Act, fixing the qualifications of members of the
proposed representative council, and of the electors, in-
applicable to the circumstances of the colony; and that
power should be, therefore, given t) the local legislature
to qualify such provisions as they may see fit.
" Pcoposed by Mr. Wns. Blyth, and seconded by Mr.
Samuel Stocks:—

" 6. That a copy of the resolutions passed at this met t-
ing, and signed by the chairman, be forwarded to EArl
Grey; and that the following gentlemen be appointed a
committee, with power to add to their number, to pre-
pare Petitions to both Houses of Parliament embodying
these resolutions, requesting his Excellency the Lieu.
tenant Governor to forward the same with the least pot-
sibls delay:—
"J. H. Fisher, E. Stephens, A. H. Davis, John
Brown, G. S. Kingston, S. Davenport, R. D.
Hanson, Geo. Elder, G. A. Austey, S. Stocks,
jun., John Baker."
A vote of thanks to the chairman was carried by
acclamation.

IRELAND.
BIRTH-PLACE OF " THE DUKE."

DUBLIN, SATURDAY.—Mr. Murray, one cf the
resident masters of Trinity College, Dublin, has pub-
lished a brochure, in which he sets at rest the moot
point of the birth-place of the Duke of Wellington.
One might think there was little ground for specula-
tion in such a case, seeing that his Grace's mother is
only a few years dead, supposing (which is extremely
unlikely) that his Grace himself should be ignorant
of the fact. Strange enough that the biographers of
the Dukeipf Wellington differ on the subject. Burke
and Maxwell record the birth of his Grace as having
occurred on the Ist of May, 1769, at Dungan Castle,
in the county of Meath ; and Gurwood and Lodge
assent expressly to the time and tacitly to the place.
Mr. Murray has discovered a piece of evidence which
he deems conclusive of the fact that Dublin may
henceforth claim the honour of being the birth-place
of the conqueror of Napoleon. In a Dublin news-
paper, published on Saturday, the 6th of May, 1769,
entitled the Public Register, or Freeman's Journal,
there is the following '.)rief announcement

" BIRTH.--In Me'r-rim-street. the Right Hon. the
Countess of Mornington \bf a son."

Mr. Murray maintains that the house in which
this event occurred is that at present occupied by the
likclesiastical Commis3ioners, and in support of his
assertion refers to the following passage in Lord
Cloncurry's " Ricolleetions" :
" I graduated in the arta in the year 1791; as it hap-
pened, upon the day on which my father entertained the
Lord• Lieutenant (the Eirl of Westmoreland) for the
first time, at Mornington House, a residence in Mer-
rion-street, which he had purchased from the late Mar-
quis Wellesley."
The late Lord Cloncurry paid as purchase-money
for this house the sum of 8,0001.
Next, as to the date of his Grace's birth, Mr. Mur..
ray adduces one fact to prove it occurred on the 29th
of April, 1769, and another that he was actually
baptised on the following day; therefore the Ist of
May must be erroneous. Esshare's Gentleman's
Magazine, in the number for May, 1769, has the
following :
" BIRTH.-April 29, the Countess of Mornington of a

son."

In the parish registry of St. Peter's Church, on a
page headed " Christenings, 1769," is this entry i—
" April 30, Arthur, son of the Right Hon. Earl and
Countess of Mornington." It is here to be noted
that the east side of Upper Merrion-street was then,
as it is now, included in the parish of St. Peter.
We can assure the English reader that he is not
prouder of his Stratford•on-Avon than his Irish
neighbour shall be of the house in Merrion-street, the
birth-place of the duke of Wellington.