The Sun.
London, England, 1850-08-12 00:00:00

LAUNCH OF AN IRON STEAM-

PACKET AT GREENWICH.
On Saturday last a steam-packet, named the City
of Paris, was launched from the premises of Joyce
and Co.'s ironworks, Greenwich. The event appeared
to be one of some moment to the proprietors and
builders of the steamer, from the extensive prepara-
tions made to give éclat to the launch, and from the
numerous concourse of spectators, ashore and afloat,
on the banks of the river, and on board the old hospi•
tal ship Dreadnought, and other craft; the public of
Greenwich took special interest in the affair, and
bore with exemplary patience the tedious delay of an
hour from the time previously appointed to the mo•
ment of the vessel quitting the slip. The whole affair
was one of as much ostentation as if the launch had
been that of the Royal Albert, 130, and the premises
one of the royal dockyards. Platforms and stages
were erected ; a band of music was provided ; the
ship was decorated with flags of all colours. The
boy; of the Greenwich Hospital schools were invited
to the treat of a ship-launch, and a strong force of
policemen kept the gates and guarded the access to
the various seats of honour and places of distinction.
At length it was agreed that the time for starting the
vessel had arrived. Mrs. Hopkinson, the wife of one
of the company, performed, the ceremony of naming;
the blocks were split out, the dog-shores were knocked
off, and away she went gracefully and rapidly down
the incline, and rose upon the water, a handsome
structure of naval architecture, amidst the cheers of
the spectators ashore, from the company on board the
Dreadnought, and from the hearty lungs of the de-
lighted Greenwich boys, commingled with the loudest
clash of the industrious band.
From a printed description of the City of Paris we
learn that she "is an iron steam-ship, built for the
Commercial Steam Navigation Company, and in•
tended to ply with passengers and goods between
London and Boulogne. She is constructed from the
design of Oliver Lang, Esq., and it is considered by
competent judges that she will prove herself an ad-
mirable specimen of the skill of that eminent naval
architect.

"Her principal dimensions are—
Length between the perpendiculars 165 ft.
Breadth of beam .
Depth of hold ..
Draught of water
Burthen 425 tons.
" The vessel and engines are constructed by,
Messrs. Wm. Joyce and Co.. of the Greenwich Iron-
works, and as a matter of interest it may be men-
tioned that this is the first iron steam-boat ever built
at Greenwich, and may be considered the precursor
of similar works, creating a new and important
branch of industry in that town.
" Her engines are of the collective power of 120
horses, and are of the direct action kind. Each piston
has two rods, between which there is a recess in the
piston which allows of a corresponding recess in the
cylinder covers, and thereby permits the connecting
rods to descend considerably lower than is practicable
in the single rod direct-action engine. The arrange-
ment is most compact and simple, and it is manifest
that the cylinders being fixed, an important advan-
tage is secured. These engines occupy less space
than any other description of marine condensing en-
gines yet known, and both engines and boilers may
be taken as a fair specimen of the great reduction of
space and weight effected by modern arrangements
over the earlier examples of steam machinery as ap-
plied to naval purposes.'
We believe she is the first design of Mr. 0. W.
Lang, assistant-master-shipwright of the Roy al Dock-
yard, Chatham, constructed of iron, all the other cele-
brated productions of that gentleman (Garland, Vivid,
Banshee, Elfin,) having been built of wood. She
was
much
criticised and generally admired. She was
launched in rather an unfinished state, but good
speed if not much stowage is predicted for her. The
proportion, however, of 120 horse-power to 450 tons,
au idl bursdyeisitgo
rasv, e tnh ew uh
cuha l ec entertainment
stteo
ms oamr
ye
is comparatively small.
o
o
frienfides
gratulations were interchanged.
complimentary con

HE DUCHESS OF Hi
KENT.—er RoalHighness the
Duchess of Kent arrived here last night y
with the express
train from London. The train, owing to some detention, did
not reach the North British Railway station till twelve
o'clock- being about three hours beyond its usual time. Her
Royal Highness was accompanied by Lord Jame Murray,
Sir George Cowper, and Lady Augusta Bruce. Two carriages
were in waiting at the station for the distinguished party,
who immediately proceeded to the British Hotel (Barry's)
in Queen-street. It is the intention, we believe, of her Royal
Highness to remain in Edinburgh till Monday next, when
she will start for Blair Castle, on a visit to the Duke of
Atholl. Alter spending a few days there, she will proceed
northwards to her Highland residence in the neighbourhood
of Balmoral. Two of the royal carriages and a large quan-
tity of luggage arrived by a previous train.—Scotsmaa.

THE POTATO CROP.—It is with exceeding regret
we find the mysterious potato blight has very extensively
made its appearance in the adjoining county. We are in-
formed that particularly in the district of Penzance, and ex-
tending to the Land's End, scarcely a field has escaped.
The haulms are burnt as with lightning; but up to Thurs-
day the root had been less affected than from the devastation
seen on the surface might be concluded. The renewed ap-
pearance of the disease is later this year than last, but one
reason may be that the growth has been rather more back-
ward. Of course it is not possible to ascertain yet how far
or how destructively the blight prevails, but should it turn
out to be only partial through the country, the yield of edi-
ble potatoes will be larger than we have had for the last few
years, as there has been a greater acreage planted with this
root. —Devenport Independent.
YOUGHAL, AUG. 10.—The Fame, Cork to this port,
which went on shore at Bally Cotton Bay, has gone to
Pieces.

THE PUBLIC DEBT OF SICILY.

(From the Evenement.)
" The Sovereigns of Naples have successively com-
mitted a series of aggressions against the Sicilian na.
Hon. They have violated the constitution which they
had promised to observe; they have destroyed the
nationality which they had promised to respect.
There has also been committed a systematic violation
of the engagement that was originally entered into by
the predecessors of the present King, at the period
when the island passed under their domination."----
Lona-Pniurrs, King of the French.*

A decree of the Bourbon of Naples, dated the 18th
of December, 1849, has created a new institution in
Sicily, under the name of the great book of the path;
debt. In accordance with the amount proposed by
General Filangieri, the debt of the Sicilian Treasury
was increased to 17,370,993 ducats, which amount
has been complacently put down at twenty mil•
lions, so as to obtain a round sum, and called, ac-
cording to the conventional phrase of re-action, the
fatal inheritance of the late political events.
Upon this, the ukdse of the petty Neapolitan Czar
was obtained, to sanction the consolidation of this
debt, by the institution of the above-named great
book ; and at the present moment the bonds are being
negotiated upon foreign exchanges.
It is our duty briefly to state this last fact, inter-
esting not only to Sicily, but to commerce in ge-
neral, that it may be properly appreciated by our
readers.
After the formal declaration of the Government,
one might feel entitled to suppose—
lst.—That the Sicilian debt does not exceed these
twenty millions of ducats (86,658,000 francs).
2nd.—That this debt, which was contracted by a
revolutionary Government, and is now liquidated and
consolidated by an absolute Government, has thus
become one which, although nominally constitutional,
ought to be held sacred alike by both.
3rd.—That being established in this manner this
debt would offer all the security necessary for the in-
stitution of a ,grand-livre.
Finally—That no political event would ever in-
fluence its validity.
Well ! nothing is more erroneous.
A first protest :against the decree, of the 18th
December, had been published, even at Palermo,
where the Neapolitan bayonets take away every
means for the manifestation of public opinion, except
those of the secret press and of armed insurrection.
But those Sicilians who are in exile have thought
' it their duty to echo the indignation of their country,
and whilst re-producing the protest of Palermo,
they wished, by their signatures, to take upon them-
selves the moral responsibility of the official docu-
ments attached to it. We sincerely congratulate
them on doing so.
The protest before us is accompanied by sixty-
one signatures of persons who have formed part
of the national representation of Sicily, of the army,
and of the civil and military administration. Amongst
others, we remark the names of MM. R. Amari,
Vice-president of the Chamber of Commons ;
Amari, late Minister of Finances ; Lafarina, late
Minister of War ; Stabile, late Minister of Foreign
Affairs ; Errante, late Minister of Justice ; Marano,
late Minister of the Interior.

And, first of all, we will observe that the Neapoli-
tan Government has not inserted, in the new grand-
livre, more than one-half of the old public debt,
which existed in Sicily before the revolution of 1848,
and relating to its own administration. So that,
with unheard-of injustice and inconsistency, out of
the twelve millions with which the finances of Sicily
were burdened in 1847, more than seven millions re-
main open.
With regard to the debt contracted by the Revolu-
tionary Government, the greater portion of that is
not comprised ; for there is no account at all, either
of the capital produced from the recovery of the
funds possessed by the State, and which re-purchase
has, however, been annulled, or of the paper-money
which was circulated (and which was recognised by
the Pope himself and by Austria, at Rome and at
Venice); nor, lastly, of the three millions of ducats
that the King of Naples, in his diplomatic notes ad-
dressed to France and England, was pleased to say
had been extorted from his most faithful subjects of
Sicily !
Thus, the new institution of credit, so-called, has
served neither entirely to consolidate the debt ante-
cedent to the revolution, nor to assure the debt con-
tracted by the revolution.
All this, however, does not prevent King Bombs
from telling us, with his usual effrontery, that the 20
millions imposed on Sicily are the fatal inheritance of
revolution !
How then can the 20 millions have been completed?
We refer those of our readers who may be interested
in the question to the list of the chapters inserted in
the grand. livre which is added to the protest, hut
from which we can only give a short extract and a
few examples.

They begin by saddling upon poor Sicily the small
gratification of 240,000 ducats, granted to Filangieri,
as the price of the crown of laurels that the King of
Naples was so gracious as to join to the title of most
Serene Duke of Taormina.

We then rind a double article of expenses of war,
and of expenses in common, between the two kingdoms
of Naples and Sicily—a most convenient anzphibo-
logic, which places Sicily in the position at the same
time of a conquered country and of a country which
has spontaneously returned to the dominion of its legi.
timate King.
Now, and we ask the question of that journal,
which in Paris is the itioniteur of the King of Naples
—ls Sicily, in your estimation, the country of an
enemy ? You have conquered it—you now present
it with a bill of two millions, for the expenses of the
conquest, the reward of Filangieri, and other things,
with unforeseen expenses in addition. That is all very
well ; but how with the other hand can you present
it with a bill of six millions as its assessment of ex-
penses in common with Naples?
If, against a handful of the factious, she has lost
the support of your arms, you have lost the contribu-
tion from her treasury.
We ask in one word, is King Bomba playing the
foreign prince or the king of the country ?—the new
conqueror or the old master? Is Sicily to defray
both the expenses of the bombs which destroyed her
towns and the expenses of a government which did
not govern her ? _

This, indeed, far surpasses the logic of the lion in
he fable.

Having said thus much upon the justice of the
principle, we will add a few words on the legality of
the form.

Is there a legislative guarantee of the debt that has
just been established ? Has the power that contracted
it the right of doing so ?
The answer is easily made. The Sicilian nation,
having resumed her rights, and being represented by
her legislative chambers, freely elected, by the solemn
act of the 13th April, 1848, declared Ferdinand 11.
and his dynasty deposed from the tlircine of Sicily.
From that day forth the King of Naples is no-
thing but an usurper in this island ; he governs it,
i❑ fact, but not by right, relying upon his bayonets,
but not upon his title. This is our firm belief.
But if we go back to other concessions and shut
our eyes to the acts of the Sicilian Parliaments of
1848-49, we find that a constitution was always
existing in Sicily since the twelfth century, was re-
formed in 1812, was recognised by all the great
powers, was respected by the treaties of Vienna, and
was never abrogated by the Kings of Naples or by
Ferdinand 11. himself. According to this constitu-
tion it would be impossible to contract a public
debt otherwise tban by a vote of the Parliament.
Descending still further, we find the political law
of Sicily, in the acts of December, 1816, by which
Ferdinand 1., in taking to himself this right, together
with so many others, himself fixed the annual sub-
sidies to be paid by this island to the government of
Naples. But these Acts also impede the recent in.
stitution, for the elder Ferdinand had at least the
complaisance to declare that the subsidies could ne-
ver be raised without the consent of Parliament, and
the new debt increases the figure by a considerable
amount.

Finally, still descending from concession to conces-
sion, and admitting that there is no law in Sicily but
the good pleasure of the Bourbon, he must always
stop short before an act of his own, the constitution
of February, 1848, which even he has not dared to
revoke formally.
By what title, or by virtue of what law, does the
King of Naples take upon himself the right of making
Sicily endure these fresh impositions ? We ask the
question, but we are not surprised at hig doing so.
We think that we are only acting conscientiously
in pointing out the above facts at the moment when
such bonds as these are brought to be discounted
upon foreign exchanges.

* Dispatch from Lord Normanby to Lord Palmerston,
of the 27th of January, 1848.

A deplorable accident took place on Saturday,
about one o'clock, in the Whitechapel-road, to a carman
driving a waggon of malt, belonging to Mrs. Roach, the
whartioger of Pickle-herring. When opposite the London
Hospital the poor man, in endeavouring to avoid a haycart
passing from the Whitechapel market, fell down, and his
head, falling tinder the wheels of his own waggon, was
Poll
rrnedds
understand,
drCse
tnl
aat
nnod-f
lite-
rally smashed, his brains being scattered over the
.road.
Upon being raised and taken to the London Hospital it ap-
apNevaarietdotheaitncidueacatht. was instantaneous ; and his remains now
.1
THE POST-OFFICE DERANGEMENTS
.—Lord
present.vrfdeeorder
rli
iennagetgsehaoeoi
fin:
ts report,
heepet
cohoretm necessitiestmr
ricarde (
the .13card of Trade), and Mr. G. Cornewall Lewis (Secre-
tary of the Treasury), to whom the. new postal regulations
aunnsimtyi
s,
anoi
ofo
nt ino -f
on Tuesday next. . Whilst. recommending. every possible'
lechaooaxnnc, eitesi sotbseneinoe
tnnowfrt to fttethhrhrepee
adrsbetlliriivigcci religious
par-
ticular cases, it is most likelpthat they will advise a re-
letters in town and country on Sundays, which has been
found to work so injuriously and so unequally since it was
imposed by the vote of a majority of the Horse of Conmons.
4—dunday Paper.