The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-11 00:00:00

IRON STEAMERS.

The relative claims to preference for durability,
safety, and general efficiency of timber and of iron-
built steamers—especially as to that class of steam-ships,
which being destined for the service of her Majesty's
navy, are to carry guns, with complete war equipments,
materiel, complement of men, &c.—have long divided
the opinions of professional judges. Every day increases
the importance of a sound and authoritative decision on
this important matter. We extract from the private
correspondence of the Post, dated Portsmouth, 7th inst.,
some observations that we commend to our readers'
attention. With regard to the Elberfeldt, lost on our
coast a few weeks ago, whilst on her passage to be over-
hauled in the yard of her builders, Ravenhill and Co.,
it is fair to observe, that she was one of the most per-
fect models ever turned out by our river builders. Her
extreme length expressly adapted to the service for
which she was built—river navigation—(she was a Rhine
steamer)—was no disparagement to the judgment of her
architects. She was never intended for the sea; and it
is to be deeply lamented that she should have been sent
over in so boisterous a season as that on which she went
down off one of our most dangerous shores:—
" The attention of the naval world has recently been
directed to the construction of iron steamers, and more
particularly so since the late lamentable catastrophe in
the case of the Elberfeldt. It is the opinion of many
scientific individuals, that similar fatal results may be
expected from iron vessels, for little or no warning is
given ere they founder, after they once show symptoms
of weakness from corrosion or other causes. An iron
steam-boat, on her passage from England to the
East lndies, nearly collapsed, when off the
island of Madagascar, and which result was only
prevented by the prompt measures resorted to by
her commander, who caused strengthening pieces,
to be immediately screwed up to the sides, and thus pre-
vented the rending or separating of the fabric. Vessels
of a size similar to the six iron steamers now being
built by contract for the Government as dispatch boats,
may perhaps be usefully and safely adopted, provided
the iron and materials with which they are constructed
are of a proper strength and thickness, but it is a matter
of the deepest consideration how far it may be safe or
expedient to construct iron steam-vessels of such a
magnitude as the Great Britain at Bristol, which is
upwards of 300 feet in length, or even of the size of the
Vulcan war-steamer, now building at Liverpool, which
is 220 feet long."

THE REPEAL QUESTION.
(From the Tablet.)
We know there are many persons in this country
who are disposed to think that the repeal cause is de-
feated ; who take Mr. O'Connell's present moderation
as proof of his despair ; some who even wish well to
repeal, but see no escape from the complication of diffi-
culties by which it is beset, and are half-inclined to sup-
pose that, sooner or later, it must be abandoned. We
imagine that the Tories, when they talk of their " great
triumph," are of this class. They think O'Connell is
their great enemy, and they fancy that if they can tame
him into moderation, all else is easy of accomplishment.
Miserable, short-sighted politicians!
The grievances of Ireland ; the deep, shocking, sub-
stantial wrongs, embedded as they are, in famine ;.the
insults she endures ; the memories she has laid up
against a day of reckoning—these things are not mere
vain imaginations, dreams that are likely to pass as
morning approaches ; nor are they now lessening and
fading away. Would O'Connell's death remove any of these
things ? Assuredly not. The truth is the very reverse
of this. Strange as it may seem, it is true, that when
O'Connell passes away, with him will pass one of the
strongest links that bind together the Saxon and the
Celt. Celt as he is, violent as his language has some-
times been, O'Connell has more sympathy with the
English character, more liking for England, more affec-
tion and respect for Englishmen than the groat majority
of• his repealing countrymen. O'Connell is a strong
link to bind together Ireland and England.
So long as O'Connell lives, and has his faculties, we
are persuaded the wax party will neverget the upper hand.
Ills character and power are a sure guarantee for peace.
The English Ministers stand in awe of him on the one
hand, he, restrains his own followers on the other. But,
when he passes away—may God have mercy on him—
these two things will be changed, unless the question be
settled in his lifetime. The Ministers will take upon
them to despise the party deprived of his gigantic
strength. The Repealers will want the regulating, mode-
rating force which his weight throws into the popular
counsels. The two parties will be hurled together with every
ill-feeling embittered with full scope given on the one side
to fear, contempt, and aversion; and on the other to the
burning passions of hatred, and a somewhat unruly pa-
triotism. The strong hand will be wanting that now
restrains and coerces both. What must be the inevit-
able result ? We shudder to think what it may be, un-
less by a special interposition the Almighty smoothes
the way for peace. Let England give way now, and make
an honourable surrender to the claims of justice with such
securities as are fitting, and the matter may be arranged
peaceably. So long as O'Connell lives this will be pos-
sible. But if the question be deferred longer, we see
no help for it, but that the question must have an ending
in blood.

PosT-orricE.--The following notice was issued on
Saturday at St. Martin's-le-Grand :—" The Postmaster-
General having now ascertained that an overland post exists
between Sydney, New South Wales, and Port Philip, all
letters and newspapers posted hereafter addressed to any of
the towns in the settlement of Port Philip will be sent by
packet to Sydney, unless specially mentioned 'by private
ship.' Letters not so marked will be charged with the packet
rate of ls. and newspapers will be sent free of postage. This
regUlation does not apply to letters and newspapers addressed.
to the other British colonies in Australia, i Dieman's
Land, South Australia, Western Australia, nor to New Zea-
land.—By command, W. L. Maberly, Secretary."

In The Times, of yesterday, we noticed a letter,
addressed to Lord Ashley, by the Hon. arid Rev. G. S.
Osborne, on the condition of the agricultural labourers.
We publish, to-day, in another colnmn, a short, but most
emphatic, epistle from the same pen, addressed to his
Grace the Duke of Richmond, as president of the new
Society for the Protection of Agriculture. The writer sim-
ply reminds his Grace of the fact that there is a race of
beings higher in the scale of creation than bullocks and
sheep—a race whose physical condition is equally suscep-
tible of improvement with that of oxen and herds—whose
existence—nay, whose comforts—are equally necessary
to agriculture with those of the beasts of the field—
and yet who, by some strange oversight, have never been
invited to take their share of protection at the hands of
the Agricultural Society. Accordingly, he draws the
charitable inference, that it is to the want of information
respecting the necessities of this race, that this neglect
must be attributed, and entertains no doubt that the
Duke of Richmond and his staff will " feel grateful" to
receive it. The information which he proposes to im-
part is as follows :
" We will send up to your Committee from a few of
the agricultural counties—say Bucks, Dorset, Wilts, and
Somersetshire—authenticated statements of the amount
of wages, by the day and by the piece, paid, to
the various classes of labourers in those counties ;
in what form the said wages are paid ; the value and
nature of the different privileges or advantages offered
to the labourers over and above such wages ; also,
of the nature of the dwellings afforded the labourers,
the material of which they are built, the size and num-
ber of the rooms, the drainage (where any exists), the
rent paid for them, the state of repair in which they
are generally found, and the number and ages of the
individuals of both sexes who may be compelled to
sleep in the same room ; the existence or non-exist-
ence of other matters generally considered conducive
to decency, also, of the poor-law, we will give the amount
of relief allowed to the old and infirm. out of the ' house,'
the general treatment of all applicants who apply for
relief, with such particulars of the advice given, and
the relief afforded, as may indicate the measure of
charitable feeling evinced by the guardians in
each union :—we will add a few sketches from life in
union houses, to prove the advantages, or otherwise, of
herding poor people of all sorts of character together.
" To corroborate our evidence, we will give you
the names of certain parties, the viva voce exami-
nation of whom, we think, would be advisable—
such as medical-officers, relieving-officers, midwives,
and undertakers, taking care to furnish you
with a list of leading questions likely to assist
you in such examination. And now I will only add, that
if your Grace will kindly accept this assistance—ifyou and
your colleagues will only give to the labourer's condition
one half the attention you have given to the con-
dition of the landlord and tenant, and • the im-
provement of the condition of your cattle—l have
no doubt but that you will arrive at the conclu li
-
sion at which I have arrived—that there is no one
creature belonging to the farm, there -is not an
animal you rear to use or to sell, that has been subject
to so much neglect, in everything that tends to his im-
provement, as the labourer. Compare the way he is
housed, fed, clothed, and valued, with the way in which
the animals he tends for you are treated in these parti-
culars ; and then answer to the public and to yourself—
why in the present agitation he is overlooked."
Most heartily do we concur in this salutary pro-
position, and most cordially do we rejoice to see that
a sincere though late appeal is being made by gen-
tlemen of station and influence in behalf of a class
of people whose very dependence and difficulties
have been made the grounds of their oppression and
contempt. But what, we ask, has produced this com-
plication of misery, the utter disregard of which the
Rev. Mr. Osborne, so justly and so feelingly con-
con trasts with the care and attention bestowed on the
brute creation ? What, but the ten years' trial of
that atrocious law which Whigs and Tories, and
nearly all the landowners of England, pronounced to
be just and wise ? Talk of agricultural protection for
the sake of the labourers indeed ! we wonder it has not
been plainly demanded for the sake of the pigs and cat-
tle. Let the authors and abettors of that " dark
document," which recommended that 'at a certain
period all out-door relief should cease, that the
indoor relief—that is, the diet provided for the in-
mates of the workhouse—should be gradually re-
duced in quantity and quality, and that the guardians
should be empowered to reduce even this miserable pit-
tance if they could safely do so, but on no account to in-
crease it,—let those persons answer for the horrible
consequences which the liberal enforcement of their sys-
tem has produced.—Times of Saturday.

FIVE MEN DROWNED.--On the morning of Mon-
day last, during the continuance of the storm, five fishermen
from Clogher were lost. They had proceeded to sea on the
previous evening, and were overtaken by the gale. The boat
which the unfortunate men were in was found drifting about
at the Nanny-water. By this melancholy occurrence, 16
children are left fatherless and unprovided for.—Drogheda
Journal.

ALMACIeS.—The Ladies Patronesses of these as-
semblies have determined to commence a series of balls before
Easter. The opening ball is appointed for the 25th instant,
on which day her Majesty is to hold her Drawing-room at St.
James's: From there not being any full dress assembly that
night, and the influence of the mere announcement of the
first ball, the attendance is likely to be more than ordinarily
numerous. The Ladies Patronesses remain precisely the same
as last year.
__

---
THE. REV. MR. HEAD.—The Exeter papers state
that the subscription got up to defray the costs of the pro-
ceedings of the action in the Ecclesiastical Court, against the
Rev. Mr. Head, has been sufficient for the purpose, and the
Bishop of Exeter's legal expenses in the suit have been dis-
charged ; they were not so heavy as was anticipated.. Any
further sum raised will go to Mr. Head himself, who is still a
sufferer to the extent of 1,500/. by the sentence, which de-
prived him of his living.
NATIONAL ANIMALS' FRIEND SOMETY.—This So-
ciety has been particularly active during the past week. Its
officers have prosecuted upwards of thirty cases of heart-
rending cruelty in London, Derby, Nottingham, Sheffield,
Leeds, Worcester, Birmingham, Coventry, Brighton, Rich-
mond, &c. Radcliffe and 138 F took into custody the
driver of Starkie's dust-cart for ill-treating and torturing a
horse which was overladen, and severe wounds under the
harness—fined 20s. by Mr. Twyford. Also John WWI, for a
similar offence ; the horse had a wound 'on its back, eight
inches in circumference—fined lOs by Mr. Greenwood, at
Clerkenwell. They also charged Thomas Wilde, a cab-driver,
with ill-treating and torturing a horse at night—fined 20s. and
costs by Mr. Bond, at Queen-square ; he was also fined 20s. for
working with a false badge. Mr. Thomas G. Plume and Mr.
H. M. May charged John Walters, before Alderman Hughes,
for cruelly torturing a horse, and working without a badge—
he was 'fined 10s. Mr. Thomas Plume and Mr. H. M. May,
groom, but directed
also charged Samuel Hardwick (groom to Sir Simon Clarke,
Bart.), for cruelty, in whippings horse which had severe wounds
under the collar. Mr. Rawlinson did not think that a case of
that two tnhwasuhdinmob:
ae
ton
tnhsmadethe time,
tsihmooeuu
lt againstdwbaes
isissued
ed against
drivingthe the horse, but resisted
the officer. and escaped. Bailey, assisted by Sergeant Griss,h
his master (Sir
e
1 F, took into custody a man in the employ of Mr. Jones, of
Walworth, for driving a horse in an unfit condition to work—
he was fined 40e. and costs; and Mr. Twyford ordered the
horse to be taken care of until it was well.—(From a Cor-
reseident.)
THE BEST FRIENDS OF THE TORIES.---We observe
that both League and Anti-League meetings in London
have lately been broken in upon by the Chartists, and con-
verted into scenes of confusion and uproar—by way, we sup-
pose, of, showing the superior toleration, liberality, and love
of discussion, of Chartist politicians, over every other section
of the community. - This policy of the Chartists is, how-
ever, no new policy. It has already been tried before
in this country, when Toryism was in the ;wen-
dani. In the times of Sidmouth and Castlereagh,
hired ruffians used to be sent into public meetings to in-
terrupt the, proceedings, and convert them, if possible, into
scenes of turbulence and violence. By this means the mid-
dle classes were forced into the arms of the Government,
despotic though it was, as their only protection from de-
struction. It is lamentable to reflect that the same policy
is now being pursued (we know not exactly at whose insti-
gation) by the men who put themselves forward as the leaders
of the poular party. Whatever be the object, the tendency of
the policy is now the same as formerly—it is to put down pub-
lic meetings, to neutralize the power of the popular party, to
disgust all thinking men with their intolerance and bigotry,
and greatly to strengthen the Tory Government, by causing
themiddle and upper classes to fly to, them for protection,
rather than be exposed to the tyranny and despotism of un-
principled demagogues. We have no hesitation in saying
that the violent mill despotic proceedings at public meetings
during , the last- three., or . foqr years, have
_done more to
damage the liberal cause and injure the liberties of the
public, than a Tory Government could have done in twenty
years.—Leeds Times.