The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-09 00:00:00

ROMAN CAMOLIC PP►ISONERS.

There are 400 Roman Catholic prisoners in the
house of Correction at Westminster. Five years
ago a priest of their own Church was not per-
mitted to perform for them the services of
their Church. He could only see them indivi-
dually. A small party of the justices, however,
made a resolute fight against this intolerant
arrangement, and after two or three defeats
succeeded in putting themselves into a majority,
and the Roman Catholic service is now per-
mitted to be performed for the Roman Catholic
prisoners. But, as everybody knows, the service
of that Church requires for its due celebration cer-
tain accessories, and notably music, which is
especially calculated to waken in the mind devo-
tional emotions. A Catholic lady, feeling this,
offered to present a harmonium, and attend
and play it gratuitously in the prison services ;
but the visiting justices refused permission,
although they had lately purchased a similar
instrument for use in the Protestant chapel.
This has naturally excited considerable indig-
nation among the Roman Catholics generally,
which has found expression in two pamphlets, one
of which employs the weapon of ridicule ; the other
preferring serious argument. The former is a comic
poem, very cleverly written, entitled Biddy,"
illustrated by the humorous pencil of Doyle, and
which professes to relate the prison adventures of an
Irish female convict. The other treats of " The
Conversion of the Visiting Justices," and describes
what progress has been made, and claims what further
is due. We trust that a portion, at least, of the
claim will be very soon admitted. Notice has been
given by Mr. E. W. Cox that at the next sessions
he will move "That the visiting justices be em-
powered to permit the use of all things requisite for
the proper celebration of the Roman Catholic ser-
-1 vices in the prison at Westminster." If this should
be carried, there will remain to be performed but
one further act of justice, the payment of the
Roman Catholic priest for his care of 400 Catholic
prisoners, as the Protestant clergyman is paid for
the care of a less number of Protestant prisoners.—
Law 7iines.

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE—This Day.

(BY TELEGRAPH.)
GRAVESEND, Saturday Morning.

Arrived, May B—Eider, steamer, from Creestemunde ;
Esther, btoamor, from Paris; Sado, steamer, from Lisboa.
Arrived, May 2—Lion, steamer, from Geestemunde ;
Dolphin, steamer, from Antwerp ; Adler, steamer, from
Bremen ; Ana, steamer, from Cadiz ; Lion and Concordia,
steamers, from Bordeaux.
Sailed—Murillo, steamer, for Seville ; Holland, steame r
for Ostend ; Seine, steamer, for Boulogne.
DEAL, Saturday Morning.

Passed. May 8 —Elizabeth Nicholson, for Port Phillip ;
Sir P. Seymour, for St. Vincent; Candidate, for Barba-
does ; Priscilla, for Berbice ; Nile, screw steamer, for
Singapore; Proteus and Victoria, of C.►rdiff—all from Lon-
don.

During the time the steam dredging machine was
at work in Chatham harbour clearing away an ob-
struction near the entrance to the third dock, in
which the ironclad turret-ship Monarch is building,
the machine came in contact with the half of an old
vessel, which is believed to have sunk in the river
upwards of a century since. Attempts have since
been made to remove the obstruction by charges of
gunpowder, for which purpose divers of the Royal
Engineers have been down and placed the charges
beneath the vessel's bottom. The explosion of the
powder hag, however, had very little effect ou the
hull of the vessel, ai only a few of the timbers have
been blown up, and attempts are now being made
to raise the obstruction by means of large mooring
lighters. It is a singular circumstance that the
existence of a sunken vessel so near the outlet of one
of the docks does not appear to have been known to
any of the dockyard officials.

FIVE PEItSONS DROWNED.—The Orkney Herald
reports that on Saturday last a boat, containing Captain
Atkinson, of the barque Excelsior, four of his crew, and
one pas ginger, was capsized off the Ophir coast. The
captain alone was saved. The boat was returning fro:n
the shore to the barque, after some provisions had been
purchased at Kirkwall. The barque was bound to New-
haven (U.S.), from Sunderland.
_ _

A Sunderland fishing coble, manned by three
men, was lost off that port on Wednesday night. The
bodies have not been recovered.