The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-03 00:00:00

DAVIDOE'S ROYAL SURREY f HEATRE.

THIS EVENING, DECEMBER.
Will be performed the admired Itamatlce of CRICHTON OF
CLUNIE, AND CATHERINE DE MEDICIS. James Crichton,
Mr. E. F. Saville; Ginevra, Mrs. It Honmr.
An Ethiopian Entertainment by the REAL AMERICAN
S+ )U I HERN MINSTRELS.
To con lode with ROBERT MAC URA. Robert Alacaire, Mr.
E. F. aville • Jacques Strop, Mr. W. Smith.
f Lees and Private Boxes to be had of Mr. Kerschner, at the Box.
otEc,, iron Eleven to Four.

THE WEATHER.—SIIN OFFICE, DI:C. 2.
HERMOMETER, Lowest, 33 ; Highest, 38; Noon, 37.
BAROMETER, 30.1.—W0m, E.N.E.

gcnit.—The number 32 on the Thermometer denotes the
point, and 55 temperate. In Barometers fair is
to.ialiy placed opposite 30, and rain at 29

HIGH WATER AT LONDON-BRIDGE THIS DAY.
%or, Ing ... 53 minutes after ti J Evening 23 minutes after 7,

mode of thinking on divinity subjects :—" It would
be edifying to trace the spirit of the Roman Church
through all ages and in all departments, and see how
a most unworldly, dispassionate moderation has distin-
guished it. It is quite solemn and overawing."
If there be anything " solemn and overawing "
it is to be found in the astounding mendacity of
this passage. " Unworldly " applied to the tactics
of the Church of Rome ! Never was there a grosser
misapplication of terms. The most remarkable pecu-
liarity in this Church is, and has ever been, the ex-
treme worldliness of its ecclesiastical system, and the
exquisitely skilful way in which it has adapted itself
to the prejudices of society, and rendered the weak-
ness and short-sightedness of human nature subser-
vient to its own views of temporal and spiritual
aggrandisement. Rarely, if ever, has it neglected an
opportunity of serving its own purposes, and we really
believe, that the only serious blunder it ever made—
and which it has ever since been striving to remedy—
was in driving LUTHER and the Reformers to extre-
mities, at a time when by making a dexterous com-
promise, it might have retained much, if not all, of
what it afterwards lost. In the long and eventful
annals of the Church of Rome, priestcraft wears a more
subtle worldly aspect than is the case with any eccle-
siastical establishment in the ancient or the modern
world.

We have elsewhere recorded the recent fatal ex-
plosion of fire-damp at the Cwm Avon Colliery, near
Neath. A Morning Contemporary, we observe,
suggests a benevolent doubt about the fact, from the
circumstance of its not having been noticed in a sub-
sequent impression of a provincial journal, printed at
not more than twelve miles' distance from the lo-
cality where the catastrophe is said to have occurred.
But besides the allowance to be made for the very
imperfect system of intercommunication that exists
between the various districts of that portion of South
Wales, our Contemporary's Bristol correspondent
confirms the rumour that has been published by the
Monmouthshire Merlin. It may, therefore, be as-
sumed, we fear, that on Wednesday last fifty human
lives were, in a moment, sacrificed by a terrible visi-
tation, of which the frequent occurrence of late
appears to us to be scarcely less notable as a physical
phenomenon, than deplorable as an agent of exten-
sive social misery. In the present instance the action
of the explosion appears to have assumed a character
of almost volcanic expansiveness and power. The
works are described as having been so shattered that
they have tumbled down "in hideous ruin ;" whilst
the exhalation is reported as of so noxious and in-
tense a character, as to render the recovery of the
bodies (four lonly of which had yet been retrieved
from their subterranean sepulchre) a labour of as
much difficulty as danger. In the absence of fur-
ther and more explicit details, we can form, of course,
no definitive opinion as to the degree in which this
calamity at Cwm Avon might have bee❑ averted or
modified, if, indeed, it was not one of those frightful
casualties which human foresight cannot prevent, or
which past experience has not taught men to provide
for. But there can he little doubt that it has been a
disaster to be added to that fearful class of accidents
to which we have so often—and so vainly—implored
the timely and paternal attention of the Government
And the Legislature.

In two or three former articles we have had occa-
sion, whilst lamenting the fate of the multiplied
victims to fire-damp explosion in mines and collieries,
to urge upon the authorities the expediency and duty
of establishing sonic code of precautionary regula-
tions for the better protection of life and property
engaged in the working, or invested in the property,
of such undertakings. That useful " Bill" for the
compulsory Registration of all new works, &c., un-
dertaken in connexion with such concerns (shafts
sunk, adits opened, galleries commenced or closed,
Sec.), to which we have at such !Liles referred, as one
of the unfortunate and unconsidered remeriets of the
sessional labours of Parliament for 1844, again
forces itself on our recollection. Is it not very pos-
sible that had such a system of Registry been esta-
blished and in full work (and there has been ample
time for accomplishing all this, and more, since
the proposition was first mooted in the House of
Commons), their attention might have been awakened
to the probabilities of danger asising out of the re-
ported condition of the works at CsA'al Avon, who,
from their knowledge of, or interest in, such matters,
would have been both qualified and induced to make
the necessary representations in the proper quarters ?
' Might not these representations have led to the im-
mediate adoption of precautions, and of deviations
from the previous system or direction of the work-
ings carried on in this colliery, that would have
everted the enormous destruction which has since
ensued in it ? These are questions, as we have before
admitted, to be determined, in great measure, by
specific facts, which facts, however, in the Cwin Avon
affair, it is but too probable may never be revealed.
The eyes that witnessed—the tongues that could have
described—the circumstances and incidents of this
terrible explosion, have been blasted and silenced for
ever by its fury. Perhaps even their bones may not
be recovered from beneath the superincumbent masses
which entomb them. If the past, then, cannot be re-
called ;—if these sufferers are victims who shall never
more hear the voice of human sympathy, or wake
again to the consciousness of human existence ;—the
duty remains, to those who survive them, of guarding
against the perils of the future. We do hope that it
will be among the esrliest cares of Parliament
to legislate for the salutary and beneficent
purposes of this protection, by some such law
of Mining Registration, inspection, and control,
as we have alluded to. Nor can we imagine any
more pressing or reasonable demand on the official
consideration and solicitude of the Secretary of State
for the Home Department. Let Sir JAMES Gnanast
abandon his morbid appetite for schemes of prison
discipline in favour of Mining Regulation. Let him
forego his expensive and sinister passion for Model
Prisons in- favour of Model Mines and Collieries.
We would much rather, for our own parts, peruse a
dispatch on this latter subject from the Right lion.
Baronet, illustrated by the clever and useful sugges-
tions of his practical and business-like mind, than we
would read again his famous letter of December,
1842, to "My Lords and Gentlemen," Commissioners
" for the Government of Pentonville Prison," in which
his own notions of the statistics of criminal reproba-
tion are set forth with so much appalling tranquillity.
We would rather see, to-morrow, a Blue-book, full
of lithographed plans, sections, elevations, &c., of the
safest and best machinery and world ngs, illustrated by
details of the management, of the best conducted mines
and collieries in the country, than the " twenty-two
plans and details," executed at the public cost by
Major JEBB, in order to develop the whole " art and
mystery " wherewith Sir JAMES'S favourite crotchet
has been carried out (at a frightful expense), from the
vaulted roofing of the chapel, and the fittings of the
cells, down to the nameless furniture of the latter, and the
pigeon-hole sittings of the former. _ The Right Hon.
Baronet might find it a more honest and ennobling
occupation for a public servant to devote his inquiries
and invention, even, to the obviating, by a well-
digested scheme of what may be called " ining regu-
lation and registry," the frightful sacrifices of human
life and members to which we are recurring, than
the impounding the letters of foreigners resi-
dent in this country ; violating their seals, and
bet:aying, or clandestinely acting upon, their
filched contents. Let him, then, reassert the claims
of the Sir JAMES GRAHAM of Lord GREY'S Adminis-
tration upon public respect, by such an effort, on the
part of the Sir JAMES GRAaAM of the PEEL Go-
vernment, in the cause of humanity at large, and for
the immediate benefit of one of the largest, most la-
borious, and most perilously occupied classes of our
industrial community.

1837 at Mirande de Ebro, had set out for Madrid to
implore the clemency of the Government for the pri-
soner. The court-martial appointed to try General
ARAOZ at Cadiz, for participation in the late conspi•
racy, had found him guilty.
On the 23d the Three per Cents. closed at 28 5-16
for Cash, and 284 at 60 days; the Five per Cents. at
201 at 60 days ; the Floating Debt at 65f for Cash,
and 66 at 60 days.

The Journal des Debats contains another article I
on the state of Ireland, and particularly the repeal
question. It is founded upon the work of M. DE
BEAUMONT, which appears to be very popular in
France, and in a few weeks has reached a sixth edi-
tion. That journal, on the whole, takes a very ra-
tional view of the subject, points out the utter hope-
lessness of repeal, and the folly of a party that would
alienate the best friends of Ireland, in the vain at-
tempt to accomplish an impossibility. The following
plain truths we recommend to the attention of those
repealers who think they can carry repeal without the
aid of that powerful and disinterested party, composed
of Tories as well as Whigs :—" It would seem as if
the idea was entertained that Ireland, and Ireland
alone, brought about the great reform of Catholic
emancipation. A simple element in the question has
been forgotten, and that is England. Without the
slightest doubt, the Irish agitation, the Catholic Asso-
ciation, and all the movement which came to a head
in the Clare election, contributed much to open the
eyes of England, and to force the hands of the Duke
of WELLINGTON and Sir R. PEEL. But what is
apparently forgotten is, that there were also meetings
in England for Catholic emancipation; that this great
measure was prepared by a century of discussions ;
that it could boast of the illustrious patronage of Mr.
Fox, Mr. CANNING, Lord GREY, Lord J. RUSSELL,
in a word, of all the Liberal party. It was not, there-
fore, Ireland alone that achieved Catholic emacipa-
tion—it was also England and the irresistible force
of , publio opinion. It is also to her aid that Ireland
has since 'owed the reforms of church-rates and of
municipal morations, and the reduction and com-
position of tithes ; it is to her that is due the Cha-
ritable Bequests Bill, which gives the Catholic clergy
the right of collective property, and which raises so
high at this moment the anger of the Protestant
party ; Lit is to her, in fact, that Ireland will be in-
debted for the ameliorations -which she demands so
loudly, and which cannot be long refused. The only
resource of Ireland, we must repeat, is her alliance
with what may be called the Irish party in England;
and therefore whatever can alienate that party, as an
absurdity like repeal must do, is a calamity for her."
M. DE BEAUMONT, in his preface, pays the highest
compliment to the House of Lords in reference to
Mr. O'CoNNELL's case, when they preferred the strict
observance of constitutional law to victory over a
determined opponent. " All the judges of England,"
he says, " except one, ratified the sentence of the Irish
judges. The Chamber of Lords, that Chamber which
Mr. O'CONNELL had called an " assembly of pigs,
the Duke of WELLINGTON being their keeper," held
in their hands the fate of the condemned, and then it
was that a Minister of the Crown rose in his place
in Parliament and induced a vast majority of the
Lords to abstain from voting, and leave the final
judgment to three political adversaries. Woe to a
country in which such examples do not excite admi-
ration." In another place he adverts to the pre-
tended assistance which France would find in Ireland
in case of a war, and says, "Is not such an idea an
illusion ? If we only study the past and present his-
tory of Ireland, we shall be convinced that in such
a case Ireland would remain English. It is doubtful
that she wishes a revolution, and if she wished it, it
is doubtful that in order to accomplish it she would
accept even the most generous assistance of France."
If M. LEDRU ROLLIN, before he accepted his cele-
brated embassy to the Repeal Association, had taken
the trouble to consult his honourable colleague of the
Opposition, he would have spared himself both the
uncoutteous reply of Mr. O'ComvELL, and the pro-
found ridicule with which his burlesque enterprise
covered him.

The intelligence in the French papers from Spain
confirm the accounts of the utter dispersion of the
small force under ZURBANO, and the capture of his
son and brother-in-law. The subjoined details from
the Phare des Pyrenees of the 27th ult. will be read
with interest :

Accounts from Madrid of the 24th nit. state that
the Supreme Military Tribunal had confirmed the
sentence passed on Genaral PRIM. " Yesterday morn-
ing," says the Clamor Paidico, at half-past six, the
brave General left Madrid by the Tolerlo gate ; he is
repairing to Cadiz in a coach drawn by six mules, and
escortcd by twenty-five foot soldiers of the Princesa
Regiment, and twelve troopers of the Regiment of
Leon. His ultimate destination is still uulthot,vn." It
is generally believed, however, that he would be
transported to Cuba or the Marianne Islands. The
appeal of his accomplices, who were all civilians, hav-
ing been admitted, they were to be tried again by the
ordinary courts. Some of the journals confirm the
report of the capture of the son and brother-in-law of
7 uuu.kNo. The mother of the former and the mother
of his young wife, the niece of the unfortunate General
ESCALBItA, who was assassinated by the Carlists in

" After the affair of Montenegro, in the direction of
Soria, in which Zurbano beheld himself abandoned by all
the foot soldiers who accompanied him on his entry into
Najera, he could only think of seeking for safety by
flight. The Queen's troops divided into various de-
tachments, and even the population was in active pur.
suit of the fugitives ; and the number of those who have
submitted has amounted to forty-six. The younger son
of Zurbano, by name Benito, chef d'escadron in the army,
was yesterday made prisoner, as well as his uncle, an inn-
keeper near Logrono, and a servant. After having
abandoned their horses, one of which was found dead
from starvation, they had hid themselves in an olive
wood, near the village of Varca, not far from Logrono,
where Benito was born. It was the sight of the aban-
doned horses which put the troops on the scent, and
when the fugitives were taken their condition was despe.
rate. They had not slept several nights, and more than
four-and-twenty hours had elapsed without their having
tasted food. On their being taken to Logrono, General
Oribe had given orders to have them shot, but a few in-
stants after he suspended the execution, and applied for
fresh instructions from the Captain-General of Burgos.
As to Zurbano, and his brother-in-law, Cayo Muro, it
appears positive that the former was not far from his
son, a little before the latter was arrested ; and, as to
the second, he is supposed to be concealed in the moun-
tains of Cameros. Considering, however, the active
search that is made, it is almost impossible for them not
to fall into the hands of our troops."
The Presse gives some particulars of the defeat of
Rutz, and his escape into France :
" The rebels of the valleys of Anso and Hecho are in
flight. General Ruiz, Colonel Gavila, and Commandant
Casanovo were arrested at the moment they were at-
tempting to cross the frontier. At nine in the evening
of the 24th they were brought into Oleron and placed in
confinement. In the night of the 20th Zurbano and the
horsemen who accompanied him made an attempt to
get into the village of Mansares, but the inhabitants op-
posed them with their fire-arms, and drove them back.
It was in consequence of this repulse that the insurgents
threw away their arms, and that the eldest son of Zur-
bano, his brother-in-law Cayro, and a servant, were
taken. It is impossible to gain any intelligence of Zur-
bane himself. In Castille, in the Rioja, in the Basque
Provinces, and in Navarre, all the troops, both infantry
and cavalry, are in motion. At Haro the very name of
Zurbano inspires so much terror that the inhabitants of
the country, although they believe him to be quite alone,
have assembled in arms to the number of 400, not con-
sidering themselves safe, notwithstanding the passage
of the Ebro is guarded by 50 carabineers and 100 other
soldiers. General Jose Concha, Captain-General of the
Basque Provinces, has visited Haro and Miranda, and
taken the most active and best-combined measures to
secure the capture of Zurbano."
The Illoniteur announces that, in consequence of
the great number of deaths from poison, a Commis-
sion has been appointed by royal ordonnance, to as-
certain if the sale of violent poisons, such as arsenic
and prussic acid, could be prohibited altogether, with-
out serious inconvenience to the medical and manu-
facturing interests. The Commission, presided over
by M. GAY LussAc, was composed of MM. ORFILA,
Dumes, and PAYRN, of the Academy of Sciences, and
a number of manufacturers. The preamble of the or-
donnance states, that the Academy of Medicine, the
College of Pharmacy, the Council of Public Health,
and the Commission of Arts and Manufactures have
already been consulted as to the means of altering the
colour and external character of arsenic in such a
way as to render the use of it difficult for criminal•
purposes without immediate detection on the part of
those to whom it is to be administered.

TIIE BOURSE--SATURDAY, NOY. 30.
Fircsot. Highest Lowesti Last
French FiveperCenta....•• 118190 .. 119 15 .. 118 90 .. 119 15
Three per Cents 83 10 .. 83 60 .. $3 10 .. 83 60
Bank of France. • • 3150 —3150 ..3150 ..3150
Lailltte Bank, I,ooof. Shareslo9s ••1095 .•1095 ..1095
5,000 E Shareeso4o .•5040 .•5040 .•5040
Belgian Dank.••• •••• •• •••• 480 .. 585 .. 580 .. 582 50
BeldanFives,lB4o •• •••• •• 1031 .. 103 f .. 1031 •• 1031
1842 •••• •• 10611 .. 1061 •• 10663 f 1065
Dutch Two and-a-Half 63 63 .. 61
Threes•• •• •• •• •• •• 35} •• 36 •• 35/ 36
Passive...... .....• 51 6 6
r per Cents 551 .. 651 .. 55/ .. 551
s.
. 95 60 95 70 .• 95 60 .. 95 70
1041 .. 1041 •• 104 104
oeratpuogliutAnese.}2l.v.e........
RAILWAY SHARES.

Versailles,R.B.—.....•••.. 443 75 .. 443 75 .. 441 75 .• 441 76
L. 8.•• .......... 320 .. 920 .. 31$ 75 .. 320
Sold.. ........•.1006 • 1009 75 ..1005 ..1008 75
Rosen to Zayre ... 7so 780 •• 780 780
Orlean •.••••.•°••••••••••1047 60 .•1055 ..1047 50 ..1055
Strasburg to 10.1••••.•••••• 275 '• 278 75 " 275 . 278 75
Avignon to 11113011141...... 1100 .. 910 • 900 .. gio
RAILWAYS FOR THE ACCOUNT, PLO 3.
Vereaillos,
ROU.-!11 •• •• •••••••• 90 • • •• 100 i ..1010 "1005 ..1010
Rout nto Havre ••••.• • • • • • • 7:0 753 76 •• 780 ' • 783 71
Orleans .•• ••••.. •• • —.1045 —lO5O 25 ..1045 —1055
Strasburg to Bale— •• •• 275 .. 278 75 .. 275 .. 278 76
Avignou to Marseilles...... 895 .. 913 75 .. 895 .. 910

FATAL ACCIDENT.—On Saturday morning Mr.
Alexander Bruce, a respectable shipping agent and
broker, residing in Burr-street, Lower East Smithfield,
expired in the Queen's Arms public-house, Wapping,
from the effects of injuries he received by falling through
the hatchway into the hold of a vessel lying in the
Wapping-basin of the London Docks on
.the proviotts
evening.

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 3, 1344.

FLANDERS MAIL.

BRUSSELS, Nov. 28.—At the commencement of the
sitting of the Chamber to-day, M. de Decker laid on the
table the budget of the department of Foreign Affairs.
The Chamber then resumed the general discussion of
the budget of ways and means. M. de la Coste main-
tained the opinion that the legislation on sugar should
not be meddled with at present. He has proceeded to
show the defects of our system of commercial octrois.
M. Delfosse, who spoke next, warmly attacked the policy
of the Cabinet, or rather that of the Minister of the Inte-
rior. He, however, deferred the political discussion till
the budget of the interior shall be brought forward, and
then attacked the financial system of the Cabinet. Seve-
ral members then spoke. The chief subject of discussion
was the assistance given to the Colonisation Company.
The Minister of the Interior deferred to a future occasion
the explanation to be given on this subject.
At the end of the sitting, the Minister of the Interior
introduced a project of law for placing the canals of
Ghent and Ostend on the same same footing as that of
Teriveuren by the treaty concluded with the Netherlands.
The King will go on Monday to Ardenne.
ButissELs, Nov. 29.—1 n to-day's sitting of the Cham-
ber, Mr. Ory asked for a report on a loan of two millions
to a company at Antwerp for the exportation of cotton
manufactures.
The Minister of the Interior promised to present the
report, but added that the matter concerned a former
stheinistratiam.
The Guatemala Company was again the chief subject
of the debate. The members of the Cabinet continued
to be very reserved on this question, but the Minister of
the Interior pronounced tkat the convention between
that Company and the Government should be laid before
the Chamber. Among other things for which the Mi-
nistry was blamed, was a grant of 3,000 francs to the
company to procure for the public collection specimens
of the natural productions of Guatemala, in curiosities of
that part of the American continent. The general debate
was then closed.

..-BERLIN, Nov. 26.—1 t has been reported for some days
that the King has confirmed the sentence of death pro-
nounced against Tchesh, in the second instance, but by
a special order of the Sovereign, the execution is to be
left to the reign of his Majesty's successor. If this is
true, the King, who in this case has to decide in his own
cause, following the dictates of his humane heart, granted
the life of the criminal without opposing public opinion,
and the course of justice for the sword is still sus-
pended over the head of the criminal ; but his blood is
not shed before the eyes of the King, whose life was so
providentially- preserved.
BELGIAN FUNDS.—BstussELe, Nev. 29.
Aetua Debt, 9% per Cent.,
Rothschild's Loan, Five per Cent ............
Loan of Thirty Millions, Four per Cent 9B
Three per Cent.........„
Thirty-sevex Millions, ditto 77
(1840) l('BN
1544 ..* . ... ....... 102%
Loan of City, 1843, Four per Cent. 103%

1832
Society of Commerce, Four and a Half per Cent —
Bank of Belgitm, Five per Cent sl'
Issue of 1841—. 0000000000000000000000 0000000 -
-Brussels Papers, Nov. SO.
AUSTRIAN FUNDS.—VIENNA, Nov. 23.
Five per Cents. Metalliques
Four per Cents. IOON
Three per Cents. 78)4
Bank Shares .....................».»......».».....................1628
Loan, 1234
Ditto, 1839
Esterhazy's Loan
RAILWAYS.

The Northern, or Ferdinand 152
Gloggnita ll6
Milan lo9i
—Allgemeine Zeitung, Nov. 26.
PRUSSIAN FUNDS.—ThiRLIN, Nov. 28,
Bills. Money
St. Schuld Sch., 3% per cent.
Prussian English 80nd5,18.30, 4 per cent. _
Exchange on London.
Prussian State Gazette. Nov. 29.
HAMBURGH BORSENHALLE, N-101v4.,429. 23:
Bills. Money.
Austrian 5 per Cents.
Bank Shares 1650
Anglo-Russian Loan
Russian 5 per Cent., Ist series, Certificate 1051,i 105
Inscription, Ist series — IC5t
Russian 5 per Cent. Hope and Co., 3d and 4th
Series
Ditto in Certificates ... 99
New 4 per Cent. (1640) 9O
Dutch Actual Debt, 254 per Cent. .........
Ditto 5 per Cent. — _
Anglo-Danish Loan, 3 per Cent. —
Spanish, New 5 per Cents.
Polish Bonds —
New Tickets ....
Hamburgh, One month
Two months,.„„„„ 13 8

4 V, u • 1.1.1.5
44,"; • •
•
t.