The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-13 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 13, X 844.

to be brought by the projected Company, till the
Proprietors of it received four per cent. on their
capital, gave them (the Directors of the Croydon and
Epsom Company), as well as the promoters of the
undertaking, a position which no other Company
could pretend to assume. lie should observe that
the present meeting had been called for the purpose
of appointing a Board of Direction for carrying out
the project of the direct Portsmouth line. With re-
spect to that Board, it had been deemed right to select
for nomination to it several gentlemen who were con-
nected with the proposed Chatham and Portsmouth
line, others who were interested in the Portsmouth
line, and several of the Directors of the Croydon line.
The fact that the proposed direct line to Portsmouth
was to be an atmospheric one had rendered it desir-
able that gentlemen connected with the Croydon and
Epsom line should be among the Directors, and for
the reason that they had given their most anxious at-
tention to the atmospheric system, and several of
those interested in that railway would be nominated.
Sir J. OMMANET wished to know what steps had
been taken to ascertain how far the atmospheric line
about to be laid down was likely to succeed ?

The CHAIRMAN said, that for the success of the at-
mospheric system, they depended on the satisfactory
trial that had been made of it at Dalkey. The Direc-
tors of the Croydon and Epsom line considered that
the mechanical difficulties of the atmospheric system,
such as they were, had been overcome. As to the
commercial part of the system, that they must try.
They were most sanguine, and he thought he might
take upon himself t.) say reasonably so, as to its re-
sults in that point of view. They had examined the
working of the line at Dalkey, and the result they
had arrived at was the conviction that the atmo-
spheric railway, when once laid down, might be
worked at about half the expense of a locomotive
line. They would permit him to say that a rail-
way traffic was a mode of carrying a large number
of persons (and it was only by a large number of per-
sons it could be successfully carried out) at a smaller
charge, and with greater rapidity, than they were
carried by the ordinary modes of conveyance. It was
by the atmospheric system that this desirable plan
could be most effectively secured, for though there
might be a comparatively larger outlay at first, the
traffic could be carried on more economically and
greater facilities afforded, than by the locomotive system.
One of the Committee inquired whether the pro-
jectors of the line had been before the Board of Trade?

The CHAIRMAN said they had laid the Chatham
line before the Board of Trade, and in doing so they
had connected with it this undertaking, as one which
was at that time projected; but so large a number
of shares had been subscribed for the direct Ports-
mouth line, that he hoped they would in a few days
be in a position to go before that Board.—(Cheers.)
The project had taken a strong hold of the
public mind, and, in short, everybody now saw that
this was the line to Portsmouth, and as such it was
spoken of. He also perceived that the atmospheric
system was now coming strongly and prominently
before the attention of the public. The South Delon
line, fifty-two miles in length, was to be worked on
this system, and contracts for that purpose had been
entered into with the representatives of the atmos-
pheric patent. They knew, too, that the Directors of
the Great Western Railway had gone to Ireland,
where they were to meet Mr. Brunel, for the purpose
(as we understood) of inspecting the working of the
atmospheric line. The promoters of the direct Ports-
mouth line depended much on their adoption of this
principle for the success which they hoped to obtain ;
they thought it affording the means of putting them-
selves in advantageous competition with any parties
who might oppose the line.
Sir J. OMMANET said the explanations that had
been afforded by the Chairman were so satisfactory,
and the advantages to be derived from the adoption of
the atmospheric principle so manifest, that he had
great pleasure in moving—" That a railway from
Portsmouth to join the Epsom Railway at Epsom, to
he worked upon the atmospheric principle of traction,
will, in the opinion of this meeting, afford a materi-
ally shorter, cheaper, quicker, and better mode of
conveyance between the metropolis and Portsea,
Portsmouth, the Isle of Wight, and the Channel
Islands, than at present exists.'
Mr. C. S. CROWLRY seconded the motion, which
was carried unanimously.
The CHAIRMAN said Mr. Samuda, one of the pa-
tentees of the atmospheric system, had just entered
the room. He was sure that gentleman would feel
great pleasure in answering any questions that might
be put to him. Mr. W. Cubitt, one of their engineers,
was also present, and would give any information
touching upon the general features of the proposed
line.

Mr. W. CIIBITT, in answer to a question from Sir
J. Stirling, said he had gone over the line, and was
able to state there were no obstacles that could be
called difficulties upon it.
Sir J. STIRLING would offer two or three observa-
tions on the communication this railway offered to
the Government in a naval and military point of view.
The two great forts of England, Chatham, and
Portsmouth, would, by the proposed line to Chatham,
be closely connected, and the Government would be
enabled with facility, and great advantage, to make
one garrison serve for the defence of both places in
the time of war; it must, therefore, be a great object
with the Government to promote such a line. As
to the importance of the railway in naval
matters, it was only necessary to say that Ports-
mouth must ever be the great naval station of
this country, except in the case of a war with the
northern nations of Europe, including Holland. In
this case the river would become the position requiring
defence, and as in a military, so in a naval point of
view, the proposed line would afford the Government
the means of transferring men from one point to the
other. Again, this line proposed to connect Ports-
mouth with the great military arsenal of Woolwich.
This, he conceived, would be sufficient to induce Go-
vernment to give all reasonable countenance to the
undertaking. Deptford must also be included in
this view of the proposed line. The adoption of
the atmospheric principle for this line would ap-
pear to promise very great advantages, amongst
not the least of which was the rapidity with
which almost any number of men might be
dispatched from one end of the railway to the other.
With these opinions, he begged to propose—" That
such a line, being in immediate communication
with the projected London and Chatham and Chat-
ham and Portsmouth Junction Railway, as well as
with the Greenwich Railway to Deptford, the great
national object of uniting by a continuous line of
railway the three important naval and military sta-
tions of Chatham, Deptford, and Portsmouth, will be
materially promoted."
Mr. LLOYD seconded the motion, which was carried
unanimously.
On the motion of Mr. ALLEN, seconded by Mr.
PRITCHARD, it was resolved—" That such a line will
at the same time afford the advantages of a railway
communication with the metropolis to a large and
important district of country between Epsom and
Portsmouth."

The Hon. J. C. CARNEGIE, in rising to move the
next resolution, expressed his conviction that the pro-
posed line would have an excellent traffic. The line
would go through a portion of the Government plan-
tations, the oaks in which were comparatively almost
useless from the fact of there being no means of con-
veyance within 12 miles. He then proposed—" That
whilst a railway from Epsom to Portsmouth will thus
afford such great public advantages, it will in the
opinion of this meeting command a greatly increased
traffic between the metropolis and the districts of
Surrey, Sussex, and Hants, through which it will
pass, and between London and Portsea, Portsmouth,
the Isle of Wight, the port of Havre, and the Channel
Islands, sufficient to afford an amply remunerative
return for the capital expended."
The CHAIRMAN said he would here observe that he
was sure they all felt there could be but one direct
line to Portsmouth—(Hear)—and if they were to
take this project up seriously, as he hoped they would
—(Hear)—it was as necessary for them to oppose
any other line as to support their own. They did
not like to be brought into opposition with others, but
if parties would oppose them, they (the promoters of
the direct line) must take all the advantage which
the superior character of this line, as well as its being
first in the field, gave them. When they (the pro-
moters of the direct line) went to Portsmouth, the
other day, there had been no direct line to that place
proposed. Gentlemen in that town were then, cer-
tainly, ready to support a line from Brighton, in pre-
ference to one from the South-Eastern ; but he be-
lieved there could not be two opinions about this, that
had any direct line been proposed, there would not
have been any debate about either a Brighton or a
South-Eastern line to Portsmouth.
Mr. ROBERTS having seconded the motion,
Mr. HOSKINS (of Portsmouth) said there had re-
cently been a strong demonstration made at Ports-
mouth in favour of a line from Brighton and Chiches-
ter to Portsmouth, in opposition to that which the in-
habitants considered would not he so beneficial to
Portsmouth—viz., a line from the South-Western; but
had the now projected direct line been known—had
the probability of it been contemplated for a motnent
—there were parties at Portsmouth who would at once
have come forward to promote it in preference to either
of the other projects. He was satisfied that of
these 2,500 persons whose names *ere attached
to the requisition for that line, nine •tenths of them
would have preferred the direct line. This line was
now before the inhabitants of Portsmouth, and
everybody said it was the line that would best suit
the wants of the town. As between the two lines
already adverted to, the people of Portsmouth sup-
ported the one from Brighton by way of Chichester
in opposition to the South-Western one ; but now
that a direct line was offered to them, they at once
preferred it. The resolution was then carried.
A resolution appointing the Directors, having been
carried unanimously, and a vote of thank,' given to
the Chairman, the meeting broke up.

LITERATURE.
ARTHUR ARUNDEL. 3 Vols.
Colburn, London, 1844.
We have here another of the numerous tales that
have appeared within the last ten or a dozen years on
the subject of the English Revolution of 1688, which
—as Mr. Horace Smith, the author, ustly observes—
has been panegyrized by historians much too highly,
when they have applied to it the term " glorious."
The tale is exceedingly fertile in point of incident,
and is far superior to the author's first and best-
known work, " Brambletye House," inasmuch as there
is less of an ambitious straining after effect; and
the various personages of the narrative are introduced
with more skill, and made to play their parts with
more propriety. One of the most entertaining chap-
ters in the work is that which gives an account of
Arthur Arundel's visit to France ; where he meets with
the Grande Monarque at Versailles, and is introduced
to the celebrated Madame de Maintenon—that maud-
lin and consummate hypocrite, of whom, however—
as we gather from one or two passing remarks—Mr.
Horace Smith seems to entertain a very favourable
opinion.

TALES OF THE CAMP AND CABINET.

2 Vols. .Newby, London, 1844.
We should have guessed this work to be the produc-
tion of a military man, and one, too, who has seen
much service, even had not the name of the author—
Colonel Montmorency Tucker—appeared on the title-
page, for the tales, for the most part, have reference
to military matters, and exhibit a minute acquaint-
ance with the subject, which no unprofessional man
could have displayed with so much ease and readiness.
The narrations contained in the volumes are supposed
to be related by a party of veteran officers of different
nations, who are in the daily habit of meeting each
other in the reading-rooms of the city of Nice, and
who, as they become better acquainted, resolve on
establishing a club among themselves, " for the sole
purpose," says the author in his introduction, " of
intercourse and amusement, and of beguiling away
the time in anecdotes of their lives, military adventures,
and tales, either of the camp or cabinet." The stories,
generally speaking, are written, with spirit and judg-
ment, and with an unassumingness of manner that at
once conciliates the reader's good opinion. The first
is the best, and gives a graphic sketch of the career of
the notorious Spanish Guerilla Chief, Cabrera, which
bears every appearance of strict authenticity.

YOUNG IRELAND.

" Erin ! an exile bequeaths thee his blessing,
Land of my forefathers ! Erin go bragh !

It cannot be matter for surprise that any English
Minister should confess Ireland to be his chief diffi-
culty so long as the Executive continue to counte-
nance modes of administration subservient to expe-
diency, and, therefore, inimical to just and disinte-
rested principles—a petty species of Government, that,
in its most successful hour, is merely calculated to
bestow temporary and shallow benefit. That mea-
sures for Irish relief, framed in a friendly spirit, have
occasionally emanated from the British Senate it would
be both unfair and unwise to deny; but, neverthe-
less, they have been uniformly conceded as hard-
wrung boons to party clamour, rather than bestowed
on the nation as her right. The consequence has been
that the factious and discontented have, in each in-
stance, eagerly availed themselves of the ungracious-
ness of the givers as a pea to militate against the
value of the gifts. Speeches have been spoken_
pamphlets written—meetings convened, productive
of no happier results than adverse individuals forcing
each other to eat dirt—whilst the great bulk of the
populace, for whom these wordy wars are ostenta-
tiously waged, derive from them neither moral nor
physical advantages. It is but little to the purpose
that Mr. So-and-So rise "to advert to various
Irish penal enactments,"
,:ar " dwell upon several
facts in Irish history, and then sit down
again ; it may be unsuggestive of any better
remedy for these grievances than constant
subscriptions to precursor or repeal clubs. The whole
social body needs amendment, and it is not by eu-
logising the shadowy glories of 011 am Fodhah, or
execrating Saxon misrule, that this can be effected ;
neither will the tranquillity of Ireland be perfected
through the misrepresenting fulminations that some-
times disgrace the Orange press and Orange dinners.
" You hear of our case as in a dream, but feel not
the smart of suffering that we endure," was the retort
of the Geraldine to Cardinal Wolsey, and it is worthy
of the deepest consideration that the complaints of the
great Earl of Kildare, in Henry the Eighth's reign.
were but the prolonged echoes of previous centuries
of woe, whose vibrations extend, with little variation,
even to our own times. Such lengthened discontents
—such reiterated complaints—may well appal the
stoutest mind as to the possibility of finding a
Hercules to cleanse such Augean heaps ; but in truth
it is beyond the power of any one man, or any one
set of measures, however firmly and judiciously
benevolent, to eradicate these long and deeply-rooted
shoots of evil. All Ireland must bestir itself—high
and low, rich and poor. Protestant and Catholic
must, to render it effectual, unite in the sublime work
of national regeneration, and immolating on the
altar of patriotism their long-cherished vulgar pre-
judices ; their mutual rage, fear, and hatred, join
hand-in-hand to annihilate that demoniacal party-
spirit which has transmuted the historical annal,
of their country into the record of one vast and
prolonged faction fight. Let Irishmen remember
those men who pretend that the grievances
of their native land may he best cancelled by inspir-
ing excitablelih
s and ignorant peasantry with hatred
o
name—let them remember that domestic
discord first summoned the English to their shores,
and through domestic discord was the union finally
cemented. England has had much to answer for—
much of neglectful injustice and oppressive pecula-
tion—butt she is not the only guilty one,: nor
has Ireland even been the innocent victim that some
of her so-called patriots would represent her. Na-
tions are like individuals ; their faults and follies
should be alluded to with tenderness, and never save
with the cordial hope of amendment. Flatter them,
and they become self-sufficient and reckless ; degrade
them in their own estimation, and they sink into
sullen apathy, or are goaded into passionate irritation.
Poor Ireland has suffered alternately from both treat-
ments: now surfeited with a "too-high flavoured bowl"
of flattery by the one side, and anon by the other
insulted with vilifying suspicions. Well might she
say," Save me from my friends, and I will take care
of my enemies !" But through the long list of her
woes history confirms the sad truth that her worst
enemies have ever sprung from her own bosom, and
that the truculent ranks of an Anglo-Irish faction,
rather than the English people at large, have contained
her most relentless oppressors. Without diving into
remote periods, the proof of this fact may be clearly
deduced from the events during, or subsequent to, the
late Rebellion, when the coercive measures adopted
by the Irish Cabinet were, Lord Clare openly
asserted in the House of Lords, " to his
knowledge, extorted from the nobleman who governed
that country." But a truce to these old grievances—
a truce to the humbling exposition of party frailty—
let " rascally Papists " and " bloody Orangemen "
cease to bandy derisive and insolent epithets ; let them
become less eager in the expression of their mistrust-
ful opinions ; more anxious to co-operate in plans for
the general good, regardless from whom these plans
mayemanate, provided they be good, and more certain
benefit will accrue to their country than in agitating
for a native Parliament, or aspersing the Catholic
hierarchy. The results of a repeal of the:union, until
it be granted, must be problematical ; it may certainly
be productive of remedial measures, and again it may
furnish but a more imposing arena for the renewal of
political squabbles—a licensed board on which to
display sordid desires and petty jealousies. Are
the men of the present day wiser) stronger, more
honest and tincempromising, than those who heard the
sublime apostrophe, " Ireland is now a nation, and
bowing to her august presence, I say,Fisto perpelua ?"
Yet scarcely had these words died on the ears of a free
native Parliament, ere it commenced signing its own
death-warrant. Scarcely had the almost superhuman
exertions of the illustrious Grattan been crowned
by success, ere he had to mourn over the ingratitude
and unworthiness of those An' whom he had so long
strh'en. nut though the success of repeal to the dis-
passionate must remain doubtful, there are measures
open to the pursuit of every friend of Ireland, whose
success, be they but adopted with " a single eye" to
patriotic philanthropy, cannot admit of a doubt.
With the undeveloped resources of a fruitful land re-
maining to be opened—with the poor to be supplied
with work—the ignorant to be instructed—there is
surely a fair and wide field spread for labour, in which
the best, the noblest, the most highly-gifted, might
cancur for the happiest results. There are bogs to
be drained, waste lands to be improved, canals to be
dug, railroads constructed, manufactures improved.
Why, in the name of common sense, not expend a por-
tion of " riot" and patriotic energy in promoting such
means of progress ? How much can be effected
through small beginnings, but with honest persever-
ance, the establishments of Mr. Bianconi amply testify,
by whom many hundreds are daily employed in fur-
thering the increase of traffic and social intercourse.
if the chivalrous motto of ancient France, " Fais le
Bien advienne que pourra, fail to awaken the public
mind, will the insinuating whispers of self-interest
prove equally abortive ? Irishmen, it is for your
interest, regardless of rank or creed, to adopt such
measures; your green isle needs not an agitation—
scarcely now, thank God, a Liberator—but she is
most lamentably in want of an unprejudiced Pacificator.
AN OLD HIBERNIAN.

CEICKET.—On Wednesday a Illatcllwhieh created
much interest was played at the Copenhagen ground,
Islington, between 1 i players of the Islington Albion
Club and 22 players of the Islington Junior Club. The
22 players took their innings first, and scored 110 runs.
The 11 players then went in, and obtained 112 runs,
thus beating their 22 opponents by two runt.

FASHIONABLE INTELLIGENCE.
ARRIVALS.
The Earl and Countess of Arundel and Surrey, in
Chesham-place, from Arundel Castle; the Hon. Mrs. G.
A. Cravan, at the Grosvenor Hotel, Park-street; Lord
Seymour, M. P., in Spring Gardens; Gomersal,
Esq., and Mrs. Gomersal, and Miss Jones, at the Caven-
dish Hotel, Jermyn-street, from Italy; the Earl of March,
from the Duke of Richmond's, Gordon Castle, N. B.;
Earl and Countess Cadogan and the Ladies Cadogan,
at Queensberry House, Piceadill7; Mansfield Forbes,
Esq., and Miss Forbes, at Nelson a Hotel, Great Port-
N.nd-place, from Aberdeen ; the Misses Sutton, at ditto,
from Birmingham ; Mr. and Mrs. White, at ditto, from
Reading ; T. Watson, Esq., at ditto, from Havannah ;
S. Richards, Esq., at ditto ; M. Koudriaffsky, from a
visit to Count Nesselrode, at the York Hotel, Brighton;
Mr. Wombwell, from the George Hotel, Portsmouth ;
Baron de Talleyrand, at Manchester House; Sir Richard
Jenkins, G.C.8., from a tour ; Schwabey, Esq., and
Mrs. Schwabey, at Fenton's Hotel ; John S. Harford,
Esq., M.P., at the Waterloo Hotel, Jermyn-street, St.
James's, from Blaise Castle, Bristol.

DEPARTURES.
The Hon. A. Willoughby, from the Terrace, Picca-
dilly, for Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire; Mr. Denny,
Enniskillen Dragoons' from the Cavendish Hotel, Jer-
rnyn-street ; the Earl and Countess of Egremont and
slise Stevens, on a cruise in the Jeannette yacht ; Lord
A. Lennox, M.P. to assume the command of the 72c1
Highlanders, at liuttevant ; Lord Loftus, for the Albion
Hotel, at Brighton ; Sir F. Nicholson, R N., from Wil-
liam-street, Knightsbridge, for Cowes, Isle of Wight ;
Lord Foley and the Hon. Miss Foley, from Grosvenor-
Square. on a visit to Mr. and Lady C. Sanford, at Nyne-
head Court, Somerset ; Norton Knatchbull, Esq., from
the Clarendon Hotel, Bond-street, for Provender Hall,
near Ashford ; Lady Selina Needham, for Brighton ;
Captain Clifford, on a visiting tour in the north ; Mr. R.
Neville, on a visit to Mr. and Lady Caroline Sandford,
at Nynehead Court, Somerset ; Lord and Lady Bean-
mont, on a tour ; Mr. Attwood, M.P., for the Marine-
parade, Brighton ; Robert Fox, Esq., and Mrs. Fox.
from Nelson's Hotel, Great Portland-place, for Wen-
lover, Bucks ; J. Jackson, Esq., and family from ditto,
for St. Maloes ; Mr. and the Hon. Mrs. Brand, on a visit
to Lord and Lady Dacre, at the Hoo, near Welwyn,
Herts ; General and Mrs. Wood, for Bath ; the
Honourable C. A. Murray, from Fenton's Hotel, for the
Royal Pavilion, at Brighton ; Sir A. and Lady ClitTord
and family, from Eaton-square, for the Isle of Wight ;
Captain Ormsby, Ist Royale, for Bath ; the Earl of
Lonsdale, from Carlton-terrace, for Paris ; the Hon.
Hanbury Tracy, for Bath • G. B. Farnham, M.P., for
Quorndon Hall, Leicestershire ; the Dowager Countess
Ashburnham, from Eaton-square, for Southwood
Villa, Ramsgate ; Captain Nias, R.N., for Portsmouth ;
Count and Countess de Bouvet, on a visiting tour in
Wales ; Major-General Morri on, M.P., for Greenfield.

! undertaking I have been warned, entreated, and dis-
suaded by my farming friends, who protested that a
profitable return for such an enormous expenditure
was impossible. My calculations, however, were
made, and mere assertions without facts and figures
weighed nothing with me."
This is business-like in a farmer. And it may
now be worth while to inquire who this farmer is.
It is not a new thing to find that a man who has been
bred in trade makes the-best farmer. This is another
instance of it. This agricultural reformer of Tip-
tree Hall, in Essex, is a tradesman from Leadenhall-
, street, in the City of London ; no other than Mr.
Mechi, of the magic razor-strop.
The tenant who occupied Tiptree before Mr.
Mechi bought the land is still upon it. I shall
hereafter mention some particulars of their bargain.
He looked with amazement and dread at Mr. Mechis
first proceedings; but he is long since convinced that
they are sound, practicable, and profitable.
Mr. Mechi says, after stating the benefit to the
crops :—" In a moral and social point of view, these
improvements have acted beneficially. They have
excited the energies of the tenant and his labourers,
stimulating them to think, compare, and improve.
They have awakened the curiosity of the neighbour-
ing farmers, who are watching the result, and al-
ready have they caused many undertakings in drain-
age, which otherwise would not have been thought
of." He adds :—" Had I invested my money in the
funds, there would have been an end of the matter;
but now I have the satisfaction of having fulfilled a
public duty (without injury to myself), by calling
into action, temporarily and permanently, a consider-
able amount of labour. I conceive that the highest
order of charity, which, by providing employment to
the willing labourer, confers a favour unseen, and
leaves uncompromised (his most valuable privilege)
his self-dependence."
Mr. Mechi says he may be asked, what can a Lon-
doner know about farming ? If so, he is prepared to
answer that he has been always fond of the country,
and has been a close observer of the condition of agri-
culture. "I have seen," he says, "one farmer
making a fortune, and his next neighbour losing one :
I have „seen one field all corn, and another nearly all
weeds."

And, concluding for the present, so say I. It is
the weedy field and weedy farm whose occupier
calls most lustily for protection. But Mr. Mechi is
one of those who know how to make agriculture
protect itself.—League.

IRISH WASTE LAND IMPROVE-
MENT SOCIETY.
(From the Mining Journal.)
This society, whose successful progress we have
watched and recorded with so much pleasure, as one
among the various practical measures for the ame-
liorati In of the peasantry of Ireland, was established
in 1836, under the auspices of the Earl of Devon, as
Chairman, for the reclamation of the waste lands of
that country; great caution has been exercised in all
the progressive steps ; the estates are held on leases
of ninety-nine years, at a low rent, averaging less
than 2s. per acre, and the plan adopted was not to
speculate in farming, as at Pobble O'Keefe or King
William Town a costly experiment, which has
acted as a salutary check—but to relet the whole on
allotments of from ten to twenty-five acres, on leases
generally of thirty-one years, at rents rising gra-
dually from 4s. to 10s. per acre; main drains and
roads being made by the society, who also assist the
tenants with timber, when needed, to build their
houses. A small mountain tract was first taken from
Sir Johnjßurke, of Marble Hill, in Galway; another
in Limerick followed ; a third of considerable extent
in Sligo, highly favourable for reclamation ; and in
1841 a wild district in Connemara, along the shores
of Kilkerrin Bay, comprising 9,500 acres, was added
to their estates, making together upwards of 16,000
acres, which hava become the property of, and placed
in productive culture by, the society, whilst the calls
have amounted to only 81. per share upon 501. shares,
BALLINAKIL.—On the 12th ult., the Earl of Devon,
Sir R. Ferguson, and Mr. Wynne, accompanied by
Captain Kennedy, proceeded to Marble Hill, the de-
lightful residence of Sir John Burke, Bart., when
several leading gentlemen of the county connected
with agriculture were invited to meet them, for the
purpose of inspecting the estate of Ballinakil, on
which a very successful system of reclamation and
improvement is now carried on, and thereby afford-
ing constant employment to numbers of the peasan-
try. On the 13th the Earl of Devon, with the other
Commissioners (attached to the Landlord and Tenants'
C )mmission), and numerous visitors, minutely in-
spected the society's estate, and expressed themselves
highly gratified with the whole of the arrangements,
and the improvement in the condition and habits
of the tenantry the extraordinary cleanliness
of many of their cottages and homesteads, and par-
ticularly with the quantity of land reclaimed and
brought into cultivation, exceeding one acre and a
half each resident tenant since August, 1843. Having
addressed the tenantry and many of the neighbour-
ing farmers in the most encouraging manner, his
Lordship distributed the prizes given by the society
and Sir John Burke, for progress in reclamation and
improvement in agriculture, accompanying each with
a few words of valuable advice on the advantages to
themselves and their country of perseverance in habits
of industry, when three hearty cheers were given for
the Earl of Devon (chairman of the society) and Col.
Robinson (managing director).
GLENEASKE.—The estate of Gleneaske, comprising
upwards of 6,500 acres, is beautifully situated on the
south-east slope of the Slievh Gauff Mountains, which
are here about 1,000 feet above the level of the sea;
the whole valley, which is watered by numerous
rills, as well as the lower slopes of the mountain, is
pure unmitigated peat bog, to the extent of 3,500
acres, and the remainder is well adapted to the breed-
ing of the Kyloe, or Highland cattle, of which the
society have a thriving herd. A model farm of six-
teen acres has been erected, where, upon a piece of
pure bog only two years reclaimed, may be seen as
fine Swedish turnips as can be found in Ireland;
mangles, rape, vetches, &c., are all flourishing in the
same kind of land, while the potatoes cannot be sur-
passed either in quality or quantity. The houses of
the tenants are 30 feet long, 13 feet broad, and 8 feet
high ; the allotments surrounded with trimmed furze
hedges, and the drains marked out. The difficulties
of a new settler, during the first year, are here admi-
rably met—he works for the society on roads and
drains while his first crops are coming up, for which
he is paid Bd. per day, and 10d. per perch for furze
hedges, thus rendering him in some measure inde-
pendent of the land, until it is made, by his own
labour, to produce a crop. Among the whole of the
small holders occupying 1,400 statute acres, not one
was without turnips or clover, or both, and some rape
and vetches in addition ; and there are generally five
or six head of cattle on each farm, and evidences
of recent draining and reclamation on the part of the
tenants were likewise apparent. The society offer a
strong stimulant for the latter, giving a prize of 2/.
for every acre reclaimed, equal to four years' rent at
the highest rate. After draining, the surface is
burned and lined, then two successive crops of pota-
toes taken, then a crop of Aberdeen turnips, and,
lastly, oats laid down with clover ; lime is too far
distant to be generally available, but limestone can be
procured, and the lowering of Lough Taalt, executed
at a trilling cost to the society, laid bare a rich bed
of marl, which is little inferior in fertilising power to
lime. At this estate prizes were given similar to
those at Ballinakil.

KILILERRIL—This estate is in an equally pros-
perous condition, the result of the same fostering
management as at Ballinakil and Gleneaske ; and,
upon a recent distribution of prizes there for good
farming, &c., before Lord Devon, Captain Kennedy,
and the principal gentry of that part of the country,
the people generally poured in as to a national festival
or great fair, arrayed in all the colours of the rainbow
—so popular is the society becoming where its ope-
rations are known, that popularity being the natural
result of a just appreciation of its increasing endea-
vours, through the able management of Colonel no!
binson, to improve the condition of the people.

DEATU.—The Venerable Archdeacon Bathurst, we
regret to hear, expired last night, about eleven o'clock,
at No. 11, Promenade Villas, at a very advanced age.
This venerable clergyman had been for some time in a
declining state of health, and arrived here about a fort-
night since.--Cheltenham Examiner.
TITIIa COMMUTATION.—Wednesday a Parliamen-
tary document, which was moved for by Dir. Manners
Sutton, was printed, embracing returns of all agree-
ments for the commutation of tithes which have been
confirmed by the Tithe Commissioners in the several
counties of England and Wales, from the Ist ofJanuary
to the Ist of July last, specifying also in each case the
amount of rent-charge agreed to be paid in lieu of tithes,
and showing whether the same be payable to appro-
priators, impropriators, or clerical incumbents ; of all
awards for the commutation of tithes which have been
confirmed by the Tithe Commissioners in the several
counties of England and Wales in the same period ; and
also of all appointments of rent-charges in the period
mentioned. It appears that under the first branch—
agreements for the commutation of tithes which have
been confirmed by the Commissioners—the balance
of increase was 6911. 17s. 0.-A., which, with the increase
in former returns of 54,7221. 2s. lid., makes the total
increase 55,464/., so that in England and Wales " rent-
charges" will be the term used, instead of the ancient
word " tithe," which existed from the earliest period,
and was provided for the support of the clergy. By the
second head—the awards for the commutation of tithes
confirmed by the Commissioners—it is stated, that in
England and Wales the total rent-charges of the present
return were 92,3601. 6s. 54d. ; the total rent-charges of
former returns, 856,371/. 19s. ; and the total rent-
charges, 948,7321. ss. sid. Under the third branch, a
return wag made of all apportionments confirmed by the
Tithe Commissioners in the period of six months ending
I in July last ; and over the same period the two other
I branches have reference. .

TLIE ROYAL CHRISTENING.—The young Prince
has been baptised Alfred—Ernest—Albert ! Thee
names remind us of the old story of passing 011' a bad
sbilliDg between two gm' Quea.—Punch.