The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-25 00:00:00

THE CRISIS.

Mr. O'CoNNELL having moved tl.e adoption of the
report said he was anxious to address a few words to t`ie
meeting on the subject of the crisis at which they ha',
arrived. They wer, in a strange state of puzzle. Sir
Robert Peel was Minister ten days ago—Lord John
Russell had become Minister in the interval, aid
he believed he was correct in saying that
there was no Minister at that moment. That was
the state of England. He did not consider that
the Tories would, in all probability, be able to form
an Administration. They could assured'y have no con-
fidence in Sir Robert Peel—they had declared that fact
loudly and bitterly—they could have no reliance on him.
It should likewise be remembered that they (the Irish)
could have no confidence in him. Last week he was a
Leaguer, this week he may be a Protectionist, next week
he may be for something modified ; and he was so much
attached to a sliding scale, that he might get on a
sliding scale himself, and slip through their fingers.—
(Laughter.) They were placed in a curious position.
They had no Government, and no pervin coal precisely
tell why, They could not tell why the Whigs did not
form an Adminiatration—they could not tell why the
Tories ceased to be a Government.—(Laughter.) All
they knew was that both Whigs and Tories had
quarrelled amongst themselves, and that they agreed
upon nothing but to differ.—(Laughter.) There was
only one point on which they were p,rfectly unanimous,
and that was to differ among themselves.— (Laughter.)
What was all that to Ireland? that was the re al quesiii
to consider. The present crisis was must beneficial. Lo

Mr. GRATTAN, M.P., having addressed the meeting,
the rent for the week was announced to be 2181. 18s. 2d.
The meeting then adjourned.

ATTEMPT TO MURDER GEORGE READE, ESQ.
The Carlow Sentinel contains the following :—" We
learn from a respectable correspondent, that a desperate
attempt was made on Monday night last, about nino
o'clock, to assassinate George Reade, Esq., of
Duneeshal, near Carnew•, county Wicklow, or
rather on the bounds of that and the connty Wex-
ford The particulars of this dreadful attempt
to assassinate a respectable gentleman as com-
municated to us upon unquestionable authority, are as
follows :—Mr. Reade had dined with a friend who re-
sides in his immediate neighbourhood, Mr. Sawn, of
Torebrain, and on his return home at the above hour, he
stopped midway between Tombrain and his ow❑ resi-
dence, at a stream which crossed the road, to water his
horse, when a man leaped over the ditch, presented a
pistol within a yard of his person and tired, but without
effect. The villain then stood to see whether his in-
tended victim had fallen, and while in that position, Mr.
Reade had full opportunity of identifying him as a work.
man and tenant of his own, named Ronayne, who, find-
ing the isle)t had not succeeded, turned round and fled
through a fox ccver. Mr. Reade returned back to Mr.
Swan's and rode without delay into Carnew, and calling
out the constabulary, they proceeded in pursuit of
Ronayne, whom they arrested in his bed. His shoes
were fitted to the tracks found on the spot by the police,
and were found to correspond precisely. Being fully
identified by Mr. Reade, who was thus providentially
spared to his family, Ronayne was committed to Wex-
ford gaol on Tuesday, to abide his trial at the ensuing
assizes."

The following additional particulars are given by the
Wexford Independent :—" We are informed that the
cause of this horrid attempt was, that Mr. Reade had, on
Monday, refused to give gang or quarter land to the
man in question, as he was giving it to other men in his
employment. Tne reason he assigned for his refusal
was, that the man had an improvident family, and he had
focnd it requisite, a few months before, to forgive him
ten or twelve pounds. At that time he decided on paying
his wages weekly, and did so thenceforward. such were
the reasons which Mr. Reade himself assigned to the
man for refu,ing to give him the quarter land. As the
unhappy individual is now in custody, we forbear from
further observation. We have reason to hope, however,
and indeed to believe, that there was nut a second person
in any manner concerned in the dreadful design, nor
aware of it. Mr. Reade has nearly fifty persons in his
employment, as he occupies about seven hundred acres
of land, a great part of which is under tillage. It would
be a severe loss to the several poor families thus sup-
plied with the means of supporting themselves, that the
life of their employer should be madly or wickedly taken
away. We are sincerely rejoiced that he has escaped
without injury ; and, next to this, we feel pleasure in
believing that no other individual in his employment, or
residing in his neighbourhood, had any part in the nefa-
riuus intention to terminate his existence."

RAILWAY SR sR.E MARKETS.
LIVERPOOL, Ditc. 23.
STOCK EXCIIANGPL—The sake are—Bolton, Wigan, and
Liverpool, New Shares, 2 p.—Derbv and Crewe, 2% p.—
Grand Junction, 242—Ditto, New Quarter Shares, 3314 p.
—Goole and Doncaster, 2s. dis.—Liverpool and Leeds Direct.
20s. dis. —Manchester and Leeds, Fifth Shares, 101/s p.—
North Staffordshire, 2N p.—North Wales Mineral, New
Shares, 312—Sheffield and Manchester, Quarter Shares, 6
p.—Somersetshire Midland, 1!,4 dis.—South-Eastern and
Dover, Consolidated Thirds, 214 p.—Ditto, Half Shares,
12s. 6d. p.—Teau and Dove \ alley, is. 6d. dis.—Dutch
Rhenish, 2%.
MANCHESTER, Dsc. 23.

STOCK EXCHANGE. —The sales' are—Clitheroe Junction,
27i4—Coventry and Leicester, 11,4—Eastern Counties, New,
121.165.—Ea5t Lancashire, No. 2, 83,i—Huddersfield, Hali-
fax, and Bradford, W. 12s. c.—Lancashire and North York-
shire, 43s.—Leicest-r and Bedford, 228.—Liverpool and Leeds
Direct. I%—Liverpool, Ormskirk, and Preston, 33A—Man-
chester and Birmingham, Quarters, 11—Ditto, ditto, 9
Manchester and Birmingham Continuation and Welsh June-
tion„%—Manchester and Leeds, Fifths, 1114—Manchester
and Southampton 2L,—North Staffordshire, 51. Os. 9d.—
Shropshire Union Railway and Canal, 87s.—South-Eastern
and Dover, Consolidated No. 3, Halves, 3-IVest Riding
Union, Si. 14s. 6d.—Nottingham, Erewash, Antbergate, and
Manchester, 2—Sheffield and Manchester, Quarter Shares,
No. 2, 84.
HULL, Dac. 23.

Srocx Excws.wox.—The news this morning from the Lon-
don market has ratter tended to revive the drooping spirits
of holders here, and consequently there is rather less disposi-
tion to sell. Reports about ale irregular deposit of plans,
&c., as also the incorrectness of many deposited, render tran-
sactions in scrip of projected lines not only difficult but dan-
gerous. The sales are—North British (Carlisle), 2%—
Grand Union, par—South and Midland Junction, 255.

YORK, DEC. 23.
STOCK EXCHANGE.—The sales are—York and North Mid-
land Extension, 27—Newcastle and Berwick, 104—London
and York, 3%—Grand Union, IX Welsh Midland, 0/s.
BRISTOL, b)sc: 23.
SToexEXCITANGE.—The only sale WAS—Bristol and Exeter.
New, 71,4. _ _

SHEFFIELD, Dee. 23.
STOCK EXCHANGE.—The sales are—Grimsby and Shef-
field, 97fi—Gnmsbv Extension, 113. p.—North Western, 2%
—Wakefield andifitrogate, 11. Bs. 6d.
GLASGOW, Dtt. 22. . _ _

STOCK EXCIIANOIC.—The Sales are—Aberdeen, Banff,
and Elgin, 35&—Caledonian, New, 10s. p.—Caledonian Ex-
tension, 584.—Caledonian and Ayrshire Junction, 395._
Dundee and Perth, 81.—East Indian Railway, 185.—Edin-
burgh, Glasgow, and Dumbarton, 16s.—Edinburgh and
Northern, 725. 6d.—Glasgow, Dumfries, and Carlisle, 40a.
—Glasgow, Eilmarnock, and Ardrossan, 65s.—Glasgow
Harbour Mineral, 39s.—Great North and South Wales, 12s.
6d.—Scottish Central, 13/.—South Midland, 85c.—Stirling
and Dumfermline, 425. 6d.

INCNNDIARISM.—On Tuesday the metropolitan and
city police received information that the outbuildings of Mr.
Ktlborn, farmer, of Desly,rough, Northamptonshire,
had been set on fire by some vile incendiary, and a barley
rick, a pea stack, a bean hovel, a qultaity of straw•, a waggon,
and several valuable agricultural implements were entirely
destroyed.

1-1 A ME. —A letter from Naples says, "The Em.
peror of Russia is expected here. The beggars and pick-
pockets are all in prison, to be carefully kept there till his
visit is over." Perhaps it is well enough to imprison the
beggars; but we do not see why the thieves should be
denied a sight of their Imperial brother—the pickpocket of
Poland.—Puack,

(Fitoes A CORRESPONDENT.)
The following account of the actual state of this de •
voted island may be depended upon. The writer is a
telen.ed gentleman, with much industry, and has a wire
and eight children totally dependent on his singe exer •
tuns. Every word he has uttered is truth. The Direc-
tors of the Company must rejoice at the departure from
office of the trou under Lord Stanley, in a firm beliet that
their successors will do quickly, what Lord Stanley Las
I:itely most unwillingly promised. There never was a
colony so cruelly used or neglected, and • the sooner the
Directors of the Company and the relatives of those.
unfortunates' who went out under the protection (as they
believed) of an honest Government, SPEAK OUT—AND lit
LANGUAGE NOT To BE kISUNDEHSTOOD —THE BETTER.
It is cruel—it is barbarous—so long to have left them
unheeded and unprotected, there to remain the victims
of the fearful misrule of the late Governor.
Extract of a letter from Moulds; Nelson, New Zea-
land, May 30, 1845 :
I should, indeed, under presetit circumstances, be
very cautious how I induced any one to come cut
to
New Zealand—not that my opiuion of hs ,
or capabilities is in the emalli st de'grce shored;
neither do I see any reason to change the opinion I then
formed of the evils lrch were likely to result from the
ma! administration of the Company's affairs, the defects
of their original plan, and the continued hostility of cur
local goverimeht. And yet I am one of the
Irene eful in our little .communitv. I believe
that vie shall eventually succeed, and that in the
face of circumstances discouragieg in no ordinary
degree. No vessel leaves our port a about taking away
some of our colonists—the last, I am told, taking thir-
teen families in the steerage ; and of the educated class,
out of about fifty, ten were enumerated to me lately as
making preparations for leaving. The effects of the
original deceit become more and more palpable, and as
in all such cases, sooner or later, are now recoiling on
its authors. They asserted a body of capitalists Mere
prepared to go out to found this settlement. of Nelson.
Not one ever came out. They arranged a scheme of
I,leo sections of land, and fund a place with barely 500,
so that one-half their purchasers must draw a blank,
or, what is equivalent, land not worth the experre
of cultivation. If this settlement is to prosper, it must
be by the representations of actual colonists to their
English friends. Now I will venture to assert that not
one person can be found here to advise a friend to put
his hand in the ballot- hex; and the New Zealand Cern-
pany itself, if it wishes to preserve any reputation for
honesty or fair dealing, cannot allow any one to do so
after the strong statements which have been forwarded
to it from here. But I much doubt if the Directors will
have the opportunity. The late events at the Bay Cf
Islands (of which, when you have read the accounts in
the Nelson Examiner, on the files of the New Zealand
Company's house, you will know as much as we do here),
although three hundred miles off, will deter all from
venturing to so unsettled a country, where Go-
vernment tells colonists only thirteen miles from
the capital, Auckland, that they are out of the pale
of protection. And here again the chalice is returned
to their own lips. A Governor sent out to rule 8,000
or 9,000 Englishmen, fixes his seat of government 300
miles off, where thelaxid is already sufficiently occupied
by native tribes, most of whom, by pre-ents and mis-
sionary persuasions, he, induces to sign a treaty making
them subjects of Great Britain. lie believes lie can
govern these half:civilised, lalf-concerted savages by
motel influence aloneovithout any physical force to back
him. He dies, and his successor, imbued with the same
ideas, as well as conscious of his own inability to enforce
compliance with his orders, begins by slurring over the
murders atte-xvi,,lfau;tillovit all indiVidual acts of' native
aggression, robbery, and vii lence. to go unpunished, and
drawing the greater part of his revenue from the Com-
pany's settlements, tells them en masse they ire inter-
lopers and trespassers, and if they dare to resist native
aggression will do so at their peril. But his Maori sub-
jeets begin' to be troublesome. They say they did not
understand that in signing a treaty they were to pay
more for their flour,, sugar, and tobacco than formerly;
and, lo the Governor abolishes the customs. They
next complain that the treaty does them an injury in
preventing them from disposing of their lands to whom-
soever they please ; and again an ordinance is passed allow.
ing all men to buy of them on payment of one penny per
acre. Nothing now remained but the mere shadow of
allegiance, and accordingly some who did not sign the
treaty very logically refused to be bound by its provi-
sions, and cut down the British flag, once, twice, and a
third time, on the last occasion being joined by another
party, who, after a sharp fight, enter, sack, and burn the
settlement of Russell. They now threaten Auckland,
which has already as a settlement for peaceable people
received its coup de grace, and withottt a very strong
military force and much bloodshed will nor,
in my opinion, exist a twelvemonth hence. 'Welling-
ton has its own troubles. The natives refuse to leave
the lands for which they had been paid over and over
again, in the hope of still more ; the settlers are, so to
speak, penned up in the sown, and how they get on at
all is a mystery. Here, at Nelson, we have got on our
lands, and the Maoris are too few to annoy us ; and we
feel only the moral effects of these distant comtnotiona,
being, as it appears, overlooked by our Governor, a ho has
never visited us since his ertival, 18 months ago; so that
the cause of our standing still must be looked for else% here,
I believe thetn to lie mainly in the particulars I have already
enumerated. Take my own case, for example. The scheme
talks of concentratien and its consequent advantages
Of"lnutual aid, protection, and society. I have one neigh-
bour half a mile off, and one only. The land around is ex-
cellent, but silent and waste; several settlers would wil-
lingly have set down beside sue, but cannot; before and
fly hind me are native reserves, and on each side unsold
allotments, which may remain so my lifetime. 'Low,
then, can I ask any one to join me? You will leaner
from this account that the agency of your land is merely
nominal, and that, with the exception of your town
ace trs, you have no title yet given you fer a single foot
of ground in New Zealand. Your land at Ma-
nawatu for years to come will be useless ; that
in the Hutt, leading to an extensive inland valley, the
Wairarapa, will be valuable as soon as the native& are
brought into subjection. Selling or exchanging your
land for wood is at present out of the question, even
your Hutt land, and as to that at Manawatu, the Cote.
parry not being able to give possession, is, I fancy, bound
to return the purchase-money."

THE ARMY,
COURTS-MARTIAL.
CIRCULAR ON THE RETURNS 07 Cu
It having been deemed expedient to discontinue the
detailed half-yearly returns of courts-martial hitherto
required from regiments and depots, from the lit Jan.
next, I have it in command to notify the same to you,
and to call your attention specially to the following
instructions, rendered necessary in order that the series
of records preserved in this department may be continued
uninterrupted by the proposed arrangement:—
" Horse Guards, Dec. 6, 1845.
"The inner sheets, containing the entries of courts-
martial up to the 31st instant only, are to accompany the
summaries furnished at the first half-yearly inspection
after the receipt of this older. Subs. quently to that
inspection, general officers are to forward, with their
confidential reports, the summaries (without the inner
&fleets), and the 'general abstract of the summaries, &c.,'
filled up as at present.
" The size of the monthly return of courts-martial
has been somewhat reduced, and the form slightly
altered. As the return will be bound up and preserved
as a record in the Adjutant-General's office, commanding
officers of regiments and depots are strictly enjoined not
to allow the slightest deviation therefrom in any par-
ticular, and after the Ist of January, 1846, no other
Corm of return is to be used.

" The greatest attention is to be bestowed on the
preparation of this return, and previously to its trans-
mission it must be carefully examined, and if necessary-,
corrected by the general officer, who will make such re-
marks as he may deem fit in the column se'. apart for
that purpose.

" As this new form will nut reach regiments at many
of the stations abroad in sufficient time to be used for
the month of January, 1846, commanding officers, not-
withstanding they may have already forwarded returns
of the old form, are to prepare others of the new one for
as many months as the old ones may have been for-
warded, commencing with the above month, and transmit
them to the Adjutant-General.
" I have the honour to be, Sir, your very obedient
humble servant, (Signed)
" JOHN MACDONA...II, Adjutant-General."

---
SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.
ItiAmciiEsTEß, • TUESDAY Evt:xuso.—Very few subcribers
present ; nothing done.

SCARCITY OF GRAIN IN INDIA.—The price of grain
has again risen in the Calcutta market. Immediately after
the recent inundations the prices bad become extremely ex-
orbitant. Some days after the traffic in rice for exportation
was suspended, but has since been resumed, and the people
Now are obliged to pay for the &dam rice which they eat, at
a rupee and 14 annas per maund, while there is every pros-
pect of further increase in the price to 2 or 2} rupees per
maund
be . The[nice of grain has likewise been enhanced. It
cannot procured under a rupee and 10 annas per maund.
Other articles, especially those adapted for exportation, have
risen in price. It is difficult to say to what extent suffering
and distress may be prevalent among the humbler dame,
But still the fall of rain in the commencement of Kartick re-
vived the hopes of good crops. To what, then, is to be
ascribed this scarcity of grain in the markets ?—Cal tuna
Bhashur, Nov. 4.
ANTI-CORN-LAW AIERTING AT DEVONPORT.—
The Devonporf Independent says that one of the largest
meetings that ever took place at Devonport, assembled
within the walls of the Town-hall on Ihursday even-
ing, for the purpose of considering the propriety- of
petitioning her most gracious Majesty that the ports
of the country may be thrown open for the free inipor-
tationshowing the great
of corn and every article of food. The requisition to
the Mayor to convene the meeting was signed by upwards
of 1,200 of the most respectable of the inhabitants, cons-
prising
iterest‘t\tilelt ißnaadiqeaulesetinodneeofuslrl'i.aitmi‘p'Ortance to the future
comforts, nay, existence of millions of our fellow-subjects in
this country and in Ireland. The Mayor took the chair at
seven o'clock, and a petition in favour of opening the ports
was agreed to with enthusiasm.
Mr. Hutchinson, of Trinity College, Cambridge,
was received into the Roman Catholic Church, at Birming-
ham, on Sunday last. We understand that above thirty of
the late parishioners of the Rev. Marshall, of Swalloweliffe,
Wilts, have, together with their pastor, conformed to the
Church of Rome. Mr. Oakeley, late Fellow of Balliol
has entered als a student in Theoloo at St. Edmund's
College, Hertfordshire, under Dr. Griffiths, Vicar Apostolic Of
the London District.
Viscount and Viscountess Villiers and the Hon.
Miss Villiers arrived in town on Monday, from Upton House,
Warwickshire, and on Tuesday went to Worthing, for the ad-
vantage of the sea air, her Ladyehip being extremely delicate
after her recent severe illness.
Viscount Morpeth has left Grosvenor-place for
Castle Howard.
t:

p;.•

VEWSPAPER

.~~
`f

41

v
'N~~ •~
` /'l^

Z .' i