The Sun.
London, England, 1845-07-07 00:00:00

THE SLAVE TRADE.

According to accounts received from Ainerica by the
Cambria steamer, it seems that the slave schooner Spit-
fire, purporting. to belorg to New Orleans, which was
seized on the coast of Africa by the combined boats r:f
the United States brig Truxton, and her Majesty's
steamer Ardent, bad arrived at BJston. She was
sent to the United States by the officer in command
of the Truxton, and her master, Peter Flowery,
has been convicted of intent to employ the
Spitfire in the slave trade. It appeared on the trial
that the schooner was built in Baltimore, and was once
known as the Caballero of that city. She had made One
successful voyage from -Africa to Cuba, and had landed
.3.50
.slaves near the Matanias. She was then in. com-
mand of one Captain Gordon, who sold her to Paul
Faber, a Virginian by birth, and now a noted slave
factor on the Rio Pongo. Gordon and his mate, Turner,
subsequently sailed from Boston in the schooner Man-
chester, to Rio Pongo. Soon after she arrived there
Captain Gordon died, and the schooner.was afterwards
wrecked. Turner, the mate, found his way to the
United States brig of war Truxton, then on the coast,
and gave intbrmation that the schooner Spitfire, then in
the Pongo River, was the same vessel formerly known as
the Caballero, and a slaver. He gave this information,
as he testified, from revenge, in consequence of some
trouble with Faber (who he supposed owned her) in not
paying him his wages.
An expedition of boats, English and American, was
immediately fitted out, and the Spitfire was seized. She
was found near Faber's slave factory, with a portion of her
cargo, consisting of ten hogsheads of tobacco and some
other articles, still on board. She was in command of
Captain Flowery,. the defendant, and had been lying
there fur several weeks..

By the papers found on board, it appeared that
Captain Flowery had sailed in her from Havannah
to Key West, end_ thence to New Orleans, where a
bill of sale appeared to have been executed by one
J. M. Anguerra, aeting as the agent and attorney
of Edwin A. Fslker, of Key West. The
price paid for her was 7,500 dollars. She had no
register, but upon the bill of sale there was a certificate
that she was American property, with a statement that
she could have no register in consequence of having
been owned by foreigners. There was also found a
charter party executed between the captain and one J.
Scorsur, by the terms of which the vessel was to proceed
from New Orleans to Havannah, and thence to Rio
Pongo for 5,000 dollars. It appeared in evidence that
the vessel sailed from New Orleans in November, with
a cargo consi,ting of 30 hogsheads of tobacco and some
smaller articles. She proceeded to Havannah with Scor-
sur on board. There she took in some shooks and dry
goods, and cleared for the Cape de Verd Islands, but
she proceeded to Rio Pongo direct.

IRISH NATIONAL EDUCATION.
TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE HUNTINGDON-
SHIRE BOARD OF EDUCATION.
Gentlemen,—The Warder of last Saturday hiving promul-
gated your address to the Irish Prelates as "an expression of
your sympathy with the Irish Church at the present moment,
in their struggle for the maintenance of a Scripture education
for the poor," I beg leave to set you right on a most important
and misrepresented hinge of the educational controversy,
namely, the assumed mutilation and expulsion of the Serip-
tures ; and, possibly, my refutation of this sedulously propa-
gated error may have the more weight, as coming from one
not imbued with the new-born zeal of a ministerial convert,
but coolly observing the development of a system which, as cal-
culated to diffuse the blessings of general education, he hailed
the introduction of with gratitude, and supported, ab initio,
with steadiness and consistency.
I have already, in many publications, proved that the bap-
tising of Scripture lessons, or extracts, " mutilations," is as
contrary to reason as to fact ; Sellon's " Abridgment of the
Old," or Grey's " Key to the New Testament," Mrs. Trim-
mer's Lessons from each, the Epitomes published by the As-
sociation for discountenancing Vice, and taught universally in
their schools ; or the Scripture Lessons of the late Kildare-
place Society, were never considered obnoxious to the epithet ;
and the following passage, from the preface to the Lessons of
the Board, must, to any but those wilfully blind, carry con-
viction :

,‘ These Lessons, as the name imports, are drawn
from the Sacred Volume, and are almost entirely in the lan-
guage of Scripture, translated literally from the o:iginal.
When passages are introduced, not in Scripture language
(chiefly summaries of some portion of the narrative), they are
inclosed between brackets, and usually distinguished by being
printed in a smaller type. These selections are offered, net as
a substitute for the Sacred Volume itself, but as an introdue-
tints to it; and they have been compiled in the hope of their
leading to a more general and more profitable perusal of the
Word of God."

I fearlessly pronounce those Lessons to be unexceptionable
and faithful translations, and have used them in my own family
in preference to the " Volume of the Book," on the principle
of St. Paul.-1 Cor. iii., 2.
A thirst for ascendancy is the bane of both improvement and
of religion, and it is alike common to every branch of the Ca-
tholic stem ! It impedes both the philanthropist and the states-
man, has neutralised the benefits of national education in Ire-
land byits exhibitionsamengst the clergy of the Establishment,
and threatens to render the noble plan of academical instruc-
tion nugatory, by its assertion on the part of the Romish eccle-
siastics ; descending to misrepresentation, it disgraces both,
and impedes the best interests of the community.—l have the
honour to be, Gentlemen,' your obedient humble servant,
E. TIGRE GREGORY, D.D., LL.D.,
Rector and Vicar of Kilmore.
Paget Priory, Kilcock, July 1, 1845.

MAGAZINES.-CONTINUED.
AINSWORTH'S MAGAZINE.

This magazine, albeit Mr. Ainsworth has ceased to be
ht editor, still retains his name, ut locus a non lucendo.
But, although Mr. Ainsworth has left, other and as
worthy men have been found to supply his place, and
this is, perhaps, the best number of the magazine that
has yet been published. It opens with the introductory
chapters of a new romance, entitled " Ehrenstein," from
the pen of G. P. Itr. James, and albeit we have but three
chapters, the author in these three chapters has
managed to excito the most intense interest in the
fortunes of his hero and heroine. We had marked out
some exquisite descriptions of rural scenery for extract,
but want of room compels us to forego the pleasure of
presenting them to our readers. We cannot, however,
resist giving the following exquisite serenade, sung by
the hero Ferdinand, of Altenburg, beneath the window
of his ladye love, Adelaide of Ehrenstein:—

Wander with me, loved one, loved one,
Wander with me, where none can see,
Through the wood,
By the flood,
Under the greenwood tree.

Wander with me, loved one, loved one.
Wander with me where none can hear,
Where none is nigh,
But the birds that fly,
And the timid and silent deer.
Wander with me, loved one, loved one,
Wander with me where none can mark,
Where the leaves green
Our love shall screen
In their bower 'twist light and dark.
Wander with me, loved one, loved one,
And a tale to thee tell,
Which, if thy heart
With mine takes part,
Shall please thine ear right well.
The author of the prohibited comedy, Richelieu in Love,
has also joined the corps of this magazine, and gives us
"The Merry Wives of Stamboul," far and away the
best magazine tale of the month. If it is not a trans-
lation from some unpublished volume of the " Arabian
Nights," we shall be almost compelled to believe in the
doctrine of the transmigration of souls, for most as-
suredly the soul of him who told the tale of the Sleeper
Awakened at this moment animates the body of the
author of " The Merry Wires of Stamboul.' "A
Country Editor," by Shirley Brooks, is evidently a sketch
from the life. The other article are all above par, and this
is certainly the best number of Ainsworth that has yet
appeared.

LIGHTHOUSE ON THE GODWIN.—Mr. Bush, after
having surmounted every obstacle in the erection of the build-
ing to contain the " light for all nations," is now contend-
ing with the greatest difficulty, namely its useful applica-
tion. The Trinity Board has the exclusive privilege of
managing the light-houses on the English coast, and al-
though this privilege was originally granted for the
public good, it has now, like many mor•, be-
come subservient to private interests. The elder
brethren are jealous of their rights, they cannot brook the in-
trusion of a bold, persevering, and clever man succeeding where
they have failed, and they appear more disposed to visit the
offending party with their displeasure than to hail the suc-
cess of the undertaking, and to reward the skilful engineer for
the additional protection he offers to the lives and property of
our merchants and seamen.—The Builder.

BRANDING TIIE POOR.—On Friday morning, be-
tween eleven and twelve o'clock, a poor halfwitted creature was
seen in the neighbourhood of Finsbury-square and the City-read,
followed by a " gaping crowd," collected around him by the odd-
ness of kis garb. His nether garment consisted of a pair of fustian
trousers, having impressed upon the scat and legs, in black letters,
the words—" Aylesbury Union." His body was encased in a
white duck frock, similar to those worn by scavengers, whilst on
his back, front, and sides again appeared in formidable black let-
ters, which no washing could obliterate, the words " Aylesbury
Union." The bystanders expressed themselves in strong terms of
reprobation of the conduct of the AyZSilury,.guardians in thus cast-
ing an unnecessary stigma upon -
The following horrible sujae took place at Ram-
bouillet on Monday. A ciillai:maker, named Mulochot, having
become much embarrassed in his circumstances, and unable to
pay the rent of the wretched shop in which he worked, was threat-
ened with the seizure of his goods. He declared that if a finger
was laid o.t anything belonging to htra, he would kill himself. A
huissier having come to effect the seizure, Mulochot ran to a
heavily-laden waggon, drawn by four horses, that was passing, and
threw himself under the wheels. In a moment the vehicle passed
over him, and he was a corpse. He has kV a widow and family.

DEATH OF LORD SEAFORD.—This Noble Lord
died suddenly on Wednesday, at his seat, Woodend, near Chi-
chester, in his seventy.fourth year. Charles nose Ellis, Baron
Seaford, of the county of Sussex ; so created July 15, 1826. He
was born December 19, 1771. On the 2d August, 175)8, he mar-
ried Elizabeth Catherine Caroline,
Lord Hervey, eldest son and heir.apparent of Frederick, fourth
Her
only child of John
,Augfuosutruts4
Earl of Bristol, and by her had two sons and a daughter.
Ladyship died January 21, 1803; and on the Ist October, 1840,
his Lordship married Anne Louisa Emily, daughter of Admiral
the Hon. Sir George Crantield Berkeley, G.C.8., and relict of
Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Masterrnan Hardy, Bart., G.C.B. The
Noble Lord's eldest son, Lord de Walden, succeeds to the title
and estates ; his Lordship is her Majesty's Ambassador to the
Court of Portugal
FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE RIVER.—On Thursday
afternoon, Mr. Hobbs, a Custom House ollleer, who had been in
the service many years, and had arri"ed at the rank of a coasting
waiter, after visiting the Ramona steamer, in the course of his duty,
stepped into a lighter alongside, and was about to get into a revenue
galley, when the swell of a steam-vessel passing at full speed, gave
the barge a lurch, and threw him into the river. Ile disappeared
'instantly, and never rose again. Search was made for the body,
but it could not be recovered. The deceased, who was a moit active
and valuable revenue officer, was 33 years of age. Ile has left a
widow and three children.
The commune of Zurich lleugg (says the New
Zurich Gazette) has conferred the freedom of that place on Dr.
Steiger and his family. The resolution was COMO to by a majority
of 126 to 5. It is said that he will take up his residence in a town
L its the south of Francs.

*Omar
ANTI-MAYNOOT. H. CONfERENCE

' (From the Scotsman.)
REPORT OF THE PROCEE!),INGS OF THE PR:N.
TESTANT DISSENTERS' ANTI-MAYNOOTH
CONFERENCE, held ;At Crosby-hall, London, May
20th and 21st, 1845.

When this Conference was held, we were unable
to do more than give a few short scraps of the pro-
ceeding, as our columns were then crowded with
the discussions in the two Assemblies and in Par-
liament. We have since looked into the xeport,
which is published in a neat small volume of
eighty pages, price sixpence. We have read it
with great interest, and only regret that we can-
not tell our readers in this quarter where to find
it; for, strange to say, there neither are nor have
been any copies on sale in th:s town. The im-
portance and influential character of the meeting
may be inferred from the fact, that within a fortnight
after the circular was issued, about seven hundred
gentlemen obeyed the summons, many of them.from
distant localities. This Conference must not be con-
founded with the contemporary assemblage in Exeter
Hall, where a small number of Dissenters united, iu
our opinion very injudiciously, with a crowd of vio-
lent Churchmen, in raising the No Popery cry, the
primary political effect of which is to strengthen the
" monster church of Ireland." It is time to strike a
blow at the roDt. The cry should not be against
Popery, but against the Establishment principle which
corrupted Popery, and corrupts every sect on whom
its blighting influence falls. The resolutions of the
Crosby Hall meeting, as the pretkory notice states,
"were based upun sound and intelligible principles; and
whilst the religious differences between Prceestant
Nonconformists and Roman Catholics were fully re-
cognised, and due importance attached to them by the
Conference, it will be difficult to discover in the re-
port a single expression upon which a charge of in-
tolerance can be grounded." This is high praise, and
justly merited. The proceedings were generally con-
ducted in an excellent spirit. The only very violent
proposition submitted to the meeting (calling upon
Dissenting electors to withhold their votes at next
election from every member who had supported the
' incroased grantto Maynooth) was rejectel, after an ani-
mated but temperate discussion. The sober argumenta-
tive cast of the speeches, and the liberal spirit which they
breathe, form a beautiful contrast to the noisy and
intolerant declamation of Exeter Hall. We cannot
describe the pleasure with which we read the follow-
ing short address by the gentleman who seconded
the first resolution. Our readers will see that it. em-
bodies the precise opinions we have expressed respect-
ing the Maynooth Bill, and the project of endowing
the Catholic clergy. We wish those who charge the
Dissenters with narrow-minded bigotry would pe-
ruse it :

The Rev. TuoMAs TOLLER, of Kettering, in se-
conding the resolution, said—This question, con-
cerning the grant to Maynooth College, has been to
me one of the most trying questions on which I
have ever been called to take any practical steps.
Holding, as I do, in common with my brethren, the
utter inadmissibility of all State endowments of reli-
gion, I have yet felt that, if ever it would be safe
and innocent to depart from a great and sacred prin-
ciple, it would be so with respect to the proposed
grant to the College of Maynooth. When I con-
sider the gross injustice which has been inflicted on
my Catholic fellow-subjects in Ireland, especially in
connexion with the existence of an opulent and domi-
neering religious establishment in that country, I
cannot but feel that, if it were proper that there
should be an endowed Church in the world, we
ought not merely to grant them the paltry 29,0001.,
but to transfer the whole of the ecclesiastical pro-
perty of Ireland to their hands. And having done
this, we should hare rendered them but a very mode-
rate compensation for the many acts of misrule
and oppression under which they have for ages
groaned. There is a further ground on which I
should have been glad, if possible, to grant them
this endowment. I am persuaded it would be the
most effectual means of depriving their system of
all its moral power. If the voluntary principle be
right, then the most effectual way of putting down
the force and vital influence of any religious system
on the mind of its adherents is to endow that sys-
tem. Another consideration that made me reluc-
tant to join in opposition to the endowment of May-
nooth was this. I have some scruples with respect
to political agitation, and the convention of lare-e
numbers, with a view to promote any particular
object we may have before us. Certainly I never
could have joined with those meetings that were
convened in another place (Exeter Hall) a short
time ago. I hold in the utmost abhorrence that
arrogant spirit which would expect that the Legis-
lature should withhold its patronage from the
Roman Catholics, just because we tell them that
the Roman Catholics are in error. This appears
to me to imply the assumption of infallibility. When
we endeavour to prove a thing, we depend, for pro-
clueing conviction, upon the force of argument;
when we merely assert it in strong terms, without
attempting to prove it, we rely, for producing the
effect we desire, upon the weight of our personal or
collective authority. But how can we expect our
rulers to take for granted, on our bare dictum; that
we are certainly right and the Catholics wrong, unles;
we suppose they will concede to us a claim to infalli-
bility ? If we are infallible, our assertion is sufficient
proof that the opinions we disapprove are false; but if
we are just as liable to be inistuken as those whose opi-
nions we condemn, an impartial judge will, of course,
before he receives our dictum, compare the numbers and
other qualifications of the two parties. And, supposing
this rule to be followed, what appearance would the
evangelical bodies of England and elsewhere make,
in contrast to the vast body of the Roman Catholic
community ! I hold that all evangelical bodies, en-
dowed and unendowed, throughout the world, are
a small company, compared with the whole Catholic,
church; and, therefore, if mere authority is consi-
dered, the scale must decidedly preponderate in
favour of the presumption that truth is with the Ca-
tholics, and error with their opponents. So that,
I repeat it, unless we assume that we are infallible,
we cannot reasonably expect the Government to
withhold from Catholics any patronage which it is
fit to extend to religion at all, merely because we,
forsooth, pronounce their opinions erroneous. The
foregoing considerations would have led me, if a
great principle had pot been at stake, to have sup-
ported rather than have opposed the endowment of
Maynooth. But high and sacred principles must
never be abandoned. No considerations of conve-
nience or expediency—no prospect of good or fear of
evil—can ever justify, or render consistent with an
enlarged prudence, a departure from them on any
occasion. Seeing, therefore, that such a principle
is involved in the question before us, I feel myself
compelled to resist a measure which assumes the right
of civil governments to apply public money to the en-
dowment of religion. The resolution which has been put
into my hands by the committee exactly meets my
views on this subject. I apprehend that, in coming
forward with such a resolution, I shall purge myself
from the imputation of holding any sympathy with
those who oppose the grant simply on religious
grounds. It appears to me that the only intelligible
and solid principle on which we can go forth in oppo-
sition to the Maynooth grant is the Voluntary princi-
ple itself. This is the only ground that will stand
firm under us. We must go against all endowments
of religion, in every form, as offensive to God and
unjust to man. Were we to be silent with respect to
the endowment bestowed on the Episcopal Church in
England, and the Presbyterian Church in Scotland,
and to complain only of that now proposed for May-
nooth, it would be like expressing alarm at the ap-
pearance of a pimple on a man's face, when you know
there is a cancer which has been for years preying
on his vitals."
That our readers may be in a condition to appre-
ciate the speech, we subjoin the resolution in support
of which it was delivered:—

" That this Conference view with serious appre•
hension and unqualified disapproval, the Bill fur the
permanent endowment of Alaynooth College, recently
submitted to Parliament by her Majesty's Govern-
m nt, and now pr, posed for a third reeding in the
House of Commons; that, differing widely, as they
are well known to do, in religious faith and worship
from those of their fellow-subjects whom this measure
is professedly framed to. conciliate, and attaching to
such difference the highest importance, they feel it
the more incumbent upon them to declare that they
would not on this account withhold from others a
single advantage which they should justly claim or
accept for themselves at t
kihe hands of the Impe-
rial Legislature ; that loong to the circumetances
which obviously suggested the Bill, and to the
avowed opinion of many of its warmest supporters,
they are compelled to regard it as a cautious but de-
liberate approach towards the establielitnent of the
Roman Ca'holic Church in Ireland ; that, in their
judgment, the alliance of the civil power with any
form or forms of religion, and, as the fruit of that
alliance, the support by compulsory enactments of
religious teachers of any denomination, are dan-
gerous to the liberty of the subject, subversive:of the
rights of conscience, prejudicial to the cause of
Christianity, and offensive to God; that, under this
conviction, they record their solemn protest against
the Protestant church establishments already exist-
ing in these realms, as well as against every grant
of public money for ecclesiastical purposes ; arid that
seeing in the Maynooth Endowment Bill a further
extension of a principle, every embodiment of:which
they hold to be detrimental to the best intorests of
the empire, they pledge themselves to make every
legitimate effort to prevent its being passed into a
law."

WAR FIELD CORN MARKET. JULY 4.—Thare is a
moderate supply of all grain up for title day's market. ‘Vheat is
as. per quarter dearer than last Friday, with a limited sale, but
factors are very firm in demanding the advance. Thereis no alters.
tion in the price of either oats or beans, and a very limited tra4B il3
each. Bailey nominal.

RAILWAY COMMITTEES.

(SATURDAY.)

HOUSE OF LORDS.
CALEDONIAN RAILWAY.
The Committee met to-day at eleven o'clock, when the further
consideration of the clauses of the Bill for this line of railway was

resumed.
The claim of Sir Thomas Darymple, which we referred to yes-
terday, was this morning settled by the introduction of a clause
into the Bill to protect his property.
Mr. Ausrix requested the Committee, as they had given a fa.
vourable opinion respecting the traffic on the Glasgow, Dumfries,
and Carlisle line, to accede to a resolution embodying that opinion.
The Committee refused the request of the Learned Gentleman,
and intinaated they would express no opinion further than they had
done in the progress of the investigation.
The opposition of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Company was ter-
minated by the Committee agreeing to certain clauses for the pro-
tection of the interests of the company.
The clauses of the Bill, with these additions, were then gone
into and agreed to.

THE CLYDESDALE JUNCTION RAILWAY.
Mr. HOPE opened the case on behalf of this line of railway,
which is to form one part of the forks of the Caledonian line to
the city of Glasgow. He went at length into the leading features of
the Bill, the particulars of which hare already appeared, showing
the immense advantage it would confer on the district through
which it passed, in the conveyance of mineral traffic, indepen-
dently of the passengers that might reasonably be calculated on.
The only opponents to the Bill in its present stage, he stated, were
Mr. Graham, a landed proprietor on the line, who was not satisfied
with the compensation afforded, Mrs. Hamilton, of Bothwell-park,
and the Garukirk and Glasgow Railway Company. The latter Com.
pany opposed them on the supposition that the present line would
take away from them a portion of their present traffic. Having corn-
merited in detail on the various points which he intended to prove
in evidence, the Learned Gentleman proceeded to call his witnesses.
Mr. Black, baker, and member of the town council of Hamilton,
was called, to prove that in the present traffic between that town
and the city of Glasgow there were engaged no less than nine stage
coaches, making each two trips daily. He showed that the pro-
posed line would materially advantage the trade of Hamilton and
the agricultural interests of the surrounding districts; and parti-
cularly it would give an impetus to the trade in gas coal, which
even now employed from seventy to eighty horses and carts regu-
larly in taking that coal to Glasgow. The general interests of
the district required such a line as that under consideration.
Mr. Henderson, banker of Hamilton, corroborated the evidence
liven by Mr. Black.
Mr. Orr, cashier of the Blantyre cotton-works on the Clyde,
gave evidence respecting the amount of the traffic between that
establishment and Glasgow, the particulars of which have been
already published.
Mr. Wilson, of Dundyvon iron-works, was examined generally
respecting the mineral resources of the district, and in regard to
the amount of iron and coal that might be expected to be carried
along the Motherwell branch of the Clydesdale line. He re.
peated some facts respecting the large and increasing mineral
produce of that part of the country which have already been given
in the report of the evidence before the Commons' Committee.
Mr. Stewart, ironmaiter, and Mr. Stretchbury, mineral surveyor,
were examined as to the mineral resources of the district ; at the
termination of which the Committee adjourned till Monday next
♦t eleven o'clock.

STANDING ORDERS COMMITTREC.
The Committee met at twelve o'clock, the Earl of Shaftesbury
in the chair.
The Wear Valley Railway Bill was first brought under the con.
sideration of the Committee.
It was unopposed and passed.
TUE EDINBURGH NORTHERN RAILWAY.
This Bill was next brought before the Committee.
It was opposed on the ground that due notice had not hock pven,
and that the technical forms had not been complied with. The
chief objection of this sort was, that notice had not been given of
alterations which had been made in the progress of the Bill.
This allegation was answered by the promoters, who stated that
they could not have anticipated the alterations which the Com-
mittee of the House of Commons had made.
It was decided that the standing orders had been complied with.
The Bill then passed through Committee. but it was rumoured
that it would 6e stoutly opposed on its merits in a Commit-
tee of the Lords.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
GROUP P.

IvIIONMOUTH AND HEREFORD RAILWAY.
The Committee reassembled at the usual hour this morning, and
immediately proceeded to the consideration of the above scheme.
Mr. Tatater opened the case for the promoters by observing that
he proposed to submit to the Committee an unopposed Bill, and he
hoped there would be no difficulty in the matter. It
would be necessary to alter the preamble of the Bill.
In consequence of the difficulty attending the crossing
aaf the Severn, it was intended to abandon the part of the railway
in Wit vicinity. The alterations rested on the expediency of con-
.structing a line of railway to Standish. A junction would be
formed with the South Wales Railway, so as more intimately to
connect Monmeuthshire and Herefordshire with that line. Powers
would then be required to be taken to make a short branch into the
Forest of Dean, w as more effectually to open up that rich
mineral district ; and by continuing the line to the eastward
an unbroken line of communication would be established between
Hereford, Ross, Monmouth, and London. A project had some
time since been referred to the Committee, which had met with
favourable notice, and was called the Gloucester and Forest of
Dean Railway. It had, however, beed defeated in the Standing
Orders Committee, and it was proposed to Make a communication
with that line when it should receive the ParliaiCentary sanction.
The line would termiNate at theparish of Blaisdon, so that. he junction
with the shorter railway could be easily effected. The
length of the line had been laid down at 45 miles, it had, howevs7,
been sub,equently reduced to 34 miles. It was proposed, however,
to retain the original capital in the Bill of 550,0001. The Board
of Trade had reported favourably of the line, and had stated that it
was well calculated to afford general accommodation to the districts
which it traversed, and would be of great service
to the Forest of Dean, by opening up the mineral
fields there. It was proposed by this branch to furnish
Hereford with a proper supply of coals. The present
price of coals at the pit's mouth was 6s. 6d. per ton, and
the expense of carriage by the Wye was 95., and, if carried by
land the amount was 13s. The railway would convey
the coal for 3s. per ton, so that the coal which was
now sold in Hereford at 21s. per ton would, if
the railway were constructed, be sold at the moderate price of 1 Is.
per ton. He would also remark that in Hereford, which was a
kind of Arcadia, nothing was so much desired as a facile commu-
nication with neighbouring counties for the disposal of its agricul-
tural and orchard produce, the trade in which was now almost in abey-
ance in consequence of the great expense and delay in transmission.
Cyder was at present a complete drug in the market, and was sold
at a mere nominal price, averaging from 4d. to 6d. per gallon, a
price which was not nearly sufficient to remunerate the producer.
It was also to be hoped that before long Herefordshire would
possess a legitimate market for the sale of its hops. It was a notorious
fact that nine-tenths of the hops sold at Worcester were originally
brought from Herefordshire. The construction of the proposed
line would tend in every way to promote the interests of Hereford
and Monmouth, and the intermediate and adjacent places. He
would not enter into any exposition of the engineering details, as
he intended very shortly to call Mr. Brunel, the engineer, who
would explain to the Committee the course of the line. He would
now proceed with the examination of witnesses, and as the Bill was
unopposed, he trusted the Committee would be in a condition to pass
the preamble of the line without any difficulty.
In reply to a question from Mr. CHIPPS,
Mr. TeLiscie said it was his intention to have the line •estried
frurn Westbury, via Gloucester, to the:north bank of the Nevem
Mr. Anthony, who was the first witness called, stated that
a proper supply of coals would be a very important point,
The coals were principally supplied from the Forest of
Dean, and were generally brought by the Wye. Very little was
exported in consequence of tho difficulty attending its transude.
sion. The witness also spoke as to the traffic in copse.wood for
charcoal, hops, and cyder, which latter article was sold at 2id.
per gallon, and deposed generally as to the benefits which would
be derived to the county if the line were constructed.

Mr. S. Powell, of Old Forge, said he had been engaged in trade
an his life, and was well acquainted with the navigation of the Wye,
and also possessed a complete knowledge of the trade in the coun-
ties of Monmouth and Hereford. The commerce was principally
conveyed by water. Great quantities of bark and copse wood
wore produced in Herefordshire. The wood, when converted into
claarco.i, would be transmitted by the railway into Staffordshire,
for the use of the iron trade.

The CHAIRMAN, at the close of the examination of the last

witness, said it was not necessary to examine any more witnesses
as to the general produce of the districts which the line traversed.
The principal difficulty in the project was the branch to Blarsdon.
It appeared to the Committee that there would not be a sufficient
terminus there.
Mr. AUSTIN said he would at once proceed to the engineering
evidence, so as to satisfy the Committee of the practicability of the
entire scheme.
Mr. Brunel deposed that there would be no difficulty in making
a railway into the Forest of Dean so as to join Gloucester. The
total mileage of the main line was thirty-two miles and a fraction,

which was exclusive of the Forest of Dean branch

From Mon-

mouth to Hereford the distance would be twenty-two miles, and
the branch from there to Westbury would be rather more than ten
miles. The small branch to the Forest of Dean, to unite with
the Forest of Dean Railway, would_be: four miles in length.
The capital for the construction of the line was 550,0001.
The line did not present any very serious engineering
difficulties. A considerable number of tunnels would, however, be
necessary, as the railway passed through a very rough country.
The tunnels could all be easily worked, as the strata consisted prin.
cipally of red sandstone. The length of the principal tunnel was
1,432 yards. The whole number of tunnels on the line was nine,
but they were generally very short. Several of them were of the sec-
tional area of 28 feet by 25 feet, The steepest gradient consisted
of lin 81, and was two miles and 56 chains in length. The
smallest radius of a curve was 18 chains, which was situated near
the Ross station, and its position was not at all objectionable. A
ew highways would be crossed on the level, but none of them were
of any considerable importance. The line would communicate with
the South Wales Railway at Monmouth, so as to open up a commit.
nication with that quarter. The working expenses would be 40
per cent. on the gross results.
Mr. Saunders, the Secretary to the Great Western Company,
was then called on to produce the traffic tables. The anticipated
revenue from travellers generally, from merchandise by land and
sea, and from the coal traffic of the Forest of Dean, amounted to
to the sum of £47,769 18 5
Deduct the working expenses at 40 per cent 19,108 0 0

The total net annual income would be £29,661 18 5
With the last witness the evidence on behalf of the promoters
of the line was concluded.
The Committee decided that the preamble of the Bill was proved.
The clauses were also agreed to, and the Committee broke up.
The Bill will be reported on Monday.