The Sun.
London, England, 1845-09-22 00:00:00

, r •

ADIVILSSION TO NATIONAL
BUILDINGS.
The Honourable Member for Montrose, Mr. Hume, is
adding to the imperishable glory of a well-spent public
life by labouring to obtain for the humbler classes of the
people of this country free admission to the national
monuments of our greatness, our piety, and our homage
of the fins arts—to our palaces, our cathedrals, our mu-
seums, our philosophical and mechanicalSnstitutionr, and
our other repositories of the humaniz!ng creation of
heaven-born genius. Few living statesmen have served
their country so usefully, so perseveringly, and so dis-
interestedly as honest Joseph Hume. When he en-
tered Parliament, upwards of a quarter of a cen-
tury ago, he found the finances of the country in a
state of the greatest confusion—extravagance and
jobbing in every department of the Government—
the public accounts purposely perplexed by corrupt
subordinates, so that Ministers themselves did not un-
derstand them —and the most reelsless di,regard of the
principles of economy in every office under the Crown.
Like almost every great benefactor of his country in
the House of Commens, Mr. Hume addressed all the
energies of his indomitable mind to the accomplishment
of one great purpose. He had resolved to penetrate
the mysteries of the Sate expenditure—to lay bare
every avenue to public corruption—and to esta-
blish the real responsibility of Ministers by placing
the nation in a position to judge of their
fidelity as stewards of the patronage of the
Crown, and the taxes of the people. His
first attempts were naturally unpromising. The
country could not judge: of the importance of hir
labours ; and the courtiers, whom his exposures annoyed,
assailed him with gibes, sneers, and menaces. But to
threats and entreaties he was equally deaf. Gradually
others joined him ; his perseverance wearied out Minis:
try after Ministry and at last the most important re-
turns were ordered, to escape from the fatiguing cross-
questioning of the then Hon. Member for Middlesex.
Nor were his labours confined to exposures of the extra-
vagance of the Government in the House of Comnions.
To the Ministerial heads of the public departments he
privately communicated plans for cutting down the
expenditure in their respective offices, and was content
to award to them all the merit of originating such of his
suggestions as they adopted. This gave him an influ-
ence with Ministers but little understood out of doors,
and the result was the full and complete accomplish-
' merit of a purpose which has saved this country the pro-
fligate expenditure of millions of public money ;
which has placed the whole scheme of our finances
within the comprehension of a school-boy ; and
which has infused a spirit of honour and of
integrity in nearly all our public offices. But finan-
cial re:orals did not satisfy the patriotism of Mr.
Hume. He was one of the first to expese, and one of
the most active in removing some of the worst abuses
of the Irish Church. None toiled harder to procure
the passing of the Reform Bill. He assisted in the
work of Corporate Reform ; and though he was not
in Parliament when Sir Robert Peel's Tariff was
introduced, the Premier's Budget had been submitted_
to him before it was opened in the House of Com-
mons. Mr. Wyse had his aid in maturing his scheme
of National Elucation. Mr. Wallace had all the
benefit of his experience, endeavouring to reform
the abuses of the Post-office ; and Mr. Hutt could
calculate upon no surer supporter when dwelling
upon the hardship of the Sound and Elbe dues to
British shipping. For the last two years he has more
especially addressed himself to the business of obtaining
for the people free admission to our national monuments,
with a view to enlarge their sympathies, purify their
tastes, and exalt the standard of their moral feelings ;
and, we are delighted to add, with most gratifying suc-
cess. Principally through the exertions of a society of
which he is chairman, and which numbers amongst its
members Lord Francis Egerton, Lord Lowther, Lord
Worsley, Lord John Manners, Mr. Hutt, and others, many
of the national edifices hitherto closed against the working
classes, by reason of the fees charged for viewing
them, are now either wholly or partially open for some
days of the week free of any charge whatever. For
instance, the British Must um is open free, three
days in every week ; the National Gallery is free
four days ; St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey (except
Ihe chapels) are free every day ; the Society of
Arts is free five days ; Hampton Court Palace six
days ; the Woolwich Model every day ; the Norwich
Cathedral an hour daily ; the Bath and Wells Cathedral
every day ; the Durham Cathedral (except the chapel of
the Nine Altars) every day ; and the whole of the treasures
of the Tower of London can now be inspected for one
shilling, instead of eight times that sum. Liverpool ad-
mits its mechanics to its Botanical Garden two days in
the week, free of expense ; the Royal Botanical Garden
of Edinburgh is open, free to all applicants ; and the
Dublin Botanical Garden is accessible to the peasantry,
free of charge, two days in every week. Now, it has
reached the ears of Mr. Hume, and some other members
of this patriotic s )ciety, that Hull boasts of a Zoologi-
cal and a Botanical Garden—that our Philosophical
Society possesses a Museum—that we have a magni-
ficent old parish church—that Beverley Minster is
a glorious specimen of gothic art ; and they are
curious to know to what extent the working classes
may participate, without charge, in their humanising
influences. Mr. Hume urges that fifteen years'
experience has satisfe d him that the people, when
admitted free to cathedrals, museums, and gardens,
uniformly conduct themselves with the greatest pro-
priety ; and that the effect upon them, mentally awl
morally, is of the most gratifying description. They
acquire habits of personal neatness in die ss, politer
forms of speech and deportment, a greater love of order,
and a general desire to extend the boundarit s of what-
ever knowledge they may possess. The more imperfect
their own acquirements appear, the more eager are they
to obtain a better education for their children. We
regard this reasoning as incontrovertible ; and only
regret that we are so little in a condition
to beast of what Hull has done in the way of
throwing open public places for the rational
recreation of the working classes. Some answer,
however, must be returned on behalf of the proprietors
of our Zoological and Botanical Gardens. Shall we say
that it is contemplated to throw them open gratuitou-ly
for even one day in the week ? Or shall we say, that to
all subscribing their names as working men, they are at
all times open upon the payment of one penny ? Before
returning any answer, we shell be glad to receive infer-
matiun from the best informed quarters upon these and
other questions indicated by the whole tenor of this ar-
ticle, The subject is an important one, and we shall
early return to Advert;ser.

FEARFULLY VIOLENT DEATH OF A MOTHER AND
UNTIMELY BIRTIL—A frightful accident, from the upsetting
of a vehicle, occurred on Friday evening last, by which one
poor woman lost her life—one had her wrist broken—one
had her hip dislocated—a poor girl had her face so disfigured
as scarcely to appear human—and indeed the whole of the
occupants of. he carriage, nine in number, were more or less
seriously maimed. The melancholy particulars transpired on
the inquest over the body of Annis Wilson, which was held
before Mr. Badger, at the house of Mr. Iloyland, of Wood-
lane, farmer, Stannington, on Monday evening last. De-
ceased was the wife of Mr. Win. Wilson, of Hall-car-place,
, Sheffield, joiner, and the unfortunate couple had invited a few
friends to accompany them to the funeral of one of their
children. The time fixed on was Friday evening. at the
Unitarian Chapel, Stannington—the flew. Peter Wright, a
Unitarian minister—who keeps a school at Sheffield, not
being able to perform the service earlier in the day, at so
great a distance from home. After the funeral, the atten-
dants called at a neighbouring inn, where they baited their
horse and partook of some slight refreshment, after which
they started for Sheffield, about eight o'clock. Their route
lay through Hoyland Wood-lane, a steep, rough,
and dangerous road, which, being little frequented,
was thickly studded thsoughout with large project-
ing stones. Dennis Wilson, a brother-in-law of the de-
ceased, was leading the horse, and nine persons, chiefly
women and children were in a light spring cart, in which the
corse-of the dead child of the Wilsons had been carried to
its, last resting place. They had scarcely got to the top of
this rugged lane when the horse, it is supposed, from having
been pinched by the collar, became restive, and tried to run
Mr. Dennis Wilson, who was leading him, resolutely kept
hold of the bridle as long as he could; but in the strug-
gle, the bit was pulled out of the horse's mouth, and the
bridle over his head. The bluffs, or blinders, being thus re-
moved from his eyes, the horse darted off at Hill speed, with
his living load behind him, down the steep and decli-
vity. Mr. Wilson having lost hold of the bridle, seized the
bottom of the collar, and was dragged for some 30 or 40 yards
and then thrown into the road with great violence. When
the horse had proceeded about 100 yards, the carriage upset,
dashing its occupants on to the stony road. Mrs. Wilson
unfortunately fell under the carriage, and there remained till
the male portion of the party were able to remove it, when
she was taken up insensible, and conveyed to the nearest
house, viz., that of Mr. Hoyland, of Stannington-wood-lane.
There she remained insensible till Saturday evening, when
she died—and when the attendant females were laying out
the body, they discovered that the unhappy woman had
given birth to a six months' child, which also lay dead by
its mother's corpse. No blame being attached to any parties,
the jury returned a verdict of "Accidental death."—Sheffield
Iris, Sept. 18.
THE APIARY.—By many it is feared that the
present will prove an indifferent honey year, in consequence
of the marked'absence of heat early in the season, when our
floral treasures of every description should be most brimful
of saccharine matter. In Borgue, which has been justly
called the Hybla of Scotland, the white clovers suffered so
often from blasting rains that they withered early, greatly
to the detriment of the industrious insects who feed on their
petals. In some cases that fell under our own observation,
the hive inmates perished, either from cold or inanition, if not
a combination of both. In a case lately, where:i,avo
were smoked, the produce in both scarcely excee(4,_
smoking
quarter
pint. A correspondent, in speoking ofl3org
will be general in a few days, and
tuen,t,eit:t'i; esar
guesses u
prices tt of hee.
husbandry are thus tested, 1
Scanty as the produce was in
.1e'1t3,43:74,,, 1. fear it will be still
maintain that the bees
smaller in 1845. Some persons
gathered more honey from the 26th ult. to the Bth inst. than
they Cid during the preceding summer by name, but not so
in reality. When a labourer had three pints of honey to
dispose of for 305., as was often enough the case, he used to
say—" I may thank the bees for buying many wee odd
things for the family." Within the last few years, I knew a
working man who made 3/, by one season's honey, and at the
same time retained a stole for breeding for the -following.—
Scotch Paper.
THE PLYMOUTH FISHERY.—Great quantities of
fish have bean caught during the past week, by the trawlers
and hooking-boats, and a large quantity of pilcitards has
been brought into the town from the Cornish cast. On
Friday last so numerous were the that cart-loads of
that fish lay on the quay for want of mawns to put them in.
We bear that far:Angel-iv:nth have already been made, when
the railway to this tiovo is completed, t;) forward this valu-
able article of food to the manufacturing districts in the
course of sixteen or eighteen hours. Fish being so abundant
in this town, the hake is comparatively neglected, except by
the poorer classes. There is no doubt that the speculators
will meet with a good profit in the transport of the hake and
other fish into the districts of the north.—Plymouth 'Journal.

LABOUR IN NEW YORK.
(From the New York Tribune, August 29.)
Although Mr. Samuel Slick told a very good story,
and was in other respects a worthy and companionable
man, he was not much of a clockmaker. This is a
branch of business about which a great deal is said and
a very little generally known. The following facts have
b-en furnished us by a Yankee operator from Connecti-
cut, who is considerable of a clock "case" himself, and
is familiar with the busiless in all its details.
The number of clocks manufactured in this conntry is
very greet, and the improvements in the manufacture of
the article introduced during the last four years have
materially reduced the price as well as the wages of the
operatives. Connecticut, we believe, is the only state
in which clock " movements" are made. But there are
many shops all over the north where the cases are ma-
nufactured. There are about 20 of these in this city.
The business thus consists of two distinct branches.
The ease-maker sells his cases to the movement-maker,
or buys of him the movements and puts them in himself,.
Formerly the wheels for brass clocks were cast, then
turned and smoothed with great labour. Now the
brass comes rolled in plates of the proper thickness for
the different wheels and is pressed out—one motion of •
the pre a being sufficient to cut and centre the whe, I.
This saves much t:na) and money.
There are a nun.ber of firms in Connecticut that put
ready for market 200 clocks a day, and they are sold at
2 duls. to 2 dols. 50c. a piece,according to quality.
The cases (which are extensively manufactured here)
are sold for 60 to 75 cents, each. Good mahogany and
zebra cases, well made and polished, can be bought now
for 65 cents.—the ame quality of article as would have
cost two dollars three 3 cars ago. The wages of work-
men in the clock business are poor. An experienced and
skilful band cannot get more than 1 dollar or 1 dollar
25 cents. per day. A great many young men and boys
work at the business who receive only from 8 dollars to
9 dollars per month.

The movement or running part of clocks can now be
bought for less than 1 dol. a piece—three years ago they
were worth 2 dols. 50c. We know a gentleman who made
a grand speculation in the clock bnsiness as follows :
Ho sold his farm fur 3000 dollars and added to this sum
3000 dollars in cash, the whole amount of which
he invested in clock movements at 2 dole. 50e a
piece to be delivered as he wishe.i. This was three
years ago ; and clacks being just then rather dull of sae,
be kept " holding on" for better prices, until movements
could be bought for 53 cents. apiece. Nona, his.e were
move-
ments cost him in cash 40 cents. more than
the they
the th
worth to say nothing of the farm. This is
arbrsinthge-
clockmakers get rich. -
ing from 25 to 100 doellrears pi Bud bof iteu thy:
knowinga or less flush, purchase
The clocks were formerly.secoled.
universal Yankee nation has been fur
very few, and the
ensively
engaged in supplying Great
"improved patent bress clocks." Great
som e Southerners,
te eithert in
the West India oolonits
numberslm ore to China. Nearly all that are made
also s, nt to
are now
Brit.inwiathreex
sent out of the country. There were three months ago
probably 3,000 clocks per day sent from the state of
Connecticut ; but since that time many of the manure°.
turers have run ("own, owing to their selling ti • much on
tick, and the business has somewhat fallen off.

TEE LATE MR. TUOMAS DAVIS.—The funeral
obsequies of the late Mr. Thomas Osborne Davis, editor of
the Nation newspaper, took place at nine o'clock this morning.
His remains were followed to their final destination at th e
cemetery of Mount Jerome, Harold's-cross, by a processi en
consisting of nearly eighty carriages ; amongst others were
conspicuous those of Lord Clencurry, the Lord Mayor, and
Mr. O'Connell, M.P., besides a great number of private equi-
pages. The members of the 'B2 Club attended in full force,
their gay and glittering uniforms Affording a sad contrast to
the mournful spectacle of which they formed a part. Mr.
Davis was one of the original projectors of this club, the .
nucleus having been formed during the imprisonment of the
Repeal conspirators in the summer of 1844. He was also the:
acknosledged leader of the " Young Ireland" section of the -
Itopenle s ; and while the journal under his control was, by -a .
tic, ;.n,! ,vrit;ng, exercising an influence .
ht,;l.. ti::. minds of a population ai pr. •
rently half ripe for any adventure, however desperate, it w Ls:
his good fortune, by a happy art, never to give currency to
one expression calculated to wound the feelinto or hurt t
self esteem of a political opponent. —Dullin Pope, t:f
Thursday.. , . . Java,a