The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-29 00:00:00

DORCHESTER.

DORCHESTER TO WIT.—It is ;with much pleasure
that we announce the occurrence of an event in this
borough, which may eventually tend to emancipate it
from the thraldom in which it has so long been held.
A few days ago an election took place for a Town-
Councillor, in the place of the late Robert Bower,
Esq., when the burgesses nobly exercised their fran-
chise, by electing the man of their own choice to the
post of honour, in opposition to the individual selected
by the stewards of the influential patrons of the bo-
rough and the Tory Town-council. The successful
candidate was Mr. John Wood, an old inhabitant,
and a respectable victualler ; and we have no doubt
his conduct in his new capacity will serve to justify
the conduct of his friends in selecting him to fill the
vacant office. We are gratified in being able to state
that a party of sixty : individuals - assembled at the
houSe of 'Mine Host, on Monday last, 'to celebrate
this auspicious event. An abundant and elegant
spread was made on the occasion, of which Mr. Wood
was respectfully solicited to partake. The feast was
honourable alike to the new Councillor and his nume-
rous supporters ; and we hail the occurrence as a fa-
vourable symptom of strength and independence in
the burgesses of Dorchester. We hear that arrange-
ments are making to secure the election of four good
men and true to the Council in November next. The
means of rescuing the borough from its degraded
condition are in the hands of the electors, and we
trust they will not fail to use them fearlessly and
faithfully.

DIFFERENT EFFECTS OF ARSENIC ON DIFFERENT
PERSONS.-At the conclusion of an inquest held on
Tuesday, before Mr. Wakley, M.P., relative to the
death of a party suspected to have been poisoned by
arsenic, or some other corrosive poison, the Hon.
Gentleman observed how extraordinary it was that
arsenic should have an entirely different action on two
different subjects. Two persons shall take the same
quantity of arsenic ; on the one it shall act, just like
an anodyne, soporifically, first producing somnolency,
and finally ending in the sleep of death, without pain
or struggle. In the other, after it has been taken
into the stomach, it shall produce violent vomiting
and extreme agony, which shall continue until death
takes place in the midst of the most excruciating tor-
ture. In the first instance, after death, dissection will
show no internal ulceration ; in the second it will pre-
sent marked appearances of the most violent inflam-
matory.action. He was constantly struck with sur-
prise at seeing, in cases were the precise causes of
death were surely known, the post mortem appearances
disagreeing in toto from what they ought to be con-
sidering the cause of death. Medical men should bear
these facts in mind when they are called upon to give
forensic evidence.

FATAL LEAP FROM SUNDERLAND-BRIDGE.-011
Friday evening John Thompson, a tailor, of Sunder-
land, in a drunken freak, declared that he would that
night rival Smith, the diver, by jumping off Sunder-
land-bridge, which rash act he performed. He was
followed by a person who had heard him boast of his
intention, who strove to persuade him not to do so, at
the same time considering that Thompson was not
sincere, and that he would not attempt it. In this,
however, he was mistaken, as Thompson pulled off
his coat, and ascended the railing on the bridge, while
his companion and adviser was a short distance be-
hind him. Assistance was called for, but before it
could be effective he jumped down from the bridge
into the river, upwards of 100 feet. He was picked
up by the police-boat and taken to a neighbouring
public-house, and a surgeon sent for. It was found
that he had received such injuries from the fall as to
leave no hope of his recovery. He died the same
night.—Fyne Mercury.
The Victoria steamer is performing her last trip
between Bordeaux and Southampton. She has been
running all the summer at an enormous loss. Her
crew consists of-40 hands, and she has been perform-
ing a voyage to and fro once a fortnight. To make
her trips pay, she ought to carry each voyage 100
tons of cargo and between 40 and 50 passengers ; and
she has never had on board during one voyage more
than 40 tons of cargo, nor more than 20 passengers.
The question is now decided that Bordeaux and
Southampton is not a profitable station for steam na-
vigation. Bordeaux is a port anciently connected
with Southampton, and a few years ago two sailing
fessels regularly traded between the two ports. Both
vhose vessels were wrecked, and the intercourse ceased
tor several years.
SUBSCRIPTION IN BEHALF OF THE SUFFERERS BY
THE LATE FlRE.—After a calamity so extensive and
fearful as that which has lately visited this town, the
humane and compassionate will naturally turn their
minds to the sufferings of those indigent individuals
who have suddenly been rendered helpless, and of
those families who have been bereaved by the casu-
alties which there occurred, as well as to the con-
dition of some whom the disaster may have deprived
of all their little possessions. We know sufficient of
our townsmen to be aware that they need no incite-
ment to urge them to step forward to the relief of
human misery, under whatever aspect it may present
itself. As it is certain that a subscription will be set
afoot for this benevolent purpose, it is of importance
that those who are usually the influential movers in
designs of this character should commence their
operations as speedily as possible. Instances of the
suffering entailed by this calamitous event are suf-
ficiently numerous to call for prompt procedure, and,
without going into detail we may mention the case of
the young police-officer, Hodgson, who was univer-
sally respected in his sphere, and seems to be as uni-
versally regretted. He was, we understand, almost
the sole support of his parents and fatnily. —Liverpool
Courier.

DOVER JUSTICES.--Our Justices have received a
long letter from the Secretary of State for the Home
Department on the subject of the late "hair-crop •
ping" case, in which he desires that his " marked dis-
approbation of the jailer's conduct in that affair should
be conveyed to him by the Justices." This unplea-
sant task was yesterday (Friday) performed by the
visiting Magistrates reading Sir James Graham's let-
ter to the jailer. We cannot conceive a greater hu-
miliation than it must have been to the Justices to be
made the medium of communicating to the jailer this
censure of conduct which, in their gravity and wis-
dom, they had so recently fully approved ; and what
a farce the jailer must have thought it, that he should
now have a sentence of condemnation read to him by
the Magistrates; some of whoa so-lately declared him
fully justiflable.—Dover Chronicle.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.
ADMIRALTY ,ORDER.
The following paragraph has gone the round of the
Daily Papers :
" COMMISSIONING TEN MEINT-or-IN'AR.—S lIE E It-
NESS, SATURDAY, SEPT. 24.—Three first-rate, three
second-rate, and four third-rate men-of-war are or
dered to be brought forward at this yard, ready for
commissioning. India and China are reported as
being the destination of some of them."
The truth of this matter is said to be as follows :
Some months ago the Lords Commissioners of the
Admiralty ordered estimates to be prepared for them
at the principal dockyards, showing the expense of
putting a number of ships of the line in such a state
of repair and forwardness as to be available for imme-
diate
commissioning, should circumstances make it
necessary that a larger naval force should be employed
in active service, or should the ships on foreign stations
require to be relieved, or want such repairs as can be
done only in our English dockyards.
Their Lordships, having obtained the estimates from
the authorities, have it, we believe, in contemplation,
although nothing has yet been definitively settled, to
do away with the system of having what is foolishly
called " demonstration ships," and to bring forward
in lieu of them ten ships of the line at each of the
three principal ports, viz., Sheerness, Portsmouth, and
Plymouth, to be denominated " advanced ships of the
ordinary." It is understood that these ships are
always to be kept in such a state of readiness for com-
missioning and proceeding to sea, as regards their
hulls, that they shall neither require docking nor
caulking, nor any work to he performed on hoard
them, on being ordered for service, except to adapt
the ports to the guns, and to take down any tempo-
rary ordinary fittings, such as shipkeepers' cabins, or-
dinary galleries, &c. To meet this intention the
ships selected for advanced ships will be regularly
docked in turn from time to time, to have their bot-
toms properly cleaned, &c., as necessary, so that they
may be in such a state as to proceed to sea, when
ordered, without risk of waiting to be docked for
either a year or two.
Should these intentions of the Board of Admiralty
be ultimately acted upon, of which there is little
doubt, a bona fide force of thirty sail of the line, the
majority comprised of new ships, will always be ready
for service on any emergency. This force not being
commissioned will be no additional expense to the
country, and the constant overhauling that the ships
will have, in their turn will preserve them from that
decay which many fine ships in ordinary have hereto-
fore suffered; and in the long run will amply com-
pensate for the small amount that is required to be
expended upon them to keep .them in a proper effi-
cient state ; while the inestimable advantage will be
gained of having such an imposing fleet ready equipped
for sea in the space of ten days or a fortnight.
Letters from Plymouth state that the St. George,
120; Royal William, 120; Royal Adelaide, 110;
Albion, 90; Canopus, 80; and the Clarence, Bombay.
Foudroyant, Wellesley, and Impregnable, line-of-
battle ships, are likely to be brought forward there as
" demonstration ships."

(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)
PORTSMOUTII TUESDAY.-The Tyne, 28, Prince
Regent, 120, Edinburgh, 72, President, 50, Conway,
28, and Athol troop ship, are in dock for repair; the
artificers are taken oft' from the whole of them, with
the exception of the President, for the purpose of
building the new ships and the bringing forward 10
line-of-battle ships into an advanced state, so that in
case of their being required on an emergency, they
would be ready to receive men without waiting for
the dockyard, and being incommoded by the artificers
working while the ships are fitting. These advanced
ships are not in future to be called demonstration
ships, as at present, but ships in an advanced state of
ordinary. The like number are to be brought for-
ward at Sheerness and Plymouth, so that if there he
a change of the French Ministers, and the war party
should be in power, we shall at any rate be ready
with ships to meet them, and in a little time men with
hearts of oak would, no doubt, be found to man them.
Three of these ships, the Vanguard, 80, Vengeance,
84, and Powerful, 84, are already in hand. The
Powerful was the ship Charley Napier commanded
while performing his feats on the coast of Syria.
The Athol troop-ship was built from the timber
grown on the Duke of Athol's estate (Scotch larch) :
she is now upwards of 20 years old, and is ordered to
be repaired with similar material, and she will then,
no doubt, run 10 years longer, proving the durability
of the larch timber.

The Orestes, Captain the Hon. Carnegie, M.P.,
went out of the 'basin into the harbour on the 23d
inst., and the Powerful brought in. The Frolic, 16,
constructed on the plan of Commander Hendry, is
fitting in the basin, and the Samarang, 28.
On the two slips that have been repaired the Albert,
90, and the Royal Frederick, 110, are in frame : the
Albert is a similar ship to the Albion, that was
launched at PlymOuth a few weeks since. The
Eurydice, 26, a frigate on the plan of Admiral Elliot,
who commanded the fleet at China, is progressing fast
to completion : it is supposed she will be launched
next May.
• A great deal of timber has of late been received,
among which is some very fine Italian timber, which
is thought much of, from its beautiful curvature, for
the purposes cf ship building.