The Sun.
London, England, 1842-12-23 00:00:00

PILOTAGE AND LIGHT DUES;

We copy the following from the Chronicle,
, and confidently trust that the attempts made by
i the General Steam Navigation Company, and,
indeed, the shipping interest in general, to get
these heavy dues diminished, will be successful :
We have reason to know, that considerable efforts
are likely to be made in the course of the ensuing
session, to obtain for our shipping interest some relief
from the oppressive tax at present levied in the shape
of pilotage and light dues. The question was brought
before the House of Commons in 1840, and at the
present moment, we have been assured, measures are
taking, with a view to urge the Government to bring
forward a measure of practical relief. Opposed as we
are to all unfair advantages enjoyed by one class of
the community at the expense of all other classes, we
are not the less anxious that every branch of indus-
try should be freed from every unnecessary burden ;
and if there is one branch better entitled than any
other to such an exemption, it certainly is the ship-
ping interest, on whose continu9d prosperity the per-
manency of our national greatness may, in a great
measure, be said to be dependent.
In 1835, a Commission was appointed by his late
Majesty King William IV., to inquire into the then
existing laws for the regulation of pilotage, and to
suggest such improvements and reductions as might
be consistent with the efficient performance of the
duties, and " with the paramount object of affording
the best security to the shipping of these realms."
The Commissioners were Lord Lowther, the Mar-
quis of Bate, the late Sir Thomas M. Hardy, G. R.
Robinson,: Esq., Chairman of Lloyd's ; Aaron Chap-
man, Esq., one of the Elder Brethren of the Trinity
House ; Captain Beaufort, of the Admiralty ; and 0.
Wigram, Esq., an eminent shipowner.
These Commissioners, in due time, made their Re-
port, which was dated the 25th of February, 1836,
and contained a mass of evidence respecting the prac-
tice at British as well as at foreign ports. Among
the alterations recommended by the Commissioners,
was one respecting steam navigation, to which they
had found the existing regulations a serious discou-
ragement and a heavy burden. They reported, that
" looking to the fact, as stated in evidence before
them, that the masters and mates of steam vessels,
from the constant and regular use of the ports between
which they daily ply, are well acquainted with such
ports; that it is customary not to permit any, pilot to
take charge of their vessels (although they may have
one on board, and are obliged to pay the same as if
he acted), because they consider that their own mas-
ters are etter qualified than the regular pilots) ; that
the charge also became very oppressive upon vessels
which quit and enter a port so frequently as steam
vessels by their power and speed are enabled to do ;"
they therefore recommended " that all steam vessels
navigating between one port of the United Kingdom
and another, and all steam vessels navigating between
a porn of the United Kingdom and a foreign port,
when the average time employed in such a voyage did
not exceed four-and- twenty hours, and having actually
on board a master, mate, or other competent person,
who had passed an examination for the district—should
be exempt from employing a pilot."
A Bill founded on the recommendations contained
in this Report was shortly afterwards brought into
the House of Commons by the late Lord Sydenham
(then Mr. P. Thomson), and Mr. Labouchere. The
Bill was read a first and second time, and went
through a Committee, but was eventually withdrawn,
in consequence, probably, of the difficulty experienced
at that time in carrying forward any measure of public
utility, owing to the vexatious and harassing opposition
against which the Government of that day had conti-
nually to struggle. Since then no step has been
taken to give' effect to the recommendations of the
Commissione rs, although, as we have already observed,
the question was brought before the House of Com-
mons in 1840, on the presentation of petitions from
the General Association of Proprietors of Steam
Shipping.
What the owners of steam-vessels require is, that
when their own officers are fully competent to act as
pilots, they may not be compelled to pay for services
of which they stand in no need, the rapidity with
which they are able to make their voyages rendering
the imposition peculiarly burdensome. The relief
demanded is one that the Legislature ought not to
withhold, nor is there any reason why a similar in •
dulgence should not be extended to sailing ves-
sels, whenever the captain or mate of a sailing vessel
has legally qualified himself to act as pilot on that
particular line of coast along which he is in the habit
of navigating.
The question of light dues is liable to the same re-
marks. In 1834, a Select Committee of the House of
Commons was appointed to investigate the existing
regulations, and many of our readers, no doubt, still
remember some of the amusing discoveries made by
that Committee, amusing to the public at large, but
anything rather than amusing to the shipowners, the
unfortunate victims of the flagrant abuses brought to
light in the course of the inquiry. Among the Mem-
bers on that Committee were--Mr. Hume, Sir James
Graham' Sir Thomas Troubridge' Sir Charles Adam,
Mr. Poulett Thomson, Alderman Thompson, &c.
This Committee recommended various changes,
with a view to the relief of the shipping interest in
general, and, like the Pilotage Commission, pointed
out several grievances to which the owners of steam-
ships were particularly liable ; on this point they ex-
pressed themselves in their Report in the following
words :

" The light dues are now charged on steam-vessels
as on other vessels, and the attention•of your Commit-
tee has been directed to them. The present rates were
made without reference to the peculiarities attendant
on the navigation of that class of vessels, which appear
to warrant a reduction of the dues.

" A vessel under sail is driven by the winds and
tides that lie in her course, and in tacking derives
much benefit from the lights ; but steamers move in
straight lines, and perform much of their voyage in
the day-time ; they see few lights, and by the rapi-
dity of their movements soon pass them. Besides,
the people who navigate them acquire, from the fre-
quency of their trips, such an intimate acquaintance
with the coast, as renders lights of comparatively
little use to them. Again, steamers are obliged ge-
nerally to sail at fixed times, full or not full, and the
carrying tonnage of a steamer is not so capacious as
that of another vessel, the best part of the hold being
occupied by machinery."
A Bill founded on this Report was brought in by
the late Government, and was eventually passed, but
in this Act (5 and 6 Will. IV., cap. 79) the recom-
mendations relative to steam-vessels were overlooked.
The consequence has been, not only that steam-ves-
sels have not shared in the relief afforded by that Act
to other descriptions of shipping, but that advantage
has even been taken of some of the clauses contained
in that Act to impose an additional taxation upon
steam navigation. The whole of this question, how•
ever, as we have already said, is at present under the
consideration of Government, and will probably be
brought under discission in the House of Commons
early in the session.

On Sunday last a sermon was preached in Quebec
Chapel, Portman-square, by the Rev. Alfred Wil-
liams, M.A., in aid of the funds of the Royal Dispen-
sary for Diseases of the Ear, before a numerous and
highly respectable congregation. At the close of his
able and eloquent discourse the Rev. Gentleman gave
a brief outline of the objects and history of this truly
useful and meritorious institution, from which it ap-
peared that since its establishment in 1816, it has been
the means of curing or relieving upwards of 12,7P0
persons afflicted with deafness and other diseases of t'ae
ear, including several cases of the deaf and dumb. The
Dispensary has been more than usually prosperous
during the past year, having received the patronage of
her Majesty the Queen and several munificent dona-
tions, particularly one from the Ratcliffe Trust. ,s.
Two anthems were beautifully sung in the course of
the service hi the Choir of the Chapel.
WESTON-ZOYLANIt.—A fire occurred in this vil-
lage on the evening of Wednesday, the 14th instant,
under the following circumstances. An itinerant jug-
gler came into the parish the preceding evening, and
hired a room in a cider shop, without the knowledge
of those who would otherwise have prevented him,
and was making preparations for his exhibition. To
attract attention, he sent up a lighted balloon, which, it
is presumed, from its being ill prepared, descended
sooner than was intended, and alighting on a stack of
corn, ignited it, and the contiguous mows were soon on
fire, and serious danger was apprehended that the farm
houses and other dwellings would be consumed. The
prompt exertions of the villagers, and the plentiful
supply of water with which the thatched roofs
around were drenched, prevented the progress of the
flames, and the mischief was confined to the destruc-
tion of three ricks. The readiness of assistance
afforded by the labourers, men and women, was
highly commendable. An engine from Bridgwater,
which had been immediately sent for, arrived in
time to be of effectual service in extinguishing the
flames, and after a while the fire was subdued. The
property, belonging to a Mr. Richard Tazewell, was
insured. Much serious loss was oasioned to the
cottagers by the breaking of their furniture in its
removal from their dwellings.—Bath Chronicle.
PEEL'S OWN.—A hot bigoted Tory, who backed
Sir Robert through thick and thin, when he pro-
pounded his Income-tax scheme, has got b4men&iiknot
having made a full return of his in come, and thereby
attempted to cheat the Exchequer. This loyal Tory
may truly be called " Peel's own !" We guess thit
Sir Robert has many such dutiful children in his
Tory race. It is to be hope d that the members of the
Government themselves have made honest returns,
and that their officials will make full stoppages out of
their salaries and family pensions; hut as Sir Robert
Peel and his companions are not int the habit of de-
ceiving, why there is not much doubt but that they
will act honestly towaods poor John Bull.—Notting-
ham Review.

THE SCOTCH REFORMERS
OF 1793.
(From the Edinburgh Weekly Chronio'c.)
The recent decision of the Town Council, in favour
of grantia . a site on the Calton Hill, ibr a monument
to the political martyrs of 1793 and '94, has put the
old inveterate Tory faction in a state of exasperation
bordering on delirium. A remarkable instance of
this has just been exhibited by one of our Contempo-
raries in the press, known chiefly as the organ of
square-toed gouty old gentlemen of the Pitt and
Castlereagh school of politics. The paper we allude
to is the Edinburgh Weekly Journal, which, on Wed-
nesday last, held forth in the following style:—
"We do not often feel called upon to comment
upon the debates in the Town Council ; but our dis;-
gust constrains us to advert, fbr a few moments, to
the speeches of the majority at the meeting of last
week, when the question of tte proposed monuinsist
to the so-called Martyrs of 1793' was brought under
discussion. It is proposed that there shall be a monu-
ment on the Calton Hill in honour of a set of men
who were condemned by the laws of their country ;as
felons—that a monument to a renegade who Mught
in a Spanish ship against his own countrymen, shall
stand beside the .monument of the hero whose dying
signal on the coast of Spain was, c England expects
that every man shall do his duty.' Is this atrocity
,to be permitted? It is argued that ninny per Sons
unhanged, [Councillors Macfarl an, Whyte, Stott, evil
Wright, for example,] and even held by their friend,
in considerable esteem, continue to hold and to a% ow
at the present day the opinions for which these men
suffered. If there be persons at the present day 11(1:1
ing the identical opinions of these fraternizers with
the French revolutionists, it may question
whether the said persons are not too lucky 9 spapit..g
the fate of their admired predecessors. [flow grateful
, they ought to be l] That, however, is a question which
it would be a waste of time at this moment to discuss;
but there can be no question that a monument raised
to a convicted felon, would be an insult to• the laws
under which he was convicted. If it was an unjust
law under which these men were, convicted and
punished, let the Legislature be called upon to declare
it so ; and if it be so declared, then the erection of a
monument to their memory will not be, as it would be
otherwise, an outrage on public decency."
'To young Reformers this is instructive, as a speci-
men. of the spirit of that faction which persecuted their
fathers with remorseless cruelty, made victims of the
best men in the country, and would manifest itself
terribly still, were the ruthless monster not chained
and muzzled into comparative harmlessness.
We have great pleasure in being enabled, by the
kindness of a gentleman who was intimately asso-
ciated in efforts and sufferings with the " political
martyrs," and whose services to them and to.the cause
of reform, in its dark days, cannot be too highly esti-
mated, to lay before our readers two interesting letters,
referring .to the martyrdom of Thomas Muir, which,
though already in print, are too little known to the
public. One of them is written by the illustrious
martyr himself, and the other by one of the foremost
men of the age in which he lived, to another not less
conspicuous Reformer. These letters, with the com-
munication which accompanies them, are well deserv-
ing of attentive perusal. They demonstrate conclu-
sively the excellence of Muir's personal character, and
the condemnation, by a man of the highest moral
worth, of the outrage of justice, under the name of
legal punishment, of which he was made the victim.

TO THE EDITOR OF TITS EDINBURGH CHRONICLE.
Edinburgh, Dec. 16, 1842.
Sir,—On reading an account of the life of the de-
ceased celebrated Major Cartwright, published in Lon-
don some years ago, I was struck with a letter from
the Major to his quondam associate for reform—the
Duke of Richmond, of the following tenor :

"London, bee. 11, 1793.

"My Lord,—lt is long since I offered your Grace
any of my thoughts. Of late, I have some time been
inclined so to do, but have been restrained through an
apprehension that they might not be acceptable. But
a letter from on board the hulks, from Mr. Thomas
Muir to B. Flower, Esq., of Cambridge, dated the
2d inst., which I have just read, bears down all re-
luctance. Could I peruse that letter without the most
poignant emotions, and without attempting to move
those who have power to wipe out such a stain to hu-
manity and to manhood as that letter affixes on my
country, I should merit detestation. Read that letter,
my Lord, I beseech you ; and read also the trial of
the writer. If he merit the treatment he has re-
ceived, I, also, and your Grace, ought to be cast into
dungeons among felons. But if he be the virtuous
victim of that corrupt and arbitrary system which
your Grace and I have laboured to reform It is
needless to say more.—l am, &c.,
"JOHN CARTWRIGHT."

The letter referred to of Mr. Muir's is especially
entitled to notice. It is addressed from the bulks to
a friend at Cambridge, upon the eve of Muir's depar-
ture from England. It does equal honour to his reli-
gious sensibility and his steady faith :
" On board the Hulks, 2d Dec., 1793.
"My Dear Friend—l received yours at Edinburgh
with the sincerest pleasure ; your sentiments and
mine are equally accordant—the great lesson we have
to learn in this world is submission and resiv..nation to
the will of God. This lesson strikes upon 'the heart,
not by the force of cold and abstracted precept, but
by the example of Him who was the object of all suf-
ferings, and the pattern of all perfection. Much need
have Ito be taught in his school. Hurled, as it were,
in a moment, from some of the most polished societies
in Edinburgh and London, into one of the hulks upon
the Thames, where every mouth is opened to blas-
pheme God, and every hand stretched out to injure a
neighbour, I cannot divest myself of the feelings of
nature—l cannot but lament my situation ; and, were
it not for the hope of immortality, founded upon our
common Christianity, alas! I might accuse the Father
of all Justice and of all Mercy with severity. But,
blessed be God, everything in the great system of
nature, everything in the little system of individual
man, corresponds with the great dispensations of the
Gospel, and demonstrates its efficacy.
" Much consolation does the reflection now afford
me, that in prosperity I always regarded this revela-
tion of Heaven with the most profound reverence.
" In solitary exile there is a dignity, there is a con-
scious pride, which, even independent of philosophy,
may support the mind; but I question much if any
of the illustrious of ancient ages could have supported
an exile similar to mine, surrounded by the veriest
outcasts of society, without the aid of religioa and of
the example of Jesus.
" I have been separated from Mr. Palmer—he is
in one hulk, lam in different one. The separation is
an act of unnecessary cruelty.
"My state of health is poorly. The seeds of a
consumption, I apprehend, are planted in my breast.
I suffer no acute pain, but daily experience a gradual
decay.
" Oreverything relating to my future chstinati( n
I am utterly ignorant.
" Honour me by your correspondence. lam sure
it will ameliorate my heart.
" Farewell ! my truly and respectable friend.
" THOMAS AIVIR."
This is the man so vilified and branded by the To-
ries as an infidel and traitor.

SOUTHWARK IMPROVEMNNT BILL. Yesterday
morning the Commissioners appointed to carry into
effect an Act of Parliament, which received the Royal
assent last session, entituled " An Act of Parliament
for making a new street from Blackman-street, in the
Borough, to the Blaekfriars-road, and for improving
the district called the Mint, in the parish of St.
George's, Southwark," met at the Literary Institu-
tion, in the Borough-road, for the purpose of the
clerk and the surveyor, appointed by the Commis-
sioners, laving before them the Report as to estimates
and the best means to be adopted in carrying out,
forthwith, the objects specified in the Act. The
whole of the Commissioners already appointed were
in attendance. The Right lion. the Lord Mayor, and
John Quincey Harris, Esq., the Member for New-
' castle, were present, and were also qualified to act ..s
Commissioners. The Lord Mayor said he should
cordially co-operate with his brother Commissioners,
and render every assistance in his power in carrying
out to its full extent the beneficial effects which would
result from the passing of the Bill. The Report,
which was very lengthy, having been read and con-
sidered, the Commissioners adjourned till a future diy.
THE COURT—WINDSOR, DEC. 22.—11er Majesty
has commanded that a baron of beef, according to " the
old English custom in baronial halls and royal pa-
laces," shall be the chief dish at the Royal banquet at
the Castle on Christmas-da3r. A splendid baron,
weighing nearly 250 pounds, has been selected for the
occasion by Mr. Adams, one of the purveyors of meat
tp her Majesty at Windsor, which was this day exhi-
bited to the curious in matters of "good and substan-
tial eating." The baron is nearly four feet in length,
.and upwards of two feet wide; "a dainty dish," in
every way worthy to "set before" the Queen. This
enormous joint will be roasted to-morrow, and placed
upon the banquet table cold. His Grace the Duke of
Wellington left the Castle at an early hour this morn-
ing for Strathfieldsaye, where it is expected pia, Grace
will remain during the Christmas holidays, and re-
turn to town a few days before the meeting of Par-
liament.
ANOTHER AT TACK ON THE SHOP IN I I OLT W ELL-
STREET AND DESERTION OF THE PREmt....iEs.--Liht
respectably-dressed gentleman entered the
nsiiigohpt a
of Mr. Patterson, and tore down several of the
bills from the window. A crowd of several hundred
persons soon collected, and there being no one but the
toy on the premises, he shut up the shop and instantly
left.
ADMIRAL SIR JOHN LINDFORD, K.C.B.—This
much-respected brave old officer died on the 22d
instant at his residence, Grove-road, after a few days'
illness, at the age of about 13t years, 65 of which-he
had been a commissioned officer in the navy, and
1
served as First Lieutenant of the Nimrod, of 98 guns,
in the battle of the 12th of Alwil, 1782, that ship
being Lord Eoduey's second astern on that day. ...

FATAL ACCIDENT.
Shortly after one o'clock yesterday a young girl
named Mary Ann Ladbury, aged .14 years, daughter
of a shipwright living at 8, Mercer's-plaCe, Ratcliffe,
left her home for the purpose of proceeding with her
father's dinner to the gun dry dock, Wapping. On
reaching . the swivel-bridge of the docks in :Old
Gravel-lane, it was found to be open, a. vessel just
having entered from the eastern-dock. As usual on
such occasions, pedestrians and others evince consieer-
able impatience to
,get across at the earliest opportu-
nity, and run consi&rable risk in their haste to get to
the other sido }it•f'ore the bridge is actually closed.
This was tln ea ~e with Mary Ann Ladbury.
In attempting to cross before the bridge was
shut ,he tell into the water. Her • clothes kept
her buoy ant a few minutes on the surface ;
but, ideliongli ths accident was witnessed by a con-
' siderabli• ninnher ;.ers4.l3s, none of them leaped
(probably owit.g to their uct being swimmers) into
the water. A boat, however, soon proceeded to her
a,sistanee ; but the zeal of ehe party in it proved fatal.
While • tbe ortunate young woman was still
buoyant I y ine;lns of Ler apparel, the boat was
rowed p:i.q her, and before it could be backed or
turned <u as to reach the drowning creature she dist-
apprared. Drags were ininasliattlY procuitd and
put in requisition, :and in less than a quarter of an
hour the body w;.s iecovered, and without loss of
time conve.v eel to the yo:ice-station in the docks, where
a warm bath im case ash' i'ar accidents is alwayi kept
in readiness. 1.-.lr. r,yrrie, ,urgeon, 47, Old Gravel-
hate, and another mcdieal Dian; nanied Yom‘,
Lying at No. 6, Ilarris's-terrace, - were prnr: ptly
in rdteadance, and applied the usual n earls to
restore susiended animation for nearly an he ur, with-
v.! :effect. The i'a:her (his dinner' not hi.ving
ttD-
rivcd at the gun-dock, Wapping, where he Is as work-
incr, at the usual tone) proceeded towards his home,
in doing which he had to pass over the swivel-bridge
Old Gravel-lane. At this time persons were drag-
ging- for the hotly, and, like many others, he in-
quired whether it was a male or female that had been
drowned. lie was answered that it was a young
woman dressed in a black gown. Sever for a moment
imagining the young woman to be his own daughter,
he v, cut to his Louie, and, en being told that Mary
Ann had left Nvith his dinner some tune previous, he
instantly ejaculated, " Then she is drowned." The
• i pour man,_ n a state of distraction, instantly repaired
to the police-statio,i, and there recognised the body of
his daughter.

HORRIBLE OCCURRENCE.
(From the Nottingham Review of this day.)
An inquest was. held at the Lord Nelson public-
house, Ilulton Moor, on the body of Ann Heywood,a
female of seventy-three years of age, who had died on
'Wednesday evening.
Robert Taylor deposed—l am a pauper' in the Rol.
ton workhouse. I never saw deceased until last
night, when I went to the dead-house with Hiram
Bolden, in consequence of information that a woman
had been dragged down stairs and laid out before she
was dead. When I got into the dead-house the de-
ceased was lying upon the dead-stone with a sheet
tout shift upon her just as she is now. The dead-
house is usually locked, and was so when we went t
see, lint a girl went to the Governor for the key and
a candle. The Governor was present 'when the door
was unloc!ted, and I nut certain that up to that period
the Governor was not aware that she was alive in
the dead-house. The Governor held"the candle, and
I stood opposite to him just at her head. He acid
Where is your wick (live) woman ?" I replied,
" Well, I think she is dead;" and justas I spoke, she
drew up her legs as well as she could. She opened
her eyes and closed them, and I observed a movement
in her throat. I then said to the Governor, " She is
not dead." We stood amazed, and a young man pre-
sent said, " She must have a bed." The Governor
said, " Yes, fetch her a bed ;" and I placed her upon
it, and she was carried into the hospital. Mary
Devonport, the nurse at the workhouse hospital,
came into the dead-house, and the Governor ordered
her out, and censured her for laying out people before
they were dead. Mary Davenport said, " No, she is
not dead," in reply to a question ; and I said to her,
" No, you are an old brute ; and if she was my
mother, I would make an example of you." The
deceased died about nine o'clock. I did not notice
the marks and bruises upon her bodi.. I understood
that she had been in the dead house three-quarters of
an hour before I went to her. The deceased, I un-
derstand, has been sick about twelve- m)nths. I
cannot blame the Governor, except in not sending
for the dwtor.

John Morris deposed to a similar calk;
Martha Mangnall deposed—l have known de
ceased almt eleven months. A week ago to-night
slit, fell from her bed and blackened the„ right eye.
The .scratch was not upon her last night, nor was
the mark on her arm then upon it. The deceased lay
upon the bed-room floor for about an hour and a half.
A pillow was thrown upon deceavd's face, and re-
mained there at least a quarter of an hour. Mary
I)evonport put the pillow upon deceased's face, and
blew our the candle.

The Coroner having summed up, the Jury returned
the tidlowing Verdict :—" That it appears, from the
evidenev, that the deceased has died from old age and
decay ; and although the evidence does not warrant
the Jury in returning a verdict of manslaughter
against Mary Devonp,:rt, yet they are of opinion that
she has bce'i guilty great neglect, and has treated
deceased in 11 cruel and brutal manner; and that she
is highly reprelionsible, not only on this account, but
from her drutiltot habits, and ought to be discharged
initneliately from the workhouse. The Jury also
think that the Nr orlthouse regulations require to be
amended."

At a meeting of the Guardians held the day after
the inquest, it was agreed that Mary Devonport be
discharged forthwith.

FontaGN GEESE AND TURKEYS.-7Large quantities
of these have, for the Christmas season, been intro-
duced the last few days into Leadenhall and Newgate
• Markets, but NTlliell, from the e!ose manner in which
they have been packed, by which they have become
heated, and the heat of the weather, have turned out
quite green and unfit for food. Great numbers have
been removed at night and thrown away as offal, as
the stench has proved quite offensive. ti* both salesmen
and purchasers. Yesterday, at noon, as a porter was
retnoviti, a case hill of thew putridgeese from Leaden-
hall Market, it 1111 from his head, and, being unloos-
ened, the geese, about twenty in number, fell out into
the road. Considerable merriment was excited by his
hastily catching up the case and running away, leav
ink: the geese to the mercy of the bvs",anders, who
amused themselves by playing at foot-ball with them.
Geese and turkeys of inferior quality may be obtained
at a very cheap price, whilst those of good quality
are dear. The warm and unseasonable weather of
the last few days has also proved very detrimental to
the meat markets, from the quantity Which has turned
bad, and bees thrown away
or sold at a low-price.
The present weather is particularly unfavourable for
e French Ambassador, the
tempposingefThatLietabts,osewahimoboraeremmuusccublarmofirberlei.able to de-
PcoulresoThdliareourt, the. Countess de
Count de Grammont, &c., are ex-
pected to arrive here. at the commencement of th
C°Saßiun:tetw°°AanuDdlaire,s
New Year, on a visit to the Marquis and Marchion
of Lansdowne.

STATE OF TRADE AT ASTIDURTON,—It is with
pleasure we are enabled to state, that the woollen
trade still presents a scene of activity--7the factories
and wool shops are all open, and a busy throng are
working at their d;tferent employments from morn till
night.—Rull.,,,itth Juana/.
SPORTING ExTitAouniNAßy.—On Wednesday, tho
ith inst., Mr. R. Elakewood, and Mr. B. Busford,
iuu., of 'lsopsham, met with most extraordinary. sport.
In the :.pace of -six hours Mr. Blakewood killed 38
snipes, 3 jacks, 5 ducks, 8 teal, and a hare; Mr. B.
Bus%rd, jun., 31 snipes, 6 jacks, 3 ducks, and 2 'eal
—total, 61 snipes, 9 Jacks, 8 ducks, 10 teal, and 1
hare; Last year Mr. Blakewood, in two days killed
with one double-barrelledgun C 4 stiipci, 6ducks, and
3 teal: Weder-ii Lumil2nry.

WonmiN AnnET.—Private theatricals commenced
here on Wednesday evening. Amongst the visitors
were—The Earl of Leicester and . his brother (the
lion. Mr. Coke), the.. Earl and Countess Of Albemarle,
the Hon. Chas. -Compton and Ladv.Catherine Caven-
dish, the Mis'es Cavendish, the Earl and Countess of
Arundel, the Lady Paget, Mr. and Mrs. Shelley, the
Earoness de Clifford, Lord A. Fitxclarence, Lords
William, Edward, Cosino, and Francis Russell ; Mir.
Colborne, Lord and INliss Foley. .
CLEMENCY OF THE WEATHER.-111PE 'STRAWBER..
RlES.—Throughout this season, which is now pretty
l'ar advanced, We Ir,ve experienced little Of the rigours
of winter, but, on the contrary, the weather has been
exCeeclingly mild, and favourable to vegetation. As
a proof of which we may state that on Saturday last
1r
we were presented with a few lc strawberries, which
were grown in the garden of . . Robert Stewart,
Altrest, near Donemaas, which has rather an exposed
.24 BRIDGE.--TllO
situation. From different quarters, also, we under•
stand that thrushes are singing, and sparrows building
nuts.--Londonderry Journal.
-It'll'. eClLittsesZiin in this neigh-
-I\ifiLutiFdill ti f.ed by his brother, as that
named Lynch, who. held some ap-
Pointnient in the Ordnance Survey Department; and
from the fact of all his private papers and letters,
ollf:d'Saull:.iyirrioiuelsnigclit:l main,
having been destroyed on the Saturday night pre-
viously to the body being discovered, some suspicion
is entertained that the unfortunate young man de-
stroyed himself.—Dublin Evening Mail:
A few years back, the stalls of a class of men called
" shoe-blacks " were seen at the corners of our streets.
It is considered that during dirty weather, such as
at present, that, if revived, would afford a means of
subsistence to many who are nowt a loss for em.
tieytiwnt,