The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-03-23 00:00:00

further sue

Linton, on tE

point c

pears to have
int in divergent
Wand to both the (

Commissioners
England and .Stirling

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DREADFUL COAL-MINE
HAMILTON

NI Tuesday, the

at consternation on hearing of an ex-
tensive explosion of fire damp in the coal mine near Quarter,
accompanied with the loss of eleven lives. On repairing to
the spot, we found the account given of it too true. It ap-
pears that about eight o'clock that morning, (the breakfast
I-ourl there were six men and a boy in the mine, all of whom,
it was too plain, must have perished instantly by the explo-
sion. On the alarm being given, the overseer of the mine
not being at hand, seven men, who were on the outside of
the mouth of the mine, spontaneously, and under the influ-
ence of humanity, and vainly hoping to aid their fellow-men
in the midst of this dreadful calamity, rushed thoughtlessly
into the pestiferous atmosphere of the newt/ exploded mine;
three of vv.iom were dragged out alive, and four dead, by a
third party, who, becoming alarmed for their safety, went to
Unceasing exertions were made to relieve
noxious vapour, but it was not till yes

n of Hamilton and neighbourhood

thrown into

their assistar

the mine of tt

bodies 6f the seven first sufferers were

recovered, some of whom were shockingly mangled by the
explosion, in a way that evidently showed that the death of
the whole must have been instantaneous. Of the eleven

sufferers, nine were married, who have left wives and fami-
lies behind them to deplore their loss. The noble proprietor
of the mine, the Duke of Hamilton, who is now at the palace,
was in the greatest distress on obtaining intelligence of the
sad event, and immediately sent pecuniary assistance to the
families of the poor sufferers, and has caused every exertion
to be used on their behalf, and arrangements to be made, at
his own expense, as to their funerals and otherwise, suitable
to the sad occasion.

The terrible accident, it appears, was in no degree owing
to the negligence or want of skill of his grace's overseers or
engineers. The mine, which is an ingoing eye, or day level,
when the explosion occurred, was coin pletely ventilated, be-
ing open at both ends to the day, with a current of air con-
stantly passing through it, and on the morning when the acci-
dent occurred, had been carefully examined by two oversme,,
and reported to be free from danger. It appears that the
carbonated hydrogen had been instantly generated from cer-
tain fissures connected with a rise in the metals, the sad effects
of which no human foresight could prevent.
For the satisfaction of those at a distance, who 'may have
friends employed at the Quarter coal mines, we subjoin a

. .
list of the sufferers. The seven first were in the mine at the
time of the explosion—the remaining four went in to their
rescue :—William Brounlie, and his son—a boy ten years of
age ; James Duffle ; John Duffle ; Hugh 11I'Lean ; John
Smith ; William Wotherspoon ; James Fleming; George
Plate ; James Fisher ; Jame Fyfe.—Argus.

REPUBLICAN "SIMPLICITY

It was a fashion with Mr. Joseph Hume some years ago,
whenever anything was asked for the sustenation of royalty,
to twit us with the exceeding loveliness of republican a sim-
plicity." The cheapness of democracy charmed him, a Pre-
sident of the United States was not much more costly than a
chairman of the customs with us ; and on one occasion we
remember his dwelling with ecstacy on the fact, that if the
President desired to give half a dozen friends a night's lodg-
ing in the government house, he would be forced to "sleep
them" two in a bed and "plank it" himself. We thought
this a joke at the tine; but it turns out to have been true,

in Congress on

the 23d ult., touching the alleged " simplicity" of our repub-
lican cousins in their mode of fitting up domiciles for their
chief ministers of state. We copy from the regular report
in the New York Journal of Commerce—" An amendment
(motion) was offered for appropriattng 6000 dollars to buy
chamber furniture, of American manufacture, for the Presi-
dent's house. It was stated that there were but three beds

in the mansion; and that it was destitute of furniture neces-
-though the furniture (such

y to the col:11f(

as it was) had cost more than 100,000 dollars, and the allow-
ance made in Van Buren's time for furniture was 27,000
dollars, all of which was expended in two rooms !" Mr.
Van Buren, it was moreover stated, was a single man, aril
lihd, therefore, only occasion for two rooms ; but, shade of
Cincinnatus ! only think of a little republican bachelor spend-
ing 27,000 crowns in fitting up for himself a sanctum sane-
forum and a bedroom ! One of the members (a Mr. Alford)
" moved to sell the gold spoons, and other such articles, and

.
with the proceeds to buy necessary furniture ;" whereupon
a Mr. Lincoln, with great gravity and indignation, averred
" on the authority of official documents," that Mr. Van
Buren's spoons were not gold, that they were only silver gilt !
We should have thought, from Mr. Flume's account, that
even a plain silver spoon would have been an abomination in
the mouth of a loco-foco statesman ; but it seems that silver
itself must be washed in gold to harmonise with his palate !
We perceive, too, that with all their " simplicity" they are
in their style of social intercourse generations before us, hav-
ing adopted that liberal eastern custom by which a guest is
allowed, and indeed expected, to smuggle-out of the house
the cup from which he has been drinking. There seemed to
be no surprise created when honourable members accounted
for the hundred thousand dollars worth of furniture already
purchased by its having been " stolen" l When Mr. H ume's
oc..^upation is gone, as it is likely to be at no distant date, in
this country, we advise him to transfer his inquisitive and
economical genius to the other side of the Atlantic. He will
find plenty of work to keep him from rusting in his old age
amongst his models of " simplicity."

CHURCH-RATE,
re o'clock, the t

;... On Thursday afternoon, at
,01l for a church-rate for this

parish terminated, when the -rev. vicar, who had attended to
receive the votes during the whole of the poll, announced the
result. The few persons present immediately retired, no ob-
servations having been made at the close of the meeting, as
was the case heretofore, when the radicals used to declaim
against Sturges Bonrne's Act, and to boast that, although
beaten by votes , they had a majority of persons. The num-
ber of rate-payers who recorded their opposition to the
church-rate on this occasion was only 125, out of a popula-
tion of about 45,000. The following is the result of the pull:—
For the rate 804 votes and 301 persons.
Against it 236 125 "

Majority for rate 568 votes 176 persons
—Brighton Gazette.

ETON COLLEGE, FRIDAY, MARCH 19.—1 n consequence
of a very large proportion of the boys (I may say at least
three-fourths of the school) having been sent for by their
parents and left the college up to Wednesday evening, occa-
sioned by the alarming rumours of the prevalence of the
scarlet-fever within the establishment, Dr. Hawtrey, the
head-master, came to the determination of dismissing the
remainder. Yesterday the school " broke up" accordingly,
and by this evening the college (both with respect to the
oppidans and the collegers) will be entirely deserted. The
business of the school having terminated until the conclu-
sion of the Easter holidays, the examination for the New.
castle scholarship has consequently and necessarily been
postponed until after that period ; it will commence on Mon-
day April the 25th, and terminate on the following Satur-
day.' The examiners are the Rev. Mr. Jelf, of Christ
Church, Oxford, and G. T. Pennington, Esq., of Ring's
College, Cambridge. Since the fatal termination to the ill-
ness of the son of Mr. Mount, who died on Monday last,
no fresh cases have occurred within the college.

DREADFUL ACCIDENT.—A man of the name of John
,n at work last Friday night, in a pit near this
town, belonging to Thomas Shaw Haller, Esq., when, a
quantity of coal fell upon him about ten o'clock at night, and
almost crushed him to atoms. As there was no individual on
the bank, and it being in the night, he was not got out till
the men came to work the next morning. There were two
other men with him, one of whom was severely injured and
the other escaped, but as there was no means of extricating
his fellow sufferers from their dreadful situation, he was
obliged to stay with them till between five and six o'clock the
next morning ; an inquest was held on the body on Saturday
last, before W. Robinson, Esq., coroner. Verdict—Acci-
dental death.—Staffordshire Gazette.
THE LORD CHANCELLOR.—We are happy to state that
the Lord Chancellor is sufficiently recovered from his late
sT;ere indisposition to be able to resume his official duties.
The noble and learned lord sat on Thursday morning in the
House of Lords to hear appeals. His lordship appears to
have suffered very severely.— Standard.— On Saturday
morning his lordship took his seat in the Chancery Court,
Lincoln's Inn, for the first time since his serious indisposition.

Robins