The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-08-22 00:00:00

IRELAND.

All is again quiet at Abbeyfaile, and the mails pass and
repass without a single policeman to guard them.
Numerous arrests of persons implicated in the late trea-
sonable conspiracy, continue to be made every day, both
in Dublin and in the provinces ; but none of the leaders
have been captured since Mr. Meagher's arrest. The
National of last Monday, announces that Mr. Morgan,
solicitor to the reformed corporation of Dublin, has escaped
to France.

Saunders's News-Letter states, on the authority of its
Clonmel correspondent, that a small party of police, on
the Clogher road, within half a mile of Clonmel, were at-
tacked with a volley of stones from some elevated ground
by the road-side. None of the police were hurt, but they
failed to capture any of their assailants.

The scene of recent insurrection in the south of Ireland
is now one of perfect tranquility. The scent lies very hot
in Limerick after Mr. Richard O'Gorman, jun. Several
persons, including some of the Yankee sympathisers— have
been arrested and committed to gaol, in Dublin and in the
provinces. They are, however, people of inferior note.
The Cork Constitution states that the gunpowder seized
at Dungarvan had not been shipped for an unlawful pur-
pose, but fell into the hands of the authorities, through
the imprudence of the master, who, attempting to escape
the difficulty of the county being proclaimed, was silent
respecting it, and thus excited suspicion.
Summonses are to be issued immediately to the jurors of
Tipperary, calling on them to attend the special com-nis-
sion, which will be opened early next week, for the trial
of Smith O'Brien, Meagher, Duffy, &c., who have been
taken in arms or been in correspondence with the rebels.
It is said that they will be tried in one "monster indict-
ment" for conspiracy.
The Nenagh Guardian asserts that, when Mr. Meagher
and his two friends, Leyne and O'Donoghue, were first
seen on the high road by the police, there was a fourth
person with them who was permitted to escape, and that
this person was no other than the notorious and pro-
claimed rebel, Mr. Doheny ! They do not merely in-
sinuate, but distinctly allege, that Mr. Doheny had
peached, and that it was through his information that Mr.
Meagher was captured.
Mr. Martin was on Wednesday found guilty under the
treason-felony act, and Mr. O'Dogherty was on Thursday
again placed on his trial, when Mr. Butt, on behalf of the
prisoner, challenged the array, but the challenge was dis-
allowed. The indictment preferred against Mr. Duffy
under the treason-felony act, has been aandoned, as cer-
tain documents discovered among Mr. Smith O'Brien's
papers have supplied the crown with materials for putting
Mr. Duffy on his trial for high treason.
The Dublin Herald says that Mr. Martin was tried by
an exclusively Protestant jury.
INTIMIDATION OF JURORS.—Shortly after the foreman
of the jury in John Martin's case had returned home after
the prisoner's conviction, he was waited on by Mr. James
Martin, a brother of the felon, who said to him—" I
come here to challenge you to mortal combat, for having
bullied the jury in the case of my brother." This was
declined by the foreman, who handed over the would-be-
duellist to the police. James Martin afterwards wrote to
apologise for his silly impudence. On Friday, this person
was committed by the Chief Baron for a month to prison,
his lordship stating that the sentence was less severe on
account of the prisoner's having expressed his sorrow for
the offence, and the appeal made on his behalf by the
foreman of the jury.
On Friday, fourteen prisoners were removed from the
gaols of Kilmainham and Newgate, under a strong escort
of constabulary and city police, and sent by railway to
Kingstown. from whence they were transmitted, on board
war steamers, to Belfast.
On Saturday the jury in the case of O'Doherty were
again discharged, being unable to agree, and the Attorney-
General intimated that he would again try him at the next
commission. Application was made to admit the prisoner
to bail, but this was refused. On the same day John
Martin, convicted of treason, was sentenced to ten years'
transportation, and was removed to Newgate in chains.
Prior to the sentence being passed, Mr. Martin said that
he would not condescend to ask for mercy. He was
strongly of opinion that he was morally right, and that he
had done nothing that would stain his character as a man,
a patriot, or a Christian.

The Clonmel Chronicle announces the arrest of one of
the rebels wounded at Ballingarry :—" A man of the name
of James Dwyer was brought into Clonmel on Friday, and
lodged in the county gaol; he was one of the insurgent
band in the battle of Boulagh Common and at Ballingarry,
and had a dreadful wound in the right breast. Ever since the
affray he has been concealed in one of the pits in the vici-
nity of Boulagh, and from information received by the
authorities, he was arrested down in the pit a few days
since, and conveyed to Killenaule, from which place he
was escorted into Clonmel."

Lord Hardinge reviewed the troops under General Mac-
donald, at Limerick, yesterday week.
The Morning Herald states that there are in Ireland
full 3,000 Roman Catholic priests, and 1,500 professed
religious women of various orders.
THE POTATO BLIGHT IN IRELAND.—The failure, WC
regret to say, appears to be as complete as that of 1846.
There are now lying before us reports from Tipperary,
Carlow, Cork, Sligo, Limerick, Derry, Antrim, Down,
Louth, Armagh, and Monaghan, and unhappily they all
concur in representing the pestilence as universal.
The Irish papers report the premature death of Mr.
G. Nimmo, an engineer well known in that country. It
seems that as Mr. Nimmo, accompanied by two men in a
sailing boat, was crossing one of the bays in Connemara,
the boat, when at full sail, struck upon a sunken rock,
which cleft her in two. The two men, with this much-
lamented gentleman, perished. _ _ _

NEW SOCIETY FOR IRELAND.—Last Monday a meet-
ing of about 60 noblemen and gentlemen, among whom
were Lord Cloncurry, Earl of Miltown, Lord W. Fitz-
gerald, Sir M. Chapman, &c., was held in Dublin, when
it was resolved to form a society " to promote the peri-
odical sitting of the Imperial Parliament in Dublin,"
the annual subscription to be £l.
CURIOUS ASSOCIATION.—A correspondent of the Cork
Constitution says,—" Some few years ago I paid a visit
at Dromoland, the seat of Sir Lucius O'Brien, Bart.,
County Clare. Sir Lucius, pointing out to me the various
members of the family pictures, showed me one of Lord
Chancellor Hyde, (Earl of Clarendon, and grandfather
of Queen Anne,) among the ancestry of the house of
O'Brien. Would that the unfortunate William Smith
O'Brien had not endeavoured to sully the brilliancy of an
escutcheon so distinguished ! and exposed himself to the
censure and rigour of the law, so well administered by
the present Earl of Clarendon.
AN IRISEI VAGRANT'S DEFENCE.—An ingenious de-
fence was made in a case tried at Galway, at the present
assizes. M. Connelly was placed at the bar and arraigned,
the grand jury having presented him as a vagrant. The
evidence adduced against him clearly proved that he was
a notorious bad character. He had no settled place of
residence, was constantly before the magistrates at petty
sessions on charges of sheep stealing and killing sheep ;
he has publicly sold in markets legs of mutton at 6d.
each, and was committed for trial both at quarter sessions
and assizes; but so ingeniously did he continue to corn,
mit these offences, that exidene-e could not be adduced
legally to commit him. The case for the prosecution
having closed, the prisoner made a few observations to
the court in Irish, which Mr. Walter Bourke translated
—the statement of the prisoner being both ingenious and
poetic.—Mr. Bourke said : My lord the prisoner sub-
mits that all the evidence given on the part of the prose-
cution must be construed in his favour ; and that the fact
of his being so often tried, and on no occasion convicted,
clearly shows he must be an honest laan—(loud laughter)
—for the same reason, my lord, as the prisoner states,
that the more frequently gold is molten in the furnace
and tried for its genuine character, the purer it becomes.
—(Loud and continued laughter, in which Baron Lefroy
heartily joined.)—He further submits, my lord, that his
case is analogous to that of Jonas in the whale's belly--
(laughter)—for that when Jonas escaped from the belly
of the whale, he went forth an untainted character, and so
he insists he should be considered, having escaped from
the clutches of Mr. Lopdell, who, the prisoner states, is
in mind very like a whale, and who sought to devour him.
(Laughter.) He further, my lord, insists that the fact of
his having meat frequently in his possession, and having
gone about the country selling legs of mutton, demon-
stratively proves his innocence. for that it is merely evi-
dence to show he is a man of industrious habits prosecu-
ting his trade as a butcher.—(Loud laughter.) lie sub-
mits, my lord, to go into the dock and stand his trial for
sheep stealing, or any other offence that may be brought
against him • but he denies the existence of a power in
the jury to find him guilty as a vagrant, the whole weight
of the evidence in his opinion going to prove he is an
honest man.— (Loud laughter)—He was sentenced to the
usual penalty in such cases.
STRANGE POLICE CASE.—At the Henry-street Police-
office, Dublin, on Thursday, a respectable-looking young
man whose name appeared as George Bailey, of Calen,
Wiltshire, was charged with having a gun and a case of
pistols in his possession without license. The following
are the heads of the case :—On Wednesday (the day
before), Mr. Bailey arrived at Dublin from Liverpool, and
went to Fleming's Hotel, North Wall. In the course of
of the evening, some discharged soldiers arrived
from England and also stopped at the same hotel. Two
of them slept in the room over Mr. Bailey's bedroom, and
about two o'clock next morning, one of them who was
very drunk, got up with the intention of proceeding down
stairs. The window of the room looked on a shed, and
the man mistaking it, as it was open, for the door, walked
out on the sill, and finding his mistake attemptedl to re-
cover himself. He failed, and laid hold of the window
sill to support himself. He fell so far, and his legs hung
down. In his exertions to regain the room his feet came
into contact with the window of the room in which Mr.
Bailey was asleep. He kicked away for some time, and
broke several panes of glass. Mr. Bailey was roused, and
having a good deal of property in the room, jumped out of
bed, thinking he was going to be attacked by robbers, and
seized a small pistol which he had left loaded on the
dressing table, when by some accident it went off, the ball
severely wounding himself in the hand, and passing to the
other side of the room. The man at the outside of the
window, hearing the report, and thinking it aimed at him,
fell from his position, and coming on the shed, tumbled
through another window, and cut one of his legs severely.
When the waiter ran up stairs he found Mr. Bailey nearly
covered with blood, and afterwards found the soldier half
dead from fright and hurt. The man declared he had
been shot, though the ball did not go near him. The
soldiers gave the alarm to the police, stating that their
comrade had been shot. A surgeon was brought, Mr.
Bailey's hand was dressed and the soldier was sent to the
hospital. The constable called was puzzled and decided
on charging Mr. Bailey with having arms in his possession
without a license.—Mr. O'Callagan, the magistrate, ques-
tioned Mr. Bailey strictly .as to his possession of them,
and the reply was to this and ether questions, that he had
just arrived from Liverpool, that he had accidentally gone
to the inn, not wishing to lake !his luggage through the
torm,,as .I.te was going on hesinessinllee corn trade; that

he carried the pistols for his personal protection, and the
gun—which he intended to resister as soon as possible—
for his amusement. He added that he knew General
Dombrain, of the commissariat department. That gen-
tleman was sent for, and gave Mr. Bailey a high character;
he also added that he had employed Mr. Bailey at Water-
ford under the relief commission, and that his story was,
he believed, correct. Meantime Mr. B's luggage was
searched by the police, but nothing of a "felonious" cha-
racter was discovered.—The magistrate at the end of
these strange and eventful proceedings, discharged Mr.
Bailey, and ordered the arms to be sent to the commis-
sioners' office.

RAILWAY AFFAIRS.
----
The dividend of Bs. per shat
re recommended in the re-
port of the Eastern Counties railway was carried at the
half-yearly meeting.
RAILWAY SPEED.—The express train of the Great
Western on Tuesday last ran the 22 miles from Didcot
to Swindon in eighteen minutes.
The dividend to be declared at the approaching meet-
ing of the North British Railway Company will be five
per cent. _ _

- It is expected that the dividends of the York, New-
castle, and Berwick, and the York and North Midland
Railways, will be eight per cent. at the approaching
meetings.
CHESTER AND HOLYHEAD RAlLWAY.—Traffic for the
week ending August 5, £lBO7 4s. ld., and for the week
ending August 12, £2235 55., (Postoffice for conveyance
of mails, and toll from Shrewsbury and Chester Railway
Company, not included.)
The report and accounts of the Great Northern were
adopted by the shareholders at the half-yearly meeting ;
after various pressing remarks to the directors on the
necessity of a more stringent economy in the conduct of
their affairs. Before October the line will probably be
opened to six miles beyond Lincoln
CHESHIRE JUNCTION RAILWAY. —Baron Goldsmid
and Mr. Garnett have joined the Board of Directors, and
it is intended to resume forthwith the works for complet-
ing the line between Chester and Warrington. Arrange-
ments are also in progress for resuming the works at the
Birkenhead Docks.

At the South-Eastern railway meeting, the dividend
was continued at 21s. per share on the original shares,
and 15s. 9d. was declared on the No. 1, and Ils. Bd. on
the No. 2 shares, the available balance of profit and loss
being £108,836. The capital account, it was stated, will
be closed with all possible dispatch, and the entire report
was favourably received.
In the report to the meeting of the Great Western
Railway Company, " The directors recommended that the
same dividend as before, 3 per cent. for the half-year,
to be payable from the disposable balance, which will
leave the sum of £7,821 Bs. 7d. to be carried to the credit
of the current half-year, which is always found to be pro-
ductive of the largest revenue." The report was agreed
to.

CALEDONIAN OPENING TO ARBROATH AND MON-
TROSE.—On Monday the Castlecary branch of this rail-
way was opened for public traffic, thus completing the
direct line between London, Perth, Dundee, Arbroath,
and Montrose. The express trains from Dundee arrived
at the Euston-square terminus in 15 hours, and from Ar-
broath in 151. The line is continued from Arbroath to
Montrose, coaches conveying passengers on to Aberdeen.
From official returns, it appears that the amount of
traffic for the last week, on 4,045 miles of railway, was
£237,194, thus accounted for :—£131,565 for the convey-
ance of passengers only, £47,692 for the carriage of
goods, and a remainder of £57,937 for passengers and
goods together, not respectively apportioned ; being an
increase of £20,851 over the corresponding week of last
year, when the mileage was 3,230. The average earnings
per mile were £52, whilst in 1847 they were £67.
A very serious accident happened on the Eastern
Counties Railway, near the Lea-bridge station, on Tues-
day, by which Mr. William Bungrey, a solicitor, residing
at Stockbridge, in Hants, lost his life. The deceased
gentleman got on to the main line at the moment a train
was approaching. The engine-driver sounded the steam
whistle, but from deafness, it is supposed, he was not
conscious of his danger until the buffer of the engine
caught him, and threw him apparently on to the perma-
nent way between the rails, the firebox of the engine
crushing him as it went along.

Mr. Glyn, at the London and North-western meeting
last week, took the opportunity of congratulating the
shareholders upon the connection with the docks in the
Thames, which will very shortly be realized. It is curious
to observe how every railway is trying to have its water
terminus. Mr. Hudson connects his Eastern Counties at
Yarmouth ; his Hull and Selby at Hull; his northern
lines at Hartlepool and Sunderland. The Great Western
has Bristol, and is looking to Plymouth and Falmouth.
The shrewd men of Sheffield were laughed at for seizing
hold of dull Great Grimsby ; but every day's experience
is proving the wise policy of that step. The Lancashire
and Yorkshire have secured Goole ; the South-western,
Southampton, &c. ; and we have no doubt that, in a few
years, docks will be a feature of every important line.
The possession of a good water terminus is like extend-
ing the line, in one sense, to all the world.
RAILWAY COLLISIONS.—OIi Thursday morning a colli-
sion took place on the London and North-Western Rail-
way, between the early mail train from York and the
branch mail train from Peterborough. The spot where
the collision took place is called Ashton Bank, situate
about 51- miles on the northern side of Wolverton, and 21
miles from the Roade station. The Peterborough mail
train left Peterborough, drawn by No. 93 engine, and all
went well until the arrival of the train at Ashton Bank,
when the engine came to a dead stop, in consequence of
the connecting-rods of the engine having given way. The
York mail was at this time due, and the engine-driver,
being unable to do anything with his engine, immediately
dispatched his fireman down the line towards the Roade
station with the fog signal, it being exceedingly foggy at
the time, in order to stop the up-coming trains. The
York mail was at the moment approaching, and it appears
that there was not sufficient time after the engine-driver
of that train had sight of the fog signals, to stop to prevent
his running into the Peterborough train. Several of the
carriages were much damaged, and some of the passengers
were cut and bruised; but no serious injuries appear to
have been sustained by any one, except a man named Col-
lins, the under-guard, whose head came in contact with
the break-iron, and who is thought to have sustained a
concussion of the brain. .He has been removed to Lon-
don, and is now lying in the University College Hospital.
As soon as the line was cleared, the passengers were
brought to Wolverton by-the Liverpool mail, and thence
to London, where they arrived at nine o'clock, upwards of
five hours after the proper time. Amongst the passengers
in the York train were the Rev. Dr. Townsend, Preben-
dary of Durham, his lady, and lady's maid (Mrs. Chorl-
ton). Happily the Dr. and his lady escaped with a few
trifling contusions, but Mrs. Chorlton was a good deal cut
about the head.—Another accident occurred on this line
of railway on Friday morning, by which the life of one of
the engine-drivers has been placed in imminent peril.
The following are the circumstances, as far as we have
been able to ascertain them :—Thomas Sands left Bir-
mingham at a quarter to nine o'clock on Thursday eve-
ning, in charge of a luggage train, which he brought
safely as far as the 'Ting-cutting. While passing be-
tween this cutting his engine became out of order, and
the unfortunate man having become alarmed, threw him-
self off the engine-plate into the embankment, and sus-
tained a severe fracture of the thigh. —Another collision
took place at Birmingham on Friday. On the arrival of
the nine a.m. express train from London at the Birming-
ham terminus, a train of first and second class carriages
was being shifted on the main line. The driver of the
engine drawing the express train did not shut off his steam
in time. He ran into the train of empty carriages, smash-
ing three or four of the first-class, and damaging more or
less every carriage in the train. No life was lost.