May 11,] 



THE NEWSPAPER. 



place at the workhouse, and the superstitious augur that 

 some fearful calamity will occur this year again." 



Ely. — One of the most serious fires which ever hap- 

 pened in this county, took place on Wednesday week, at 

 Streatbam, near Ely. The destruction of property is 

 enormous; not less than twenty-five houses, &c, have 

 been rased to the ground, including habitations of agri- 

 culturists and labourers. The fire originated in a small 

 hovel adjoining a blacksmith's shop. The damage has 

 been estimated at between 15,000/. and 20,000/., a great 

 portion of the property be in % uninsured. — Another in- 

 cendiary fire took place at Exiling, about two miles from 

 Newmarket, on the following night, on a farm, the pro- 

 perty of Mr. Stigwood. 



\lanelly. — A serious accident occurred on Friday in a 

 colliery near this place. It appears that between 2 and 

 3 o'clock in the afternoon the engine in the Penbwlch- 

 gwyn colliery, about two miles from Llanelly, caught fire. 

 After a short time the engine with a tremendous crash 

 fell into the pit, apparently shutting out every chance of 

 escape for the 24 men and children who were working in 

 the pit. All attempts to put out the flames were vain, 

 and all the woodwork was consumed in the course of an 

 hour, after which the fire died away. The rope, machin- 

 ery, &c, were also destroyed, and a great portion of the 

 iron work of the latter fell into the pit, at the bottom of 

 which were 18 men, 6 boys, and several horses, being 

 considerably less than the number usually employed. 

 As the current of air to the pit was supposed to have been 

 entirely cut off by the flames, it was feared, and indeed 

 believed by experienced engineers and colliers, that the 

 poor men must have perished. It appears, however, that 

 they preserved themselves by throwing water on the 

 wooden partition which divided the pit; and the people 

 above at last succeeded in rescuing them from their peril- 

 ous position. 



Manchester. — The Theatre Royal in this town was 

 totally destroyed by fire on Tuesday morning. It appears 

 that the building was used on the previous evening, and 

 was closed about the usual time, less fireworks and a 

 smaller number of lights having been used than usual. 

 So rapid was the progress of the flames, that nothing but 

 part of the wardrobe could be saved. It is singular that 

 on the same night the Theatre Royal at Liverpool had a 

 narrow escape from the same cause. An alarm was 

 raised that the house was on fire, and the audience rose 

 and fled to the door. The alarm, however, soon subsided 

 on its being ascertained that some scenery only had ig- 

 nited, which was extinguished by a few buckets of water. 



Newport. — On Saturday evening the Severn, iron 

 steamer, plying between this place and Bristol, was lost 

 in the Usk, by being drifted by the strong tide against 

 Newport bridge. The Severn and the Avon are two new 

 vessels lately put on the station by a new company. They 

 were propelled by the Archimedian screw, and by high- 

 pressure engines, and have only been running about three 

 weeks. It appears that the vessel had all her passengers 

 on board, and was preparing to start for Bristol, when the 

 stern rope was let go, and orders given to reverse the 

 engine. It was then discovered that the screw would not 

 act, and the vessel was at the mercy of the current. She 

 therefore drifted rapidly with the tide, and in a few minutes 

 struck against the sharp angle of the bridge, which stove in 

 the bow ; the water began to flow in, and the pumps were 

 set to work, but she rebounded, and again struck broad- 

 side against the bridge with such force that it was almost 

 miraculous she did not turn right over. The scene was 

 now heart-rending. There were about 50 passengers on 

 board, and the screaming and cries for help were dreadful. 

 There was a large number of people assembled on the 

 bridge and shores, and assistance was promptly afforded, 

 and all the passengers and luggage were saved, it being 

 an hour and a half from t:e time of the vessel striking 

 to her going down. Several attempts have been made to 

 get her up, but as yet without avail. On examination it 

 was found that the obstacle was a long piece of chain, 

 which had been firmly twisted round the screw which had 

 thus caused her destruction. How the chain came there 

 is a complete mystery, as all her mooring chains have 

 since been examined, and are safe, aud the captain and 

 crew say that they had no such chain on deck. The 

 vessel has since rolled over with every tide, and has a rent 

 in her side from the deck to her keel large enough for 

 men to walk in and out, so that it is very doubtful whe- 

 ther she will not go entirely to pieces. 



Taunton. — Public feeling was so much excited by the 

 trials of the two Sealeys for the late murders in Somer- 

 set, that a subscription has been raised to send Mary 

 and Faith Sealey out of the country, and they have pro- 

 ceeded to one of our sea-ports, from whence they will 

 take their departure for Australia. 



Windsor. — The parties in the late match from London 

 to Windsor, after the performance of which one of the 

 horses died of exhaustion, appeared last week, at the 

 instance of Mr. Thomas, Secretary to the Society for the 

 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, at the Town-hall, 

 Windsor. 1 he charge of excessive cruelty was fully sub- 

 stantiated against the driver and owner of the horse 

 which subsequently died, a Mr. William Moselev, who 

 was convicted ,n the full penalty -40,. and costs. A 

 Mr. Henry Bond, a medical student, the rider of the 

 other horse, was then proceeded against, but as the 

 animal he rode was described as having been in no de- 

 gree distressed, the charge was dismissed. Mr. Thomas 

 in answer to a question from one of the bystanders, re- 

 plied, that the law, however efficient against these 

 criminals, would not reach the parties to the recent 

 steeple-chase, at which three fine horses had perished. 

 York. — George Lowther, who was sentenced to be 



executed for the murder of the Marquis of Normanby's 

 gamekeeper, is to be transported for life. 



Railit'itys. — The following are the returns for the past 

 we ek : — Birmingham and Derby, 1376/.; Birmingham 

 and Gloucester, 20867. ; Eastern Counties, 4420/,; Edin- 

 burgh and Glasgow, 2363/.; Great Western, 14,97-1/.; 

 (irand Junction, 7017/.; Glasgow, Paisley, and Ayr, 

 1239/.; Great North of England, 1353/.; London and 

 Birmingham, 17,443/.; South-Western, 6139/.; Black- 

 wall, 1062/. ; Greenwich, 933/. ; Brighton, 3538/. ; 

 Croydon, 307/. ; Liverpool and Manchester, 4346/. ; 

 Manchester, Leeds, and Hull, associated, 5920/. ; Mid- 

 land Counties, 2911/.; Manchester and Birmingham, 

 3254/. ; North Midland, 4336/. ; Newcastle and Carlisle, 

 1319/.; South-Eastern and Dover, 3691/. ; Sheffield and 

 Manchester, 536/. ; York and North Midland, 1524/.— 

 The select committee of the House of Commons ap- 

 pointed to inquire into the merits of the two proposed 

 competing lines of railway from Manchester to Ashton 

 and Staleybridge — the one projected by the Manchester 

 and Leeds Company, and the other by the Sheffield and 

 Manchester Company — have concluded their labours, 

 and have come to the decision of allowing both lines 

 to be constructed. These two lines are the first, and at 

 present the only competing lines that have been sanc- 

 tioned by a committee of the House of Commons. — 

 The Report of the Railway Department of the Board 

 of Trade has just been issued. It reports a pro- 

 gressive increase in the safety of travelling upon 

 railways during the past year, only one serious accident 

 of a public nature having taken place — that upon the 

 North Midland railway, by which one passenger lost his 

 life ; the number of passengers travelling on the 66 

 railways during the past year not being less than 

 24,000,000, conveyed on an average about 15 miles each. 

 This, in the opinion of the reporters, shows the high 

 degree of security attained by railway travelling, and 

 demonstrates in a most forcible manner the advantages 

 which have resulted from the progress of scientific im- 

 provement in point of safety as well as of speed. It 

 is satisfactory, they report, to find that the number 

 of accidents have been so small, during the period 

 considerable retrenchments haviag been effected in the 

 expenditure of most of the Companies, and there has 

 been a tendency to economise, by every possible means 

 forced upon them by a decline of their traffic during the 

 late period of commercial depression, and which, if not 

 tempered by proper discretion on the part of the directors, 

 must, in many cases, have been productive of danger. 

 It was also satisfactory to find that the number of acci- 

 dents attributable to the misconduct or inexperience of 

 engineers and servants of the Railway Companies, or to 

 defective arrangements on the part of the Companies, 

 was on the decrease. During the year ten new lines of 

 railways had been examined by the Inspector-General of 

 Railways. The report contains much voluminous infor- 

 mation upon the subject of railway statistics. — On Friday 

 General Pasley made his inspection of the Liverpool 

 Junction line just completed through Salford, and was so 

 far satisfied with the various works, that he hinted to the 

 representatives of the Liverpool and Manchester Com- 

 pnny that they might open the line without wa ting for an 

 official order. Accordingly the line was publicly opened 

 on Saturday morning, since which time the whole of the 

 passenger trains have run from the Victoria station at 

 Hunt's Bank. No stoppage is made to take up pass- 

 engers at the junction with the old line at Ordsall-lane, 

 and the offices in Liverpool-road, so far as the passenger 

 traffic is concerned are entirely closed. The old station, 

 however, is still the station for the Manchester goods 

 traffic. The new offices, waiting-rooms, &c, of the 

 Liverpool and Manchester Company, at the Victoria 

 station, adjoin those of the Manchester and Leeds Com- 

 pany, and are very commodious. There is now, there- 

 fore, one continuous line of railway communication across 

 the country from Hull to Liverpool, and the Irish Chan- 

 nel is thus brought into close neighbourhood with the 

 German Ocean.— It is said that amongst the policemen 

 on the Great Western Railway are eight members of the 

 Royal College of Surgeons, and three solicitors. 



IRELAND. 

 The State Trials.— On Thursday Mr. Fitzgibbon 

 addressed the Court on behalf of Dr. Gray, and, contrary 

 to expectation, compressed his arguments into one day's 

 speech. Mr. M'Donagh on Friday followed on behalf of 

 Mr. Barrett, and, considering that it was needless to 

 repeat the arguments which had been already urged in 

 every shape which legal ingenuity should suggest, the 

 learned gentleman confined his address to about three 

 hours. The Attorney-General then rose to reply to the 

 four preceding counsel for the traversers. He began by 

 adverting to the misnomer of Mr. Rigby the juror. 

 Kigby he said, was a favourite juror with the traversers 

 before he was empanelled. They insisted on retaining 

 him, though he struggled hard to escape from them. He 



(the Attorney-General) had only insisted on his being 

 sworn, as he was summoned, but had not interfered to 

 remove him from the panel. Had he done so, the obloquy 

 he would have been obnoxious to from the traversers' 

 press would have been incalculable. But having got 

 Rigby and kept him, it was somewhat shameless for 

 the traversers now to insist that the trial was a nullity 

 because they had succeeded in retaining him. But bolder 

 still was the objection that none of the offences charged 

 had been proved to have occurred in the city of Dublin 

 when that had appeared a hundred times unnecessarily' 

 and at every stage in t e trial. After the Attorney- 

 General had been speaking some hours, the Court ad- 

 journed. On Saturday the Attorney-General resumed 



his address. He submitted that th 



evidence to show that the newspapersTerTu^e'dT 11111 * 

 purpose of forwarding the objects of the r n „ tb * 



There was no ground whatever to disturb the verTT 7 -' 

 Mr. O Connell had come forward with an amdavir.VV 

 that he did not make the speech attributed I to h * "* 

 Mullingar, the point might have some weight an? ? 

 (the Attorney-General) would not oppose the Court 

 desire to do an act of justice ; but he was to assume th ! 

 speech was made. It was said that publication w a - * 

 evidence of circulation. He cited several cases to s' 

 that the production of a paper from the Sta mD - ffi " 

 was sufficient proof of circulation. If it were not coS 

 it be said that a second paper was sufficient ? 6 r v 

 many papers should they produce to prove circulation* 

 That was a point not made at the trial ; had it been 

 question to Mr. Vernon, of the Stamp-office, would hive 

 settled it. He could have been asked what the circula- 

 tion was, and he would have answered by the newspaper 

 stamp returns. He did not know any other matter con- 

 nected with the charge with which it was worth while to" 

 occupy their lordship's time, and the only remaining 

 matters were the allegations on the part of Dr. Graf 

 and Mr. Duffy, that the verdict was against the weirht 

 of evidence. The learned Attorney-General then brierlv 

 summed up the evidence that had special reference to 

 these traversers, and which, he maintained, fully over- 

 came that objection. He did not wish to state what 

 he thought of the notice of motion served by the 

 traversers, further than that it was most improper 

 that it was a libel on the court and the administration of 

 justice, and ought not to have ever been prepared or 

 drawn up.— Mr. Ford said that he, in the discharge of 

 his duty, prepared that notice, and he hoped that 

 attorneys would always be found to fearlessly discharge 

 their duty, notwithstanding the remarks of those prose- 

 cuting for the Crown. — The Attorney-General said that he 

 would not be provoked to speak of that document as it 

 merited, but there was no doubt that its publication 

 through the newspapers was calculated to prejudice the 

 public mind against the Court of Queen's Bench ; but 

 he knew it would not be terrified from the firm discharge 

 of its duty. He then read Lord Mansfield's opinion 

 with regard to attacks of the public press, with which be 

 concluded his address. — Mr. Whiteside said that the 

 Attorney-General had referred in the course of his speech 

 to twelve new cases ; and it being arranged that no cases 

 should be introduced besides those referred to by the 

 Solicitor- General, counsel for the traversers were entitled 

 to a reply. — The Attorney-General : then I should have 

 a right to reply to you, and the case would never end. — 

 Mr. Justice Burton : The court will look into the nature 

 of the new cases cited by the Attorney-General, and if 

 they think that there is anything in them that requires 

 observation on the part of the traversers, counsel will be 

 allowed to reply. — On Monday, the Court was greatly 

 crowded in the expectation that their lordships would 

 have given judgment, but the business transacted was of 

 no public importance. On Tuesday, the court was still 

 more crowded. The curiosity of the public was not 

 diminished by the knowledge of the fact, which soon trans- 

 pired, that the judges had been in chamber before 10 in the 

 morning, and as the appearance of the junior Judges was 

 delayed much beyond the usual period, it began to be 

 suspected that there was some truth in the rumour that 

 the Judges were equally divided as to the motion for a 

 new trial. Their Lordships at length took their seats, 

 and the Chief Justice said : Mr. Attorney-General, " I 

 am sorry to inform you that the Court find they cannot 

 give judgment in the case until next term." The crowd 

 immediately dispersed, and in a short time there were no 

 signs of any unusual excitement. It is rumoured that 

 the Judges of the Queen's Bench intend, before deliver- 

 ing judgment, to consult with their brethren in the other 

 Courts. The next term commences on the 22d of this 

 month. 



Dublin.— An adjourned meeting of the Repeal Asso- 

 ciation was held on Friday in the Conciliation-hall, whicn 

 was thinly attended. Mr. O'Connell (a relation of the 

 "Liberator") in the chair. On the motion of Mr. 

 O'Connell it was resolved that Mr. Ray should be in- 

 structed to write to all persons in America who na 

 hitherto sent them money, to inform them that no on^ 

 whatever was authorised to correspond with them, 

 direct them in the disposal of their funds, except 

 said Mr. Ray. This was necessary in consequence^ 

 some persons having written to America from I> u ' ' j 

 if authorised agents of the Association. Mr. ~ , u- 

 stated that he had not been able to prepare the 

 ment he had promised to submit to the Associatio 

 day, with the view of regulating the conduct of tne 

 people after the prosecutions. He therefore "°^ e Qtt 

 it be referred to the committee, to prepare an adur 

 the subject. He denied the truth of a statementin ^ 

 Univers, copied from the Standard, to the effect id 

 was in a state of great dejection. He never felt a 



dejected in his life, for he knew the worst ana *" , 

 prepared for it. Others might be faint and down*» r the 

 but he saw nothing to dispirit him ; for he * ^ 

 impression which the prosecutions had made up ^ 

 Irish mind, and was convinced that the gallant pc F 



native 



Ireland would never rest till they saw their ^^ 

 Parliament in College-green. He reiterated m ^.^ 

 mand to peace and order— detailed the means y 



chise Bill as a truculent insult— and solemnly 



til 



to run a railway from Dublin to Sallins (which is 



