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important the triumphs of the one or the other may have been; neither, unless fortune and success may have been his inseparable companions, will ever secure in life the full meed of praise and honour which he may have bravely or nobly won. To the historian and posterity he must bequeath the task and the duty of doing justice to his services and worth, and haply, he may at length receive from them the high and ennobling record and universal applause too long delayed.

So, however jnst and clear the views, however honourable and patriotic the mo- tives of action, however strenuous and, we)l-directed the efforts, however fiberal and beneficial the changes.accomplished, and how few soever the failures and mis- takes of the, at present, dominant party in the House may be,—they need not look for an cnprejudiced review, or impartial estimate of their legislative proceed- ings, but must expect, in some cases, the censure even of their friends, and, per- haps in all, the eondemnation of their enemies. This anticipation, however, we know will neither paralyse nor dis- pirit them ; and conscious of the rectitude ef their intentions, and the mecessify of their policy, they will independently and fearlessly proceed in their mission of re- form; trusting that, as the ameliorating end beneficial effects of their measures become felt throughout the Colony, the zbilities and public worth of the liberal party im the House will justly and propr- tionally rise in the estimation of the people

~~ om

Db. MACLEAN AND THE ISLANDER.

We are glad tolearn that the Family Compact have at last succeeded in buy- ing up an editor for the Islander in the person of D. “aclein—the rejected. We @ay we are uli), secause in exchanging civilities with the ss/ander, which we are very often inclined 10 do, we like to know that We areadidressing something better than aman with an ass’s head upon his. shoulders. Th erson who penned the ennouncemer! © Mir. Maclean’s appoint- ment to the e | ort) chair seems to have been mosisat: >. ly. waggishly inclined; itis given in these words—* The Proprie- tor of the Zander has engaged the ser- wices of Duncan Maclean, Esq., to assist

him in the conducting of the editorial de- partment of his paper.” What mischie- vous fellow has thus excited Professor Numskull’s vanity at the expense of Mr. Maclean's “inteliectuality?? We know

the Professor to be innocent of the ruse ~innocent of writing any paragraph for

the Press, Alas! how have the mighty fallen! Duncan Maclean—-the champion

of Toryiem—the self-styled leader of the “intellectuality” of the First District of

(Queen's County—published as the assist- ant, the eub, the servant of Jobn Ings!

Yet, whist cares D. Maclean for the style

of his appointment; it is not to the honour, but the profit of the thing he aspires. Being disappointed in his hope

of getting thirty pounds from the House of Assembly, le has no objection to re- ceive thirty pounds direct from the pock- ets of the officials, which they will, no

doubt, ungrudgingly pay to him or to any

other man who will be mean enough to

vilify and misrepresent their political op-

ponents, and ineure, if that be possible,

their continuance in office independently of the pleasure we shal]

wl

THE BKABIER.

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gonist will be—(not as now, when | it is notorious that the editor of the Islander is a person who has neither a Jocal habi- tation nor a name, who is here, there, every where that he may be found to do the necessary mental drudgery for that incomparable blockhead, who has pride

enough to put himself in a position for

which Nature and education never fitted him)—-we shali have in addition to this pleasure, a satisfactory confirmation, by) his own act, if that were at all necessary.; of Mr. Maclean's apostacy to his first po- litical principles,—and, therefore, a com-

plete justification of the course we have pursued in reference to him.

What a change in the relative positions

of the Islander and Mr. Maclean since

1843,—the former wag then playing the

scold and the latter the patriot: in the es-

timation of the one Toryism was the

curse of the Island—the officials a set

of vampires that ought to be exterminated

at any risk,—in the opinion of the other,

the pseudo patriot was a vile rebel in his politics, and an atheist in his religior. The Islander is still, indeed, the scold, while Mr. Maclean, from being the advocate of popular opinions, has reached the acme of degradation in suffering himself to be made the locum éenens of John Ings, the hired scribbler of a party who despised

and persecuted him in 1843, and who use

him now only becanse they cannot get a

a more facile too] in the country.

COCCI WL

Knglish Mail,

The Courier brought the English Mail early on Monday Evening. Below are given such extracts from the English Papers as furnish the latest amd most im- portant intelligence.

Opening or THE ImMprRiaiL Partia- MENT.—Varliament was opened on the 31st Jan. with the usualeceremeny. ‘The royal speech was delivered by commission, the coumnissioners being the Lord Chancellor, the Marquis of Lansdown, the Marquis of Breada!bane, the Karl of Minta, and the Bishop of London.

(From Wilimer & Smith’s European Times.) THE QUEEN'S SPEECH.

Royal speeches, measured by Talley- rand’s standard, that “language was given to us to disguise our thoughts,” ap- proach very near to perfection; the max imum of words to the mininum of mean- ing is carried out with provoking effect in the document which was put into the mouth of her Majesty on Thursday. ‘I'he Speech deals amply with the past, but is most enigmatical respecting the future. In the second paragraph her Majesty pays a compliment to the virtues of her aunt, the late Queen Dowager. We see no objection to this, providing the matter ends there. But if the allusion to her charity and virtues be the precurser of an attempt to provide for her servants and connexions at the expense of the country, we hope it will be steadily and success- fully resisted. The enormous stipend which the iate Queen drew from the pub- lic purse after the deata of William the Fourth, was out of all proportion to her requirements, and any effort to perpetu- ate the burden, even on a greatly reduced scale to those connected with her, will go far to neutralise the public appreciation of the charity and virtues of which the Royal Speech somewhat ostentatiously reminds us. The allusion tothe differ- ences between Russia and the Porte, and their settlement, and to the royal visit to Ireland, are rnatiers of history; buta very ‘suspicious sentence closes the paragraph in which reference is made to the cholera. * Vigilent precautions against the more obvious caus@s ofsickness,” implies, we imagine, @ sanatery measure which will

feei io know'ng whe our political anta-

dip extensively into the pockets of the al-|

ne a

burdened tax payers. If pro- perty were made to contribute to the state jn proportion to its means, there could not be‘ the slightest objection to such an announcement; but while by our present system of taxation the least able

ready over-

to contribute are the most heavily op-|

pressed, much dissatisfaction will be es- cited, and a considerable amount of in- justice perpetrated.

On the subject of Free-trade the tone of the Speech is unequivocal. _ Sympathy, in a quiet satirieal way, 1s expresssed for the landlords. ‘Her Majesty has ob-

served with regret the complaints from!

the owners and occupiers of land ;” but the following paragraph announces her Majesty’s “gratification at the increased comforts and necessaries of life” enjoyed by the people, produced by the cheapness and plenty against which the landlords rail so bitterly. This is easentially what is styled a “left-handed compliment,” and the manner of its introduction is the neat- est and most telling feature in the Speech. Strange to say, while a measure for the better government of the Australian Col- onies is announced, nota word is said about Canada or the Cape of Good Hope —colonies that demand, of all others, the most prompt attention, from the startling events connected with them during the last few thonths. Surely the colonial re- form, of which we have heard so mucii recently, is not to be limitedto Australia. ireland figures conspiciously in the pre- sent, as it has unhappily done in too many former speches, The Queen, it is clear, entertains a lively sense of the joyous re- ception which she received from the warm-hearted Emeralders, an anxiety to better their physical condition 1s apparent in the manner in which the subject is ap- proached. But trish misery is too ulce- rous and deep seated to be touched by such pany remedies a3 a change in the Grand Jury law, or by adding tothe num- ber of parliamentary electors.

The concluding paragraphs in the Speech, if they have any meaning at all, point to an amendment in our electoral system. It is possible that the Cabinet intend to take the country by surprise on this question, for the tone of the leading ministerial print did not convey the re- motest hope that the subject would be enteriained. Ifa really complete and com- prehensive measure of electoral reform be introduced during the session which has’ now commenced, it will strengthen the Ministry and delight the country, just in the proportion that a feeble or par- tial measure will produce general dissa- tisfaction, and end, probably, with upset- ting the state coach.

‘The debate which followed the read- ing of the Speech and the amendment of the Protectionists we are ony enabled to glance at, from the length to which

day has extended. But we can state that the fallacies which the landords have been engaged during the recess in palming upon the farmers were brushed away like cob-webs by Mr. Vil- hers and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. {t was proved that at no former period was the country so prosperous. Bank- ruptcies had decreased. ‘The home trade had Jargely increased. There was less pressure on the poor rates, even in the agricultural districts. During the last sixteen months more food had been im- ported than during the preceding sixteen years. ‘I'he lower classes were employ- ed, food was cheap, money was abun- dant, and the country was ina sound and healthy state. ‘The debate in the Lower iiouse was adjourned at midnight; but inthe Upper Chamber a division gave the Government a majority of 49 on the amendment.

Dears or Lorp Jerrrey.—Edin- burgh has lost the most admired and most beloved of her citizens. Lord Jeffrey died on the 19th ult. He was born in Edinburgh in the year 1773—his father being a writer in respectable prac- tice, chiefly from the north, He himself was called to the bar in 1794. In 1820 he was elected lord rector of the Univer- sity of Glasgow, his immediate successors in that office being Mackintosh, Broug- ham, and Campbell. He was chosen dean of the Faculty of Advocates in 1829, when he resigned the charge of the

‘editor from its commencement in 1802. He ‘became Lord Advocate on the accession lof Rarl Grey’s Government in November, 1839. He was raised to the bench in 4834. The late Lord Jeffrey was twice ‘married. By his firat wife, Miss More- head, he had not any children. He married second]y Miss Charlotte Wilkes, a jady of the United States, who sti!! lives; and by her he has left one child, a daughter, married to William Empson, Esq., professor of the law of nations in the East India College, at Hailebury, and, since the death of Mr. Macvey Napier in 1847, Lord Jeffrey’s successor jin the editorship of the Edinburgh Re-

viote.

de

|

IRELAND.

APPALING CATASTROPHE AT THE Lime- RICK WORKHOUSE—TWENTY SEVEN FEMALES KILLED!

It is our painful duty to record the par- ticulars of a fatal and melancholy casualty which took place last night at Clare street auxiliary workhouse, by which twenty seven human beings lost their lives, and twenty eight were seriously injured, Be- tween eight and nine o'clock, shortly after the inmates, *five hundred families, had retired to rest, on the lofis of the store set apart for sleeping apartments, a false alarm of fire was given by one of the women, whether with an idle intention of causing alarm, or. by design, is unknown ; but so electric was the panic created, that almost instantaneously the females on the first loft leaped from their bedsywand inthe darkness, rushed in a body to the stair- case or ladder, leading from that portion of the building to the ground floor. The strenuous efforts of all to gain access te the ladder, upon which severa} had crowd- ‘ed together, necessarily caused a crush and confusion, until nitimately the pau- pers on the other lofts congregated in the narrow passage, when the ladder broke, and numbers were precipitated to the ground, from a height of not more than ten feet. The scene that ensued is al- most indescribable—ithe shrieks from be- low induced those above to press more eagerly towards the staircase, and as they came to the verge of the passage, down they fell in crowds overeach other! For some time all remonstrances were una- vailing to dissuade the paupers from rushing headlong to ruin, and befote the surprising nerve and exertion of the ma- tron, Mrs. Sleeman, and the assistant master, Mr. O'Shaughnessy, had effect, twenty seven females were killed, or rather suffocated from falling on top of each other! The occurrence having be- come known outside, numbers of citizens

proceeded to the auxiliary establishment. torender assistance, The Roman Catho- ilic Clergy congregated also, as there jour report of the water inquiry yester- could not have been Jess than twenty

‘

‘present. Thecity police, with the mayor, were also in prompt attendance, and al! united in relieving the sufferers, and ex- tracting the dead bodies from beneath the half suffocated group that lay struggling on the ground. The scene was truly ap- paling, as the relatives and friends of those who were located in the workhouse crowded before the premises, and as eac's dead body, or dying sufferer, was brought out on a door for conveyance to Barrine- ton’s Hospital, the progress of the ear- ners was violently stayed to catch a glimpse for recognition, At ten o’clock the number of dead bodies received inta Barrington’s Hospital was 27, and a more heart-rending spectacle never presented itself—there lay, gjde by side, the livid remains of these unfortunate creatures who, a few hours before, were in the prime of life! ‘The majority were young and well looking females—indeed some had the smile of innocence on their youth- ful countenances, and seemed as if ina dream of joyful ecstacy. Dr. Gore was the first medical officer in attendance at Barrington’s Hospital, and, aided by Dr. Cavanagh, resident apothecary, made every proper arrangement for the recep- tion and treatment of the wounded, and accommodation of the dead. Drs. Geary, Brodie, and Leane, were also a: the Hos- pital, and saw the patients who were brought in-taken care of. The number . received into the Hospital seriously in- jored was 28, and of these there are three not expected to recover. No blame is

Edinburgh Reviere, of which he had been

attached to the officers of the institution,

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