The Principality

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TO COHRESPONDENTS. "DINASYDD MORGAN WG is not willing that any of the PRIN- CIPALITY should be devoted to Fireside Chat," although he does not object to a juke here and there." Our friend's taste is of a different order from that of the mass of newspaper readers he would probably have no objection to devote the whole of the paper to original articles, but since we have a variety of tastes to consult, we endeavour to give that quality and amount of intelligence which will meet the wants of all. A. B."—He left Fontainebleau on the 20th April, 1814. The name of the vessel in which he sailed we cannot positively state. OMICROX."—Yon will perceive by our last number that your letter is premature. CHIlW" (Bristol).—If you have any facts to state relative to the ail air" we shall be happy to insert them, but we cannot con- descend to bandy personalities with you or any one else on the sub- ject. R- P.The statement in the Standard of Freedom is false. The whole of the English newspaper press in Wales with one ex- ception is" not" at the disposal" of the State educationists. We presume (although its name is studiously omitted from that jour- nal) that the PRINCIPALITY is the exception." The Swansea Ilerald, Silurian, and Carnarvon Herald, are the only papers that are actually engaged in their favour. The Welshman is at their disposal," and that is all that can be said of it. The Cambrian is decidedly opposed to them. The Carmarthen Journal, Merthyr Guardian, 1 }embrokeshire Herald, and North Wales Chronicle, Tories of the old school, arc also opposed to them nothing will do for them but that which comes through the medium of the Na- tional Society and the parsons; they are therefore far removed from the new," or secular education party." The Merlin, which can hardly be denominated a Welsh paper, is nowhere" on the subject; it may be classed in the same category as the Welshman. ERRATUM.—In the Obituary extraordinary" of last week, for the fond care of its purse-traders," read nurse-tenders. J. W." (Haverfordwest).—We are obliged by your kind at- tention. PHILOLDGUS."—The insertion of your communication would form a bad precedent. HEN BUDLKR."—Next week.

THE UNSOLVED PROBLEM. To the question; what is to be done with Ireland ? no practical solution has yet been given by Statesmen. Whig and Tory have tried their hand and have equally failed. Our Legislature confesses its failure. At the beginning of the first session of the year 1849 it declares its inability to cope with the monster grievance. For Ireland nothing yet has been found but the old quack remedies. As of old time so it is now powder and pills, gold and lead, are the only prescriptions. Another Y,50,000 has been voted from the public purse for Ireland. We demur most seriously to this constant dipping into our pockets to uphold the rotten system that obtainsinthat country, and in consequence of which, mainly, she is at this hour so pauperised and degraded. Why should the money of the hard-working Englishman be thus squan- dered ? Were it a charity we would not grudge it. Let bad legislators pay for their bad legislation, and let bad Z, landlords pay for the fruits of their blindness folly and cupidity. We have contributed enough of hard cash. Now let the land go. We repeat it-now let the land go. The Habeas Corpus Act is also to be suspended for a fur- ther period. This is monstrous. The hour of danger has passed away, and the provision for that hour should also pass away with it. There have been times in our histbry when it would have been almost impeachment in any minis- try to have proposed such a thing. Modern ministers seem to have fallen upon easy times. They do what they like, and have not the fear of the people before their eyes. They drive a carriage and four through the constitution, and no one dares to hint that they are trespassing. The suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, is nothing more nor less than the suspension of the constitutional liberties of the subject It is simply substituting a military dictatorship instead of a civil Government. The people of this country should protest against this. These proceedings are confined to Ireland now, but they will form a precedent for bringing them into England by and by. Ireland can never be governed well in this way. A treatment that alternates between gunshot wounds and golden plasters is a dangerous specific. If our governors have failed, where are we to look for a solution of the problem ? Emancipation has not very greatly improved Ireland, nor have all the schemes that have since that period been devised proved more beneficial to her. Not a step has our unhappy sister advanced, since her arch- agitator chivalrously wrested a recognition of the claims of the Catholic from a Protestant Parliament. She is even lower. The beautiful island that shines amidst the sea like rnl emerald set in silver, has become a calcined mass. Pestilence has swept over it; famine has blasted it; civil commotion has disorganised it the flames of its patriots have scorched it. Its commerce-is prostrate its prisons are full; its fields are empty. Desolation reigns; and activity is there alone, where Irishmen at the shore of that sea over which they are about to voyage to the unknown regions of the far west, arc bidding adieu, and that for ever, to their native country. Ireland is a victim not merely to bad legislation and the conduct of her landlords, but also to the follies and rashness of her own friends. They have done little to raise her; but they have done much to depress her. With a stupid enthu- siasm they have followed after the wildest chimeras, and have led the ignorant hordes of Tipperary and the ragged and miserable peasants of the mountains after fantastic imaginings. They have proposed nothing practical. They have sought for anything but measures immediately reme- diable. Had they embarked in some scheme whose aim had a practical bearing upon the intercst.of their country, they would have carried with them the sympathy of the masses of this country, and ere now accomplished their purpose. As it is, they have involved themselves in pains and penalties;, chained up their country in a most galling bondage alienated their best friends in England, and have assisted our Parliament in raising almost insurmountable barriers to the adoption of anything calculated to raise and bless. One means of unsolving the problem we have proposed is, in our opinion, to abolish for ever the Protestant Esta- blished Church in Ireland. Do that, and apply its revenues to a purely civil purpose, then a step will be taken in the right direction. Let Irishmen think no more of the repeal of the union, but endeavour to accomplish this. They will have assistance from this country, and such assistance as will speedily obtain for them a measure which we are sure will prove the foundation of the greatest good, and do more than anything ever yet done towards pacifying Ireland and blessing its unhappy population

WHO IS THE MAN FOR THE PEOPLE ? There is an increasing disposition to answer this ques- tion in a manner very unpalatable to the Whigs. Every measure of reform, in their hands, has assumed a niggardly, ungenerous character. They have dealt largely in half mea- sures and in dropped measures. Making abundant profes- sion in opposition, they lower their tone as soon as they ob- tain power, conceding to popular claims just so much as they cannot help giving, and entrenching themselves behind the obstructive party, which is ever ready to support them against the people. Lord John Russell is too much the living type and adumbration of Whiggism to be accepted now as the man of the people. He has too many class pre- dilections, and is far too timid, under the frowns or the cajolery of antiquated statesmen and ambitious Churchmen, to win public confidence as a Reformer. On the other hand, Sir Robert Peel has ever drawn a straight, deep, and dreaded furrow, whenever he has set his master hand to the plough of political regeneration. He has not dealt out large pro- mises and redeemed them by reluctant performance but, sagaciously watching the signs of the times, has chosen his periods for action like a man of resolution as well as tact. Peel is no nursling of the peerage, and is under no temptation to truckle to an aristocracy who look down upon him as the son of a wealthy cotton-spinner, whilst he feels himself above most of them, not only in talent, but in fortune. He has shown himself capable of taking enlarged Z, views, and following them up, at whatever cost to his personal standing with his political party. After his mind has been once made up to the justice and true policy of any measure. There is a general impression that this prac- tical statesmen is only biding his time" at the present eventful crisis, und the eyes of Reformers are fixed upon him as the Palinusus who is yet destined to pilot us in safety amidst sunken rocks and breakers ahead. We do not pronounce an irrevocable opinion, but we utter a strong probability in saying that Sir Robert Peel, taking Cobden and his enlightened Parliamentary associates to his council, is THE MAN destined to be hailed by the people of Great Britain as their own and their Queen's best earthly safe- guard against political convulsion and national ruin.

HENRY VINCENT AND THE NEWPORT TOWN COUNCIL. A MOTION was submitted last week to the Newport Town Council, to the effect that Mr. Henry Vincent should have the use of the Town Hall upon the usual terms, for the pur- pose of delivering a course of six lectures on the Common- wealth. The motion was met with so much opposition that it was withdrawn. We could but expect that Messrs. Hughes, Henry J. Davies, and others of their stamp whose political views evidently belong to the year one, would op- pose the motion; but we must say that we certainly were surprised that Mr. Dowling did not raise his voice against the injustice and impolicy of the refusal. Why wish to throw the responsibility of granting or refusing upon the mayor Mr. Dowling ? Why not at once declare yourself in favour of Mr. Vincent's having the use of the People's Hall, or say that you were opposed to it ? The people of Newport would then know whether you were for them or against them. Because Mr. Vincent holds political views contrary to those of the gentlemen in authority, why should he be pro- scribed ? If his views are erroneous, proscription will never make them right; but it will do this, it will make the masses sympathise the more deeply with the man that is thus ostracised, and wed them the more firmly to his opinions. We speak advisedly when we say that there is not a man in the British empire doing so great a social good as Mr. Vincent. With a fervent, soul-stirring eloquence, he wields an incredible power over the audiences he addresses. That power he does not exercise to inflame the passions, but ra- ther to awaken up a manly and sustained energy in the cause of Peace and Progress. Wherever he goes he gives zD form to public opinion; from the fire of his burning elo- quence it comes forth purified and consolidated. He educes popular enthusiasm it is true, but he directs it in a channel which in itself proves a safeguard to society against the wanton attacks of furious mobs. And in that he shows a true philosophy. He guides the popular feeling, and con- demns all who would suppress it as the greatest enemies of order and the human race. He shows that to avert the evils attendant upon ignorance run mad, we must not attempt to put down the people by force alone, and resist their behests regardless of their rights. He shows that we should meet its menaces by a benignity that should grant all that the people have a right to claim, and a firmness to resist, with- out insolence, any of their demands that may be contrary to right reason and the laws of God. Thus meeting popular passion, we receive it at an angle from which it will ever glance off benefited by the contact and without harm to the community. Mr. Vincent should be encouraged in his endeavours, in- stead of thwarted, We believe him to be a lightning con- ductor to society. He sympathises with the masses, and honestly endeavours after their elevation. He is opposed to civil commotion and to force. Force alone withholds popu- lar rights, and in their simplicity our artizans imagine force alone can gain them. There are demagogues ever ready to take hold of this feeling. Mr. Vincent combats it. He holds that rights gained by force and blood are too dearly gained. He exhibits an ardent desire for the enfranchise- ment of the people. He works for that end unceasingly. The people hang upon his lips and have confidence in his 11 professions. His voice is ever for brotherhood and peace. The people arc won over—the trade of the demagogue he has more than half destroyed. And this is the man the combined wisdom of the Newport Town Council has banned. Let the people of Newport look to it at the next munici- pal elections. They have the power to punish these men. Let them send liberal men, to the council board, and not a set of who arc frightened at their own shadows.

CAPTURE OF THE OTHER PRISONER WHO ESCAPED FROM CARDIFF GAOL.—On Friday last Mr. Woods, who had dis- guised himself and had gone in search of the prisoner, cap- tured him at a plac,e called Brynmawr, near Tredegar. The prisoner was in bed at the time. Mr. Woods returned with his bootv 011 Friday night, and lodged the offender once more in Cardiff gaol.

CARDIFF. i IMPORTANT MEETING OF THE STREET COMISSI ONERS. On Friday last,, at noon, the Street Commissioners held an important meeting in the magistrates' room in the Guildhall. The attendance was very numerous, caused doubtless by the expectation of hearing the report of the committee that had been appointed at a previous meeting for the purpose of inves- tigating into the general conduct of the town surveyor. As various reports are abroad with respect to the appointment of the committee, and most of them erroneous, we now deem it incumbent upon us, as public journalists, having to deal with a public body, in its public capacity, to give a report of the real facts of the case. We should have given a report before, had not silence been imposed upon us by the street commissioners. The embargo being removed, we have now no hesitation in making known to the public what they have a right to know. The following is the substance of what occurred at the last meeting of the commissioners, but which we were then desired not to report:— Mr. John Batchelor I have in some measure been antici- pated by what has just fallen from Mr. Bird, but not altoge- ther so. I rise to propose the appointment of a committee to investigate the general conduct of the town surveyor. There have been rumours in the town for some time past, that our surveyor has been in the habit of appropriating to himself a portion of the money paid to contractors under the commis- sioners. A tradesman of this town, a most respectable man, called at my office the other day, and mentioned a circumstance- corroborative of these rumours. This determined me in bring- ing the subject before you. I have also heard that the town surveyor is continually in the habit of employing the men in the pay of the commissioners upon his own work. I am the more ready to believe this, because from my own observation I have seen those men frequently at work for the surveyor when they ought to be at work for the public. I thought it my duty to the public and to Mr. Clinton to state this. I now ask for a committee to investigate the matter. If what has been said of the surveyor is wrong, he will then have an opportunity of rebutting it; but if it prove to be true, then we shall be in a position to dismiss him forthwith. It is with great reluctance on a personal account, that I make this mo- motion. I have waited for these two or three meetings past to see if anybody else would submit it to you. No one has done so I therefore conceive it to be my duty to propose that a com- mittee be named at once for the purpose to which I have referred. If the committee is granted, the reporters will have the kindness not to insert a word of what I have said until that committee makes its report. Mr. Priest Richards: There can be no objection to grant a committee to inquire into this matter, but I think Mr. Batchelor has been rather hasty. He ought to have brought on his motion in a very different manner. I trust also that he will give us the author of those rumours. Whenever I hear any- thing from a person, even when he tells me that it is an undoubted and well known fact, I ask him directly to give me his author; this has been my invariable plan. It is no use to allow rumours to take away a man's character. Mr. Richards then dwelt at some length on the importance of the charges preferred against Mr. Clinton, and said that if they were true they would subject the surveyor to a hearing in the adjoining court-room. Mr. R. also endeavoured to show the impropriety of impeaching the character of any man in a public position. merely on the ground of rumour. This would now go forth to the public through the press, and be an everlasting stigma on the character of an industrious, and as he believed an hone&t man. Mr. Batchelor said he thought that he really had anticipated all the objections raised by Mr. Richards. He would never have asked them for a committee of investigation, upon mere rumour alone. He (Mr. B.) had stated that circumstances which had come personally under his own observation had inclined him to believe that there was some truth in those rumours, and it was upon this ground he asked them to grant a committee. Were it not for this he would have said nothing. And as to the re port of these proceedings going forth to the pub- lic, and ruining the surveyor's character, had not he (Mr. B,) distinctly requested the reporters not to insert a word of what he had said, until the committee had brought in their report ? The chairman made a few observations. Mr. E. Priest Richards I did not understand that Mr. Batchelor said anything to the reporters; but I could see them taking all down. If they do not report what he has said, I hope they will not say anything of what has fallen from me. 11, Mr. J. Dird,- 'rhx:! gentletneii of the press are so correct in their conduct that I am sure they will not do anything con- trary to the wishes of the meeting. Mr. Hamlen: I think that a committee should be appointed. We must have the matter properly investigated. After these preliminary remarks, which occupied a consi- derable portion of time, and in which Mr. Coffin, the chairman, and other commissioners joined, Mr. Batchelor moved, and Mr. Hamlen seconded, that a committee be appointed to inves- tigate into the general conduct of Mr. Clinton as town sur- veyor, and that the result be reported at the next meeting of the commissioners, to consist of the chairman, Dr. Moore, and commissioners David Lewis and William Williams. We now proceed with the report of the meeting held on Tuesday last. After the minutes of the preceding meeting had been read, the Chairman (Mr. C. C. Williams) brought in the report of the committee appointed to investigate into the general con- duct of their own surveyor, which was as follows :—■ The Committee, having heard the evidence produced against Mr. Clinton, also that produced by Mr. Clinton in defence, are of opinion that the charges were not proved. They are however of opinion, there was sufllcsent cause, from rumours and other circum- stances, to justify the charges being inquired into." The chairman then moved that the report be entered upon the,minutes of the meeting. Mr. Batchelor And the evidence. The Chairman intimated dissent. Mr. Chas. Vachell then rose to if there were any parties inculpated in that evidence which had been laid before the committee. He had 'been told that his name had been used. He was there to answer anything that might have been said of him. Public men did not fill offices merely for the sake of honorary distinction; they had important duties to perform. He would not shrink from any opinion that he na jit have spoken with regard to the matter before them. He had no animosity against any man. He wished to deal with all in a Christian spirit. He was glad that Mr. Clinton had been cleared by the committee, men lie so esteemed and honoured. Rumours were certainly very rife, and he believed a great deal af mismanagement had taken place. Mr. Lewis Rcece and he (Mr. V.) were on a committee once that had suggested several changes in the management of the streets, the report of which was never attended to had it been otherwise the present in. quiry would have been unnecessary. Mr. Vachell went on to jusiry the investigation that had taken place, and adverted to circumstances that had come under his notice, and that of others, which demanded the course that had been taken. lie referred especially to Mr. John Bird, who was present, and who could testify to the fact, that the town surveyor had employed men paid by the Commissioners upon his own work, when they ought to have been otherwise employed. Mr. V. continued but was interrupted, Mr. John Bird corroborated the statement, but was prevent ed from finishing his remarks. Mr. James Lewis thought it was sufficient that the report should be inserted in the minutes, as Mr. Clinton had been cleared from the charges brought against him. Mr. Batchelor stated that there were no charges brought against Mr. Clinton. A committee had been granted* at his (Mr. B. s) instigation, for the purpose of investigating the gene- ral conduct of the surveyor, and the report of that committee was before them. It had been said that he (Mr. B.) had pre- ferred charges against the surveyor he had not done so. lie had stated why he thought the committee should be appointed, and what he had stated he had proved. The Commissioners had acted upon those statements, and the investigation was theirs. The evidence taken before the committee was theirs all that he (Mr. B.) wanted was, that it should be inserted together with the report on the minutes. A desultory couversiitlon ensued, and much that was irrele- vant spoken," after which Iir. E. Priest Richards spoke to the subject. lIe sail that he was decidedly opposed to entering the evidence upon the minutes. He did not wish it to be open. to all the gossips of the town. If it was entered there, it would be open to all, and it might be printed there would be no end to the matter. Mr. Richards would second the chairman's proposition, that the report alone be inserted upon the minutes: anything more was unnecessary. lie then adverted to the report itself, and read the former part of it; but upon being reminded that he had forgotten to read the latter part, he did so, thanking the Commissioner who had so reminded him, and intimated that if he were Mr. Clinton (in whose praise he spoke most highly) he would endeavour to do away with that latter part of the report. He further added, that he would be most ready to go into a court of law to speak to the honesty of the surveyor.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—TUESDAY, FEB. 13. Mr. FREDERICK PEEL (the son of Sir Robert Peel, Bart.), took the oaths and his seat for the borough of Leominster. The lion, gentleman, after being sworn at the table, and presented to 1h Speaker, took a seat upon the Opposition benches immediately l-ehind the seat usually occupied by his right hon. father. DUBLIN CONSOLIDATION, IMPROVEMENT, WATER- WORKS, AND SEWERS' BILL. On the motion for the second reading of this bill, Mr. Reynolds said he had been requested by a great majority of his constituent;) to oppose the second reading of this bill. It con- tained 60 clauses, and like the postscript to a lady's letter, the 6 til was the most important one. It proposed to take away the powers now invested in four district boards, and he understood it WHS promoted only by one individual, a speculative solicitor. He considered that it was one of the most audacious attempts that had ever been made to interfere with the rights and privileges of a city. The hon. member called the attention of the House to the clauses of the bill, particularly to the 33rd clause, which was alone sufficient to defeat the bill, power being given by it to ex- pend £ 200.090. He, therefore, moved that the bill be read a second time that day six months. Mr. GiiOGAN assured the House that he should not press the second reading of the bill if he was not fully persuaded that it was absolutely necessary. Sir W. SOMERVILLE said, several attempts had been made to introduce a better state of things. He had endeavoured, as far as he could to reconcile the contending parties, and he was almost in hopes he had succeeeded but there they were at the beginning of another session likely to fight the same battles over again. He believed the Government were anxious that the municipal regula- tions of Dublin should be placed on a satisfactory basis. Mr. H uM is wished that there should be some pledge given by her Majesty's Government that this matter should no longer occupy the attention of the House. The honourable baronet had de- scribed matters to he as bad as bad could be, and he decidedly thought that if the same plan was to be pursued winch had been hlthero observed, bad it would continue to be. The bill was, in fict, nothing better than the bill of last year, and to proceed in this way was making no step whatever in advance, and he trusted that, unless her Majesty's Secretary for Ireland would give some such pledge that the House should altogether reject the bill. To reject a Government bill was undoubtedly a strong measure, but he trusted the House would do it, unless the right honourable fcni'ortet would give some pledge as to the conduct of Government, for they had a right to expect that they would give such a pledge Ihe Earl of LINCOLN had viewed the introduction of this mea- sure with exceeding regret, and he therefore wished that the desire of the hon. member for Montrose for a pledge from the Government would meet with entire success. He had had no communication with that honourable member, but he quite con- curred in the v;ew of the matter before the House which he had taken: and he now asked the right honourable gentleman who was at the head of the Board of Trade, and who had for some time been her Majesty's Secretary for Ireland, to concur in such a pledge. It appeared to him that they were legislating on too narrow grounds. There were now two bills before the House, one pn moled by one member for Dublin, and the other by the other number, and if the common course was followed both of those geu lemen would be placed on the committee, and of course neu- tral sc' the votes of each other. What he desired then was, that a committee of five impartial members should be appointed, and that riei, her of the members for Dublin should take a part in its dis- cus s:ons (hear, hear). Af er some furiher conversation, the debate was then adjourned to this day fortnight. STAMPS AND TAXES. Mr. HUME moved for a copy of the Treasury minute for the c msohdatsou of the Board of Scamps with the J'oard of Excise and a statement of the reduction of officers by the consolidation, together with the reduction of expense thereby.—Agreed to. INLAND FISHERIES AND NAVIGATION OF IRELAND. Mr. ANSIEY, pursuant to notice, rose to move for a select AN committee to inquire into the state of the inland fisheries and navigation of Ireland. The hon. and learned member entered into a general statement of the monopolies and obstructions which it was his object to remove, and the remedies (which would be administrative only) he intended to propose in the committee, with the view of obtaining a full and final measure of legislation upon the subject. The motion was seconded by Sir H. BARHOX, who suggested that the inquiry should be extended to the sea fisheries, which deserved as mu h encouragement as those of Scotland. Sir W. SOMKUVILLE did not object to the inquiry, which he understood contemplated the removal of illegal obstructions but he did object to the addition proposed by Sir H. Barron, whieh pointed jto a totally different subject. TRANSFER OF REAL PROPERTY. Mr. II. DHUMMOND then moved for leave to bring in a Bill to facilitate the transfer of real property. He proposed to effect the object of the Bill by establishing a registry of deeds of lands, ac- companied .by maps, and a registration of all encumbrances upon lands. The SOMCITOR-GENKHAI, had no objection to the introduction of the Bill, upon which. however, he gave no other opinion at present than that the subject was an important one, surrounded ,tit difficulty, and that the hon. member seemed to have taken tiie right direction. QUALIFICATION OF ELECTORS (IRELAND). Sir W. SOMEP.VILI.N then moved for leave to bring in a bill to amend the la ws which regulate the qualification and registration of parliamentary voters in Ireland. He explained the nature of the bill, which did not, as he said, differ materially from the bill of last year. ,-artial discussion of the subject of ihebill was carried on for some time, after which leave was given to bring in the bill, and likewise a bill to shorten the duration of elections in Ireland, and to establish Additional polling places. The House adjourned before nine o'clock,