Star. — London, England, 1831-10-10 00:00:00

111 ; PENSIONS AND SINECURES. If any one will look into the Pension-list and the list of Sinecures, he will find that, generally speaking, they have been granted to persons who it is impossible can ever have rendered any public service whatsoever. A great part of them are fe males: and whole families of them, male as well as female, stand on the Pension List. Lord Al thorp, some time ago, said that these pensions were gifts of charity. Charity ! Good Goo ! When the Catholic Church made its institutions of charity in this country, it acted on the principle laid down by the apostle : namely, that it was men's duty to give to the needy; but to give out of their own property, and even out of their own ear nings ; for, says he, " We worked with our own hands, that we might have to give to him who needed." Our Government has proceeded iipn exactly the contrary principle ; for it has taken the bread out of the mouth of the working man, to give it to persons who did not need, in order to keep them in luxury and without work. " He who will not work shall not eat," says the Bible ; but our Government says, by its or.t..r, He that will not work shall eat, and here plenty, and he that will work shall be half starved. Upon the pension-list there are two women of the name of Ricketts : there is, besides, a Ricketts, who is the Collector-General for the county of Hants, with a large salary. I \vett to know why we should keep these two amen of the name of Ricketts; and can discover no reason other than that they are related to Lady Northesk and to Lady Mildmay, whose son has monied one of the Barings, and one of whose sons is a Member for Winchester. Lord Althorp says that these are gifts of charity. Let us see, then, how this principle is observed in the treatment of the working classes. They aro everlasta inrly reproached for not laying by some thing of the earnings of their youth to keep them in their old age. Wo know that the law sends a man to jail and to hard labour and bodily punish ment of the most degrading kind if he will not work to maintain his wife and children. We might ask how a labouring man is to lay by any thing, when the magistrates in Hampshire and Wiltshire do nut allow him enough barely to find bread for himself and his family. The magistrates of Hamp shire, of which Sir Thomas Baring was one, fixed a scale of wages which would not give half enough of tweed for the maintenance of a labourer and his flmily, to say nothing of meat and drink and c!othing and lodging and fuel. But in the few cases which, in this state of things, enables a man to get together, by extraordinary csmil luck, com b ined with almost more than mortal exertion, some little bit of property, a bit of ground or 3 cottage, how do• s the law deal with him and with his property ? Let me relate a fact. An old man, all his life-time a hard labourer, and then at on age touching four score, possessed two tene ments worth fifteen pounds a year or thereabouts. Upon the rent of these cottages, and upon the labour he was able to perform, he, at that extreme age, kept himself from the parish, aud hoped to do so the remainder of his life. Now mark, he had had a son who had had several children, and who Was dead, leaving the widow and these children. The poor fatherless children were able to work and did work for the farmers of the parish, and their earnings were sufficient to maintain them. Now, pray mark : the farmers gave them a certain por fon of their wages in the shape of wages ; but, according to the custom which has long prevailed in the South of England, gave them part of their weekly pay out of the poor-rates ; which, accord • iog to the law, made them paupers. Being pau pers, the law compelled the grandfather to main tain them if he had the means ! And the parish officers, by order of the magistiates, went and de manded from the poor old grandfather a repayment of that money which they paid the children weekly out of the poor-rates. This money amounted to a great deal more than the amount of the rent of the poor grandfather's tenements. — "Aye," said the magistrates, " but you can sell the tenements " Yes," said the grandfather, " but then I must, at last, come to the parish myself." " We cannot help that," said the magistrates ! and they were right enough. The law autho rized them to do this thing ; the law athorized them even to strip the eld grandfather of his last stick of property to keep even his grand-childen : but tl:e law has not prevented our Government from keeping the familes of the aristocracy and their re lations and dependents out of taxes imposed even upon this poor grar &ether and his miserable grand ( lii!dr en. With regard to this class of persons, not another word need be said : the injustice of compelling the people at large to maintain them is somonstrous, especially while the working classes are thus dealt v ith ; it is so monstrous, that the very thought of it really half deprives one of one's senses. If such a thing were proposed in the United States of America, even in one single instance, the whole country would be in an uproar; and, if attempted In he acted upon, it would tear up the govern ment, root and branch, in a week. So much for pensions, sinecures, grants, and all money given to people with a notorious want of any service s whatever to recommend them. But, there are what are called elle% ances and half-pay, v. holler civil, military, or naval. We have a pro digious army, a great navy, monstrous taxing and other civil establishments ; but I very much ques tion whether all the ()dicers of the army and navy and of those establishments. who are in employ, take so much money in the year as those who have been in those services or offices, and have retired from them, or have ceased now to be in them. Otherwise, how come we with three generals to every regiment of foot and of horse, with two admirals to every ship of the line. and with, pt.: haps, four times as many commissioners and clerks now in pay, at some rate or another ; four times as many as are actually in employ ! How comes it that wet eve about four-score am bassadors and consuls in our pay, when about a quarter part of the number is all :hat we have in employ, and which quarter part it is perked, evident to me receive ten times as much money as they ought to receive for their services ? Mark, I beseech you, what is said to the work ing people. They are everlastingly told to lay by, in the days of their youth and strength, the means of sustaining them ; aye, and even their children and grandchildren, when that youth and strength bled.. have been supplanted by age and by feeble ness. To induce the working classes to do this, • bat bales of Acts of Parhament have been passed to encourage " Friendly Societies," parochial and even county Friendly Societies ; to induce them to put even their farthings into that precious place of deposit called a Savings' Bank. Handbills, dirty tracts, even sermons, have been poured out upon them to induce them to put by their pennies, at the expense of both their bellies and their backs ; to the constant pinching of the former, and the con stant exposure of the latter to the cold. What audacious insolence is this ? With what contempt must these advisers view the intellects of the work ing people; while their earnings arc taken float them to furnish allowances and half-pay to those who have lived like lords during the days of their active employment, and in order to furnish them with those means of living in their old age, hich they ought to have saved out of their salaries and pay. This " dead-weight ;" these allowances, half pay, and other things of the sort, have, since the peace was made, cast us nearly about one hundred and fifty millions of money; and unless we be re solved legally to put an end to this system, this particular department must continue to cost us at this rate. Monstrous as this is, however, in this immense cost, and in the oppressions that arise from it, we see but a part of the evil. The per sons who are maintained in this manner amount in number to more than twenty thousand. They have been encouraged to marry by a provision having been made beforehand for their wives and children; and with regard to the army, there the half-pay people have been allowed to sell their half-pay, and thus to perpetuate the burden by continually put ting young men in the place of old men. All these people are at work breeding gentlemen and ladies for us to keep; for as to work, that one soul of them never will. See what a burden hero is preparing for this devoted nation ! Three times twenty thousand widows and children, perhaps, at this very moment ! At a hundred a year upon an average, here is six millions a year in store for us to pay ; besides the pay to the officers them selves. Nay, the evil by no means stops here; for, by-and-by, there will arise a necessity, an absolute dire necessity, of taking every farthing of allowance from this dead-weight of every descrip• tion ; and what is then to become of those unoffend ing children ? Common humanity shudders at the thought of the consequences to them. Evian as it is, great as the cost is to us, it is inadequate to the wants which false rearing up has rendered real wants to these people. London, and every great town and city, swarms with the poor things looking out for ladylike and gentlemanlike em ployment. The poor creatures load lives of misery not to be described ; the boys looking down upon journeymen and labourers without having a six pence in their pocket, or half enough to eat. The pcor girls becoming, or wanting to become, teachers, artists of some sort or other ; and, with the outward show of gentility, not having, perhaps, a second change of liuon, and longing tor the dinner that the saucy housemaid rejects. No man that knows any thing of the situation of the country in this respect will say that this picture is overcharged ; and humanity will, at last, call upon the nation, if nothing else does, to put an end to the ruin and the misery arising from this source ; ruin and misery to the receivers of the money, as well as to those who pay it. To be idle, to be slothful, even to be unemployed, used to he the shame : the present vicious system has removed the seat of the shame; and now the fashion is to be ashamed of nothing but honest labour.— Cobbette Register. pass of human inquiry so important as the present. In the whole range of human investigation,-there is not one question therein human happiness is so deeply involved. It lays at the very root of all na tional improvement, and all personal security. There is no such thing as truth withoerfull and free discussion ; for who has a right to assert that any doctrine is true, upon a one-sided discussion of it ? The inistakes that have prevailed upon this subject among politicians and theologians, have given rise to the exercise of more vexatious interference, of more tyranny, of more rancorous hate, more deli berate and legalized cruelty and murder, than any other source of human misery, from the commence ment of civil society to the present day. The page of history is filled with detnils of persecution ; civil history with the wars of political rulers, upon those who have been hold enough to advocate the rights of the people ; and ecclesiastical history with the wars of contending sects, and the merciless punish ments inflicted upon all who have dared to hint a dissent from established error. The law, unfortu nately, has always been retained on the side of power : laws have uniformly been enacted for the protection and perpetuation of power ; and the people themselves have been worked upon by their enemies, to treat with persecuting cruelty, and fe rocious hatred, their most honest, their boldest, and their best friends. It is true the love of power and the love of wealth have been at the bottom of these persecutions; but they have been pub licly and ostensibly based upon the fallacy, that opinion or belief is an act of the will: that any man may believe as he pleases, and, therefore, as his belief is a voluntary act, and depends upon himself, he is punished for not be lieving what his superiors tell him he ought to be lieve. It is my business, to show that opinion or belief is an act, not of the will, but of the under standing ; that no man can believe what he pleases or what others please. I hat opinion or belief, in every possible case, depends nut on tho good will and pleasure of the man, but on the evidence to which he has actually had access, and on that only. So that (in the language of Mr. Brougham) a man is no more answerable for what he really be lieves, for the features of his opinion, than for the features of his lace ; both the one and the other are formed by c;rcumstanccs not within his vo luntary cuntroul, and it is as unjust to punish him for the one as for the other. 1 wish it to be distinctly understood in the out set of this inquiry, that I advocate no sect, no creed, political or theological. I enlist under the banners of no party. My design is to shew that each and every of them ought to have fair play. I seek only to establish those principles which are best caiculuted to bring truth to light, wherever she is to be found. It will be seen that no poli • tient ruler is deserving of confidence who hesitates to meet inquiry. That no form of Government is a good one that will not bear investigation ;—no religion is worth sup porting that needs any other support than its own intrinsic evidence. Every politician, every mem ber of the clerical profession, ought to incur the reasonable suspicion of being an interested sup porter of false doctrine, who becomes angry at opposition, and endeavours to cast an odium on free inquiry. Fraud and falsehood only dread exami nation. Truth invites it. Public discussion is the spear of Ithuriel ; the fiend Imposture starts up, trembling at its touch. It is a prevailing opinion, that some doctrines are so important in politics and others so sacred in religion, that no public discussion of them ought to be allowed. If this opinion were well founded, then would all the persecution that has ever been practised iu the world be justified. For, if it be part of the dety of civil magistrates to pre vent the discussion of such doctrines, they must, in so doing, act on their own judgments, as to the nature and tendency of doctrines. Consequently they must have a right to prevent the discussion of all doctrines which they deem improper for discussion. This right they must exercise the only way in which civil power is capable of exercising it; that is, by inflicting pains and penalties on all who oppose what our governors deem sacred doc trines ; or who maintain what they are pleased to call pernicious opinions. So that the opinions of THE RIGHT OF FREE DISCUSSION. By THOMAS COOPER, 11. D. -4111 " -- • • • From the earliest history of civilisation to the present day, a doctrine has been sedulously incul cated, and perseveringly enforced, that certain subjects are too momentous for discussion; that the opinions of our rulers respecting them arc to be adopted with reverential submission, and with out farther inquiry ; that they are to be approached (in the language of an English dignitary, the pre sent Bishop of London), " with humble prostra tion of the intellect," and that the public &sous sion of doctiines that ought to be received impli citly on the authority of our superiors, is itself a crime. All this has not only been taught, but enforced our political rulers become the established test of by the pains and penalties of the law ; by politi- truth. In hlalsomedan countries therefore, ma cians and theologians from time immemorial. It gistrates would have a right, and it would be their is the prevailing opinion among that class of men, bounden duty, to silence and punish all who op at this moment, throughout Europe ; in many pose the divine mission of Mahomet, or the in parts of these United States it is the law of the spired character of the Koran. The like is true land. The courtly conformity of the bench and of the doctrines of transubstantiation, the real the bar to the wishes of government in England, presence, the worship of the virgin Mary, has made it so in that country ; and the dread of &c. in popish countries ; and the doctrines of innovation among tc e profession in many of our the Trinity, the Atonement, unconditional election., states, has induced them to pay more than a tea- and reprobation in protestant countries. All such sellable comity to the political and theological prohibitory and penal laws are right, if the pre- maxims of British jurisprudence. The great mass vailing opinion, which I now controvert, is right ; of the people, too, in every ago and in every coun• and papists and protestants very properly burned try, has been urged to adopt this manifest heresy i each other at the stake, alternately, and may justly against their own rights and interests, by those continue to do so when they happen to have the who fatten upon popular ignorance. I power. This is the necessary, undeniable con- But public opinion has awakened from her long sequence of the doctrine, that we, or the governors. slumber ; and the questions are gone abroad— of a country, wherever that may be, have a right What are the motives and designs of those who Ito punish in any manner those who maintain what would prohibit discussion ? Is it from a love of maybe considered as pernicious opinions in religion truth that inquiry is forbidden ? What are the or government. How many people will agree in classes of society that consider discussion as dan- theory, that the prevailing notion is a mistaken genets ? And a strong suspicion now prevails. one, and yet make an exception in practice, in that the human intellect has been kept in fetters, favour of their own opinions! In this mutual by men who have boldly assumed superior wisdom, conflict of hatred and revenge, which for so many U.at their dictates might pass without inquiry—. centuries has disgraced the population of Europe, men who professedly deal in concealment, dark- what has become of truth ; while each of the con ness, and mystery—and who thrive in proportion as tending parties have indulged their rancour under knowledge is suppressed. Is not this true in a ma- her sanction, and pretended to fight under her eifest degree, of all governments and establish- banners. ments ? In reality, civil power has nothing to do with Those who are averse to have their own opi- such matters. Speculative opinions are best left nions examined, are manifestly actuated more by to fight out their own harmless battles by memos attachment to their own tenets than to truth. They ;of a free press. They are never dangerous to ths. arrogate for themselves a privilege which they community but when the magistrates take a aids. deny to their neighbour ; and they suggest the !But who constituted our civil goversom ar suspicious inquiry—is there any concealed interest of opinion ? Or, when have they ever interfehld in the back ground that causes discussion tl be ' but to increase the acrimony of the disputants, dreaded and opposed ? I and niisemploy their own authority ? Let it be remembered, that whatever may be the deed, the opinion I have just advanoed and adapts& expediency of admitting untrammelled discussion for myself, is strenuously maintained in every Ha in its utmost latitude, it is the right I now claim. tion under heaven, as to the application of,,the lam under no obligr ion to my neighbour for to- civil power to doctrinal points, in every other lerating my opinions, however erroneous he may ' country but their own. Does any Calvinist, in deem them. Do I not tolerate his ? Who made Europe, scruple to allow that laws for the protectiOn. Fim a judge between us, or invested him exclu- of popery, are inexpedient and unjust? Does any sively with the power of distinguishing truth from papist, in Spain of Its*, pretend that the adherents. error I claim the same privilege in that respect of Martin Luther, John Calvin, or Faustus that he does; nor can I discover his title to the Socinins, ought to be tolerated ? It ls ? ihdeed, required infallibility. tyranny, superstition, idolatry, abd absurdity, that. I know not one subject within the whole com- civil power obvious suppnrts In every country in Europe, at the present moment, under the pre tence of protecting regular government, social order, and sacred truth. It is sufficient for me to appeal to the Holy Alliance in proof of the asser tions I have advanced,who have put a padlock on the lips of every man subjected to that detestable com bination. Would not, therefore, perfect neutrality be the greatest blessing ? Would not the interest of truth gain unspeakably, were all the rulers of states to aim at nothing but defending their people from enemies without, and keeping the peace within ? To me it seems, that they would act wisely and to the full extent of their reasonable jurisdiction, if they consider themselves bound to take care not of the future but the present interest of men—not of their souls and their faith, but of their persons and their properties--not of any ec clesiastical, but of secular matters only—and to consider actions and not opinions as the proper ob jects of their controul. I wish I could say that these remarks were in no degree applicable to our own country, and our own times, and to proposals of very recent date, though not of recent origin. The maxim of orthodoxy is, " he that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth not, shall be damned." Believe ! What? The tenets of their priest ; and the more abstruse and mysterious those tenets are, the more he becomes necessary to his credulous flock, and the greater their dependence upon him. Faith, such as the clergy require, is not the assent of the understanding after long and laborious investigation—but that outward and ver bal, that ready unhesitating assent, which is paid to their superior authority, as the representatives and vicegerents of the Almighty. This answers all the purposes of the priesthood: it is accompa- nied by reverence for their assumed character, by implicit obedience to their commands, and by pe cuniary contributions to their ease and comfort. To the priesthood, these are of far more importance, than that honest but troublesome independence of spirit, which yields no voluntary expre+sion of as sent, but is the result of the conviction of the un- derstanding. An independence of spit it is extremely obnoxious to the clergy, because it is extremely unmanageable, although accompanied by the ut most purity and integrity of conduct. Hence, the very inferior light in which " good works" are al ways placed by the orthodox clergy ; insomuch that the article on good works, among the thirty nine articles of the church of England declares, that if they do not proceed from faith, " no doubt they have in them the nature of sin I" Nor, in fact, is there any difference on this subject between the Calvinists and Antinomians. A moro dishonest, though successful attempt to bind the human intel lect in fetters, has never been made by any other among the various forms of superstition, than by this exaltation of credulity under the denomination of faith. But well does it servo the purpose of that persevering, ambitious, and dangerous class of society, a hired, paid, and salaried priesthood. A body of men, ready and willing to give their prodi gious influence to any government shatever,provided they can obtain in return the influence of govern ment in their own favour. The efforts toward a union between church and state, now making (January, 1830), by the various sects among us in one common combination, fully justify this re mark. But although a man cannot be prevented from holding a mischievous opinion, may he not be pre vented from publishing it! No, for whether it be mischievous or not, cannot be known till it be published. Nor can it be mischievous if fully dis cussed; for then its real tendency will be fully exposed. Nor ought such a power to be en. trusted to any set of governors or law makers ; for all those publications will be prohibited that are in tended, or are likely, to bring public abuses ani public delinquents before the people, or to detect and expose mystery, falsehood, and fraud, in any, or in all their forms. I appeal for the truth of this remark to the English law of libel, political and ecclesiastical. A code of tyranny not yet exploded even in these United States.— So far as this power has been exercised heretofore, it has been exercised in support of the interests and the wishes of those who control the press. It is to men who have braved the terrors of the law, and who have voluntarily incurred the risk of self-devotion, that all the improvements in politics, in ethics, in theology, in the sciences, have been owing. From the days of Anaxagorss to those of Galileo—from Harrington, Milton, and Sydney, to the last reported political indictment— from the very commencement of Christianity to the last prosecution for heresy and schism, the persons prosecuted appear to have been actuated in every instance, so far as I can find, by motives disin terested, honourable, and unimpeachable ; this, I think, we are compelled to allow, however we may disagree with their opinions ; opinions which they had as much a right to propose for public consi deration, as their persecutors had to maintain the converse of them. Nor can it be said of them, or any of them, what is undeniably true of their op ponents and persecutors, that they were hired, or , paid, or salaried, to profess or propagate their doctrines—or that they could have had any in terested motive whatever by thus risking pecuniary fines, personal imprisonment, and lotus of standing and reputation in society, for the sake of what they deemed the truth, and the right of the people to hive the truth told to them. Grant to our rulers the right of controlling the press, cad the empire of mystery, of political tyranny, of ignorance, and of bigotry—the right divine of kings to govern, wrong, and the indefeasible character of the holy alliance between church and state, will remain for ever unshaken. Look at the state of national degradation in Spain, Portugal, Italy, where mystery sits en throned in all her splendours, and in all her ter rors ; where the pea is powerless, and the press say prostrate ; where the gag of tyranny is In del mouth of every patriot ! Look at the state of de gradation which has seized upon the human intek lect in those fins countries, and say to what eise can it be ascribed but the slavery of the press, and, the interdict of discussion ! If it be.dosirable to arrive at truth in our in-, gairies ; it it be desirable to avoid error, we mast admit every opinion and doctrine liable to doubt or dispute, to be examined on every side, and by all manner of persons who take an interest in the ques tion. Some will bring more, some 'less talent and knowledge to bear upon it ; some will lament it , to us under one aspect, some under soadms., —At length this untrammelled license of d cussion will pet es ha possession of the merit tp deciding accurately, whtch We can acquiin 611:11111 other way. In all matters of science, this tin* is universally acknowledged, and this course is generally adopted. If in scientific, why not in questions of every other kind ? Error not I rougl.t to view, but concealed—error operating not open. ly, but privately, may be dangerous; for it has n.., enemy to detect it, and nothing to fear. Publis:, it, expose it, discuss it, and the vapour is dissi pated before the beams of truth. Look at the de. spotic countries of the world, and reflect for a ra e . ment on the character and motives of those classes of society by whom discussion is forbidden. Reflect on the questions and the doctrines that are thus for bidden in those countries—is it the interest of the people, or is it the interest of these predominant . classes that is consulted by the prohibition ? Look again, are not knowledge and power connected ; and is not that connexion exemplified beyond the possibility of denial in those countries which have been formerly, and now are, the most prosperous and powerful on the face of the earth ? Why arc they so ? Because knowledge is power ; and be. cause the door is closed against knowledge where freedom of discussion is forbidden. HARRIS v, ITEMBLE. On Saturday, at half-past one o'clock, the Lord Chancel lor proceeded to hear an adjourned case of appeal, from the Scotch Court of Chancery. Upon the counsel tor the respondent rising, Mr. Cherie, Kemble presented a petition to the Lord Chancellor relative to the Covent Garden Theatre. LORD CIAWCELLOR.-Iklr. O'Gorman, it was proposed that we should hear " Harris Y. Hemble's ease to-day, for it was specially fixed for Friday. Owing to the indisposition of Lord Plunkett, it stood over; but, if the parties are ready, I don't see how it can be postponed again. It was Intimated they were not. Mr. Ramble said he trusted it would be heard on Wed. nesday. LORD errancy xxon.—That cannot be done, for the Pro rogation of Parliament will take place before then, and may be extended to the Ist of December. instead of the lit of November ; but as the case has been so many times before me, let the parties conie to some understanding—for Par liament will he up next week, and I shall not sit again fur • fortnight, espclally as I have been so many months engaged In town. Mr. Kemble.—lf the cue does not proceed at once my ruin will be certain, for I and my partner have paid a far greater sum already than the amount of my debts ; and if it should be now deferred, it will bring entire ruin upon myself, the actors, shareholders, and every person belonging to the theatre, who are depending on their exertions for a livelihood, and I will appeal to the humanity of Sir E . Snide°, whether he will persist in having the appeal pest paned under these circumstances. Sir E. SuonEm.—.l am very sorry to oppose the petition, but I have been attending here several days. and although the case has been filed repeatedly into the paper, has always been removed, and I am not ready now. LORD CHANCELLOR.-1 know such to beam =MI j first Mr. Pepys is ill, then Lord Plunkett is not able to attend, and how can it go on ! Mr. Kemble again begged to have the case called on, as be would be ruined if it was not beard. Loins Cwawczutoa—That is the common observation —the applicant will be ruined if the use don't go on—but I will make enquiries into the circumstances which you have mentioned in the course 'of Monday, add will then state when it shall go on. Had you not better make some I definite arrangement, and fix it for the beginning of No vember P After a few further remarks the conversation was dropped. POLICE REPORTS. QUEEN ;SQU A REC.—gar u sway. John Condren was charged with stealing the sum of 2301. from his employer, John Philip Heaven, Esq. of No. 30, Sackville-atreet, Beavan stated, that on Thursday week last he entrusted him with two 1001. Bank of England notes, and a cheque for 301. to take to his bank ers, Ste Claudius Scott and Co. From information he re. calved he went to Liverpool, and found the prisoner in custody. Two Bank now for 1001. were found on his per son, which be Identified, and 163 sovereigns and some silva, together with a watch and gold chain, which the prisprer confessed he bad purchased with the inoseye•-The prismsr was fully committed for trial. MARLBOROUGH STREET. A young man named !fortis, was charged with attempt ing to rob the carriage of Captain Cosby. while standing at the door of the Haymarket Theatre. In consequence of the can isge being robbed of two gent belonging to Lord Fo:• rester, on the previous evening, the coachman kept a sharp look out, and saw the prisoner open the carriage dour, but before he could take any thing away, the Pollee were called. The prisoner was sentenced to three !Wombs imprisonment and hard labour. A youth in the employ of a bookseller, residing at No. 4, Berkeley-square, was remanded for a week, for absconding with 21.65. of his employer's Miley. The prisoner kept it up in style while the money lasted, hired • cab to drive about, and got so intoxicated that he was obliged to be conveyed home. WORSHIP STREET. One of Messrs. Pickford and Co.'s boatmen, named Wil kins, was charged with ill-treating and robbing a decent. looking woman, who gets her living by carrying about sheep's trotters for sale. About 10 o'clock on Friday night she was beset near the British Lion public.hoese, by a dosen of the boatmen and their women. One of the patty touk some of the trotters, which he refused to pay for, and then seised the basket and upset the whale, which othera of the party divided amongst them. They also pulled the poor woman about in the most brutal way..—The prisoner wit remanded. THAMES POLICE iPdliaes MiCart* an Irish coal whipper, was charged with having, in conjunction with several other ruffians, way. laid and attempted to murder John Hood, a sailor, on Wednesday last. It appeared that the complainant was on Wednesday nigkt last leaving a public-house, called the White Han, in Shad. well High.nreet, when he was followed by a gang, who assailed him near his own home, and commenced the attack by cutting his head open with a bludgeon. The unfortu nate man defended himself as well as he was able, but wo soon overpowered by numbers, and beaten in a dreadfid manner about the head, face, and body, until be fell (torn weakness, and was rendered 'pennies,. Mr. Basuarriwa said the outrage exweded in atrocity anything he had ever heard (if, and he convicted the pri soner in the highest penalty of M ; and in default of pay ment, to two months' imprisonment. But that was not all, for, in order to protect the sailor from further violence , he ordered the prisoner to find bail to keep the peace for the next two years, himself in NUL and two sureties in 1001. each. The ruffian was sent to Brixton, where he will doubtless remain for the next two years. LITERARY First): THE LATE Ma. STAAIIAN• —*During his lifetime this philanthropic and benevolent individual presented a tbowsand pounds to the Literary Fund; not content with which most liberal donation, he has by his will bequeathed another thousand pounds to th, mane excellent institution. This is to be free of the legacy duty, and does honour to the memory of Mr. htraban, who, well acquainted with the distribution of this charity, knt' that be could not leave a blessing *here it would be better bemired. BIRTHS. The 6th instate, •Ldy Georgians Ryder, of a &eta, at the Dtke of Beatatbres, fireeveaor-square--The at Widen, Mrs. George Fitzroy, of a sot. MARRIED. The 6th hist+ at Groat Yarmouth, Norfolk, J. J. Rol° Req. of Argyll-pleat, to Harriet, wood daughter of R. Cory, jun. Esq. of Great Vermoudt.—M Jersey. A. Co*Pe. Esq L of the 84th regiment, to Louisa, youngest daughter a' of rninki7^, Req. of the Royal Mint, an J of Tottendr,e. Iferutu...The 6th ineoult, at St. John's Church, WaPe r g' Mr. R. V. Cowie, of the Feet* Pat-ova, to A " Anita Blake, eldest daughter of Mr. J. A. Blake, Losiox r Ptimed•hod Polished by Joint ?Joys E, at STA& Orem*, N.. 1, Pickett-ewe, Topple Bar. 1 1 .; .! ~ ~~ I + ;' I ~ ~ r i a :~ ,; :,'' •