The Sun. — London, England, 1829-11-19 00:00:00

to a :state in-which the law may he &Tense.] w.th. It is well observed by a cotemporary (the Globe ) , that " it has been not an unnatural m i sta ke (but we think it is.a mistake) which many persons have fallen into from ob2ervino., that the poor laws worked be,,t where they were least liberally administered, to conclude that the entire absence of poor laws would be a still farther improvement ; and this appears to be Mr. Walker's error. The mistake arises from this assumption, which is not, we b2•lieve, founded in truth, and from the omission of an important ant undeniable fact :—lt is assumed much too rashly, that persons who under a system of poor laws become chargeable to parishes, would be cimulated to greater exertions or greater absti nence if they saw a distant prospect of misery as the result of their misconduct. And, on the other hand, it is not borne in mind, that under a system of poor laws, it is the interest, and it becomes the practice, of the more provident part of the community, to warn the heedless and the indolent, in the rudest and most effectual manner, against the probable consequences of their mis conduct. The principles of the poor laws are two-fold—that those who are in want must be relieved, but that the probability of standing in need of relief (of becoming chargeable) is some thing approaching to a crime. This seems cruel but it is the least of two degrees of cruelty. It becomes a part of the business of society—and in some country parishes it is an important part of its business—to make the lives of all men, whose conduct or misconduct is likely to lead to indigence, disagreeable to them. The inefficacy of distant and uncertain punishment, as com ored with very slight present inconvenience, is e/cll known ; and the effect of the poor laws is to 'tact present inconvenience on the improvident, ;netead of holding up to them the distant (how ev. r preteihle and terrible) evil of want and star vation." Mr. Walker, like many others, forgets that there is a power in any given society, if there be a sufficiency of food, to double itself in twenty years ; that there is a constant tendency to increase at a rate beyond any pessible increase of the means or subsistence in old countries, and that consequently, except under a state of high social improvement, of which there are yet no examples in Europe, this tendency to increase can only be counteracted by coercive means. To an individual in the lower ranks of life, his own prudence will be unavailing in the way of escaping poverty, if the rest of his class are not also prudent. The circumstances which determine the amount of his wages are not de pendent on his individual will, but on the pro portion which the number of labourers bears to the demand for it in the labour market. If all labourers were to be so wise as to marry at such an age as should render an in crease of their numbers beyond the demand for their labour impossible, and all individuals we; .e to be blessed with the power of squaring their conduct with a view to the future as well as the present, a labouring roan might (except in case of accident) count with something like accuracy on the consequences of his actions. But if a labouring man, for instance, were upon some philosophical calculation to marry at what he deemed the age which would enable him to con tribute only the fair contribution to the continua tion of the species, if all men did not marry at this age, he might still be involved in poverty, and unable to save anything for his old age. Undue increase of numbers is the cause of poverty, and poverty again is the cause of undue increase of numbers. Experience proves to us ehat the lower the condition of any people, the ware reckless they are as to consequences ; and }hence we generally find the multiplication of the aneeies greatest where the circumstances of the people are the most • deplorable. Mr. Walker either takes the present condition of the people as his guide, or he looks to a more improved sem - Lao:1. If the present condition of the people is soch that we should not be warranted in ex pecting from them any great degree of prudence in ells abeence of*the poor laws; and if poverty favours imprudence instead of increasing the motives for prudenee., how ate we to bring about the circum atances which should render poor laws un necessary ? Poor laws must always be the foundation of every system of police with re gate' to the poor. T he d est i tute cannot, in a civilizet; country, be suffered to wander about a country, The security of property demands that all vagrancy and mendicancy should be checked. Begging Is unquestionably a great nuisance, and it is essential to the comfortable • existence of the industrious, that it should be repressed. The spectacle of suffering humanity will not be endured by a civilized population, and Mr. Walker will nut pretend that people ought to be allowed to perish in the streets. Again the health of the community might be endangered by the contagious diseaces which Always follow in the train of excessive privation. Provialon must, therefore, be made for the poor ; either by voluntary association or by compulsory tax. In small societies, the object may be effected by association ; but in a dense popula don, every man would throw as much of the iburden on his neighbour as he could, if the ex tent pf the contribution depended on indi vidual inclination. We are of the num ber of anew who believe in the constant lanprovement of our species. We conceive that else virtues of pruclauee and foresight prevail ;among the people of England to a greater ex- Lent at this moment than ever they dial; and we might appeal, in evidence of this, to the prodi ,aious increase of Benefit Societies. In the te, course of time, we believe that the means for re preosing the tendency to increase beyond food will become milder and milder. In the mean time, however, the rid; and prosperous must be bound by law to provide apinst the undue mul• tiplication of the poor, by entailiogn on them the consequences of such multiplication. are given to the rich, not alone for solitary enjoy ment, but in trust for the poor. They have leisure, they have more ample resans of instruc tion. They can go to the Legislature for more ample powers, when the existing powers are ins sufficient. But if they were to be freed from the obligation to maintain the poor, and the poor were in turn to be relieved from the restraints imposed on them by laws of settlement, the consequence of such obligation of' maintenance, recklessness-and despair would only impede the advance of the poor in the career of improve ment, Poor laws are, therefore, indispensable; and experience proves, that in the most civilised nations, the poor are best provided for by law. We call the attention of our readers to an article which will be found in another part of our columns, giving a melancholy account of the condition of the labourers in husbandry in the fertile county of Berks. It appears, from what transpired at a private meeting of Magistrates of the Berkshire Sessions, th a t agr i cu l tura l di stress is increasing in a degree that excites the most oriolli alarm. We are informed that a must deplorable picture was drawn of the depressed state of every branch of agriculture by Mr. Green, a Magistrate, who, to his credit, ex pressed great solicitude for the sufferings of the labourers in husbandry, and recommended to his brother Magistrates the humane duty of making every possible exertion to ameliorate their condi tion. His advice, we hope, will not be tnroe.'n away ; and his authority ought to be of some weight, as he has himself carried on farming -ex tensively, both in Hampshire and the county of Berks. But ie the present day it is not consi dered a prom of enlightened intellect to make any account of zhe feelings, the wants, and the sufferings of the poor. Our political economists look only to the accumulation of " capital" in the hands of a few individuals, not to the diffu sion of plenty and comfort among the mass of the people. The kindlier feelings of our nature are sacrificed to the sordid theories of a cal lous and conceited selfishness, which assumes the name of philosophy. In the prevailing rage for " the wealth of nations," that most va luable of all wealth—that most precious and durable of all national possessions—moral wealth, is depreciated or forgotten. The moral trea sures of a nation arc scarcely to be found any where if the great mass of her population are reduced to misery, dependence, and depravity. The accumulation of riches with a few corrupts and enervates their minds no less than the ab ject' poverty of the many drives them to the com mission of violence and crime. The increase of the habit of theft among our rural population, arising from want, is rapidly reducing the once manly and honest peasantry of England to the degraded level of those despised people of some I Continental States, who are lost to all feelings of decent and moral pride. Why should we won der that our gaols should be crowded with crimi nals when the English labourer, in many parts of the country, fares worse than the common felon ? It was stated at the Berkshire Sessions that the labourer who was obliged to apply to the Overseer for relief was reduced to the ne cessity of subsisting on the amount of two half peck leaves of second-best flour per week,which, when at one and sixpence each, amounted to only three shillings ! Besides the three shil lings, on which he was doomed to subsist, or rather to starve, one and sixpence each is allow ed for his wife and family per week, making seven shillings and sixpence in all, from which a man and his wire and two children were ex pected to derive their support. Who can be surprised that people so circumstanced are stimulated by the sting of such bit ter poverty to commit theft, and other crimes, the prosecution of which costs the county, in law expences, more than is saved by the parsimony of the allowance ? While the price of two half-peck loaves of second-best flour is the pittance of the poor agricultural la bourer, who has as yet done nothing to forfeit his character for honesty or industrious habits, the amount of allowance for each felon in the gaol and houses of correction at Abingdon and Reading is 3s. Id. per week when doing no work, and 3s.- 6d. when at work, besides cloth ing, bedding, and fuel, provided for them at an annual expence of 3/. per head ; also medical assistance when requisite : and not having to pay out of this allowance, like the poor cottager, a shilling a week at least for lodging. Thus is England reduced to that state when her felons are better provided for than her hardy and ho nest agricultural labourers, and the accommoda tions of the gaol are superior to the comforts of the cottage ! This is a picture for the " politi cal economists" to contemplate. Here may they recognize much of their own work—the " capi tai" in few hands, and poverty every where— the rich heartless, the poor degraded—the pro duce of the plough and the loom filling the mar kets, where only purchasers are wanting—while mechanical science advances and morality decays,. —MO I'll ing Herald. DISTREiSED STATE OF THE LABOURERS IN IIUS- BANDRY. At the Berkshire Quarter Sessions, held at Abingdon, a discussion took place (though not in open Court) touching the general depression of agriculture, originating from what had passed at a meeting held some weeks previous thereto, at Ils ley, in order to promote and encourage the use and wear of British wool ; the main difference of opi nion with regard to which was, whether, as the members of that meeting had resolved to wear no other woollen clothes than what were composed wholly of the growth of this country, it would be a means of encouraging British wool. After this subject had been discussed for some time, Mr. Green, who for many years has carried on farming on a very extensive scale, both in this county and Hampshire, was called on for his opinion of the general state of those concerned in every branch of agriculture, which he most pathetically depicted as deplorable, especially than of the labourers in hus bandry ; the amelioration of whose state he parti cularly recommended to the consideration of his brother Magistrates, and the Chairman, the elder Member of our county; when it was observed, and pressed upon the attention of the Magistrates pre sent, that the amount of their allowance for each prisoner in their gaol and houses of correc-1 tion there, and at Reading, when doing no work, was 3s. id. per week, and for those at work 3s. 6d.; all of whom had clothing, bed ding, and fuel, provided for them, amount ing annnlly, per head, to 3/.; besides medical assistance when necessary ; and that these allow ances could not be reduced without danger to their health, as advised by the surgeons of the establish ments. But, on the contrary, when the labourer happened to be out of work, and obliged to apply to his overseer for assistance, he was reduced to the necessity of subsisting on the amount of two half pack loaves, of second•best flour (which, when at Is. 6d., amounted only to 3s. per week for himself), and Is. 6d. each for his wife and family, out of which he, perhaps, might have to pay weekly for his cottage Is., or otherwise submit to have another family put in with him, or go to the paor.house, in stead of being allowed 4s. per week as formelly. When a relief table, established by the Justices of the County, in 1795, and for several years after acted upon, was the rule of relief, a man with a fa mily was allowed is, more than tite amount of the two half-peck loaves; whereas now the amourtt of the loaves, :34. is the general amount of the reducing the labourer to less than the prisoner for felony. So that, while the poor raun has been taken down in his parochial allowance from 3s. to 25., the soldier, on a footing with whom the labourer Sias pieced, and whose daily pay in 1795 did not exceed 7d. per day, has been raised to 14d. The Re viewers in the quarterly of July last, in noticing the work of Mr. Sadler, on Ireland, its evils and their remedies, say, " Posterity will scarcely credit the extent to which the popular feeling of the country has been worked upon and warped by the ins scant ravings of some of our modern economists. They truly have dune all that in them lay to ex• tinguish in the bosoms et" the more opulent classes every spark of generous and benei , oleot compassion towarAs the destitute and needy pauper. In deer eyes pauperism is a crime, for which nothing short of absolute starvation can form an adequate punish ment. Hence the poor laws of this country have been held up to the world ee deserving of every re proach, as an infringement upon the laws of nature and of God! which, according to their version of them, doom the destitute pauper to perish for want r:1 rood. They allege that these laws injure the feeling 4, and pervert the principles of the rich, whilst they degrade the poor, for whose benefit they have been ostensibly established. This being the ; 1:2-,In in which the English Poor Laws are so con ; stantly represented, it is not to be wondered at that . the Irish landlords should dread the appoach of what the French (forming their opinion upon .. this subject from the lectures of our long-winded, It not long-headed, philosoj h rs) have denominated a greater evil than the National Debt."; LAW INTELLIGENCE. COURT OF CHANCERY, Nov. IS. HALE V. HALE. I+lr. BICKERSTETH was heard upon an application to have the plaintiff's bill, which bad been dismissed, restored, and that the defendant might answer cer tain amendments. The suit was instituted on be half of a person who claimed to be entitled to cer tlin estates as the heir at law of Sir Matthew Hale. A variety of affidavits had been filed, which stated that the evidence of the plaintiff's title depended upon entries in the registers of a parish church in Alderney, and upon the inscriptions on certain mo numents and tomb-stones in the church-yard there. They went on to state that part of the registers had been cut out, and that some of the tomb-stones had been removed, and others so defaced as to destroy the inscription's which had formerly been upon them. The Learned Counsel contended that the facts al leged by the plaintiff entitled him at least to the re lief he now prayed, and that he ought to be put in a situation of making out his claim if it were capable of proof. Mr. MooRE followed on the same side. Mr. SOLICITOR-GENERAL opposed the motion, and commented with considerable asperity upon the attempt made by the plaintiff to impute to the de fendant, Mr. Blagden Hale, and to the Clergyman of the parish alluded to, a gross fraud in defacing the tomb-stones and destroying the church register books. Mr. W. BROUGHAM followed on the same side. The LORD CHANCELLOR would read the affidavits, and would decide the case probably to-morrow. FREEMAN V. FAIELIE. Hor-NE stated that five or six days ago an applica tion had been made that a motion to be moved in this case for a new trial might stand till after the term, for the convenience of gentlemen at the common law bar to attend. It had since been ascertained that it would be impossible for those gentlemen to attend, except before the expiration of the term. Under these circumstances be was instructed' to move that the Court would be pleased to appoint the earliest day it could for the hearing of the motion. The Solicitor on the other side, in the absence of his Counsel, said it would be necessary on the hearing to have certain parish-books in Court from Birmingham, and pro bably from Litchfield, but certainly from the former place. Mr. HemNs: had no objection to have it understood that a motion at that moment was made for the production of such books, and that an order, calling for the production of them, should be made, to which he should consent. This Loan CHANCELLOR had no doubt, from what he recollected of the case that an inspection of the original books of such parishes might be necessary. From the length of time this case had been pending, and the nume rous form■ in which it had already been before the Court, it was ab,olutely necessary that it should be got finally dis posed of with as little further delay as could possibly be avoided. The order for the production of the books in question should therefore be made, and Wednesday next appointed for the hearing of the motion. The Solicitor intimated that the Court Lad before said, it would let the parties on each side see the Learned Judge's notes of the last trial. The Loan CHANCELLOR observed that he should speak to the Learned Judge of the Court of Common Pleas be fore whom the case had been tried, with the view of ascer taining whether he had or not any objection to his notes being seen, if he had not, a copy of them should forthwith be supplied to the parties on each side. COURT OF KING'S BENCH, Nov. 18. The COURT was occupied the greater part of the day with cases from the Crown paper. In the case of the gang of poachers prosecuted by Edward Corbett, Esq. and convicted at the Chester Spring Assizes of the present year, the Court re versed the judgment, on an objection taken by Mr. Jervis, jun. that the offence was not properly de scribed in the indictment. Mr. Justice JAMES PARKE went to Guildhall at twelve o'clock, to hold the Nisi Prius sit tings for Lord Tcnterden. COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, Nov. 18. NORTHAM V. LATOUCIIE. This was an action by the endorsee against the acceptor of a bill of exchange for 1,0001. The hand-writing of the defendant as acceptor, and that of Mr. Hudson, as drawer and endorser of the bill, having been proved on the part of the plain tiff, it was ►nsisted, in defence, that the plaintiff could not recover-Ist, because the bill had been given as a new security for an old debt, from which the defendant had been discharged under the Insol vent Act, and given under circumstances which would render any contract nugatory; and 2dly, be cause the plaintiff was not the bona fide holder of the bill for a valuable consideration. The Jury returned a verdict for tke defendant. INSOLVENT DEBTORS' COURT, Nov. IS. Hugh Goldicutt, late a Captain in the 2,1 Ceylon Regiment, was opposed by Mr. COOKE, on behalf of Mr. Baylis, a creditor. It appeared fi.om the insolvent's statement that in September, 1826, he sold his commission, and with the proceeds commenced dealing in pictures, but his first purchase proved ultimately to be the cause of his insolvency. Towards the close of the year he purchased a picture of a person named Harris, who represented it to be an or►ginal Saivator Rosa, for 5001., of which he paid 3.55/. at the time, and gave bill for the remainder, payable at 18 months' date. However, long before the bill became due, he found that he had been deceived, and that the picture was of that trumpery character, that he could only obtain oh. by the resale of it. When the note which he had given to Mr. Barris became due, the then holder, Mr. Baylis, his opposing creditor, applied for payment, which he (the insolvent) was then un able to do. Mr. Baylis then sued him, and he de fended the action, because he had reason to believe that the note had passed from Harris's liana with out consideration : but at the trial Lord Tenterden refused to hear his witnesses, and the plaintiff ob tained a verdict for the full amount of the bill. After Mr. Baylis, the opposing creditor, had been heard, the insolvent was then disehi:rged. A BIG Box BED.—" Hoomh !" but it re quires a native to give this interjection the true Highland twang—" floomh !" s.iid DONALD, as he awoke in the dark, on the night after the last fair of Donne, not recol lecting that he was lying " up stairs," on a shakedown in an otherwise empty closet. lie had, at this moment, put his feet from under the blankets, with the intention of leaping down on the floor, but finding no descent, he '' hunkered" off in quest of the stock, till he reached the side wail of his dormitory, where, after groping for some time, lie made assurance doubly sure that he had got to the red instead of the stock ; of course lie could not l e mistaken, by taking an opposite direction, and the door of the room being open, he quickly hirseled into the lobby. " Iloomh ! to ped's praider nor she's l,ng," mur mured DONALD, as he trailed along his legs. One heel at length overhung the stair head, which had no railing, and he made sure of getting out over at hot—but, like all true Scotchmen, although he could not " look," he was determined to feel " before he leaped." Down ac cordingly droppi•d one leg, and thin the other—still no ' floor—exasperated, he was resolved to he at the bottom of • this adventure, and eliding his body over the edge— d.,wn—down he went, till he hung by the finger points, and his outstretched toes were within three inches of the lower floor. The suepense was intolerable--perhaps was over the mouth of a draw-well, or a coal-p't. Mt , able to endure the torture any longer, lie roared out for assistance. A light being brought, DoNarm was relieved, when he wound up the adventures of the night with " tamerst if she'll ever pe sleep in to muckle law!and pox•• ppd.; no mhore,"— Caledonian Nfireu , y, • POLICE INTELLIGENCE. MARLBOROUGH-STREET. Yesterday two well-dressed respeetable-loaking females, named Mary M!cqua and Elizabeth Ills- tp, and a young man named William Reid, were charged with a series of robberies on Messrs. Sewell and Cross, the silk-mercers and linen-drapers, in Compton -street, Soho-square. Messrs. Sewell and Cross have, upon several pre vious occasions, been compelled to become the pro secutors of persons in their employ for similar de- predations. - The robbei ies in the present instance took place at Navar►no-house, in Lamb's Conduit-street, which Messrs. Sewell and Cross have purchased of the assignees of Messrs. White and Metcalf, the late proprietors there. It appeared by the evidence that suspicions having► lately arisen that depredations to a com•iderable ex tent had been committed, a person was placed in the wine -cellar, where some stolen goods were found concealed, to see and detect the parties who should come to remove them. Accordingly, a young man, named Coombe, concealed himself in an empty beer barrel in the cellar, and, from the discoveries he made, the prisoner Macqua, who was cook in the I house, and another servant, named Catherine Powell, were taken into custody. The girl Powell, however, not appearing to be so much implicated in the guilt of the transaction, was admitted as a witness. She stated that while in the water-closet on the occasion in question, Macqua came to her from the cellar, bringing with her a large bundle of silk stockings and silk handkerchiefs, which she said had been concealed in the wine -cellar, and which she stated were given to her by the prisoner Reid, who was the principal porter in the establishment, and which he stole for that purpose from the warehouse; but she said duet as she feared there were some sus- I picions awakened, she should thrust the whole of the things down the water-closet, and she accord ingly did put all the silk stockings down, where they were afterwards found; but when she was about to do the same with the silk handkerchiefs, she said it was a pity to destroy them they were lso very beautiful, and putting them under her shawl she carried them up stairs to her room, where they also were found in her box. She likewise told this witness that Reid had been for a long time supply ing her with goods of all sorts of great value. It ap peared also by the evidence of Clements and Goddard, the officers who apprehended the prisoners, that Reid had also admitted to them that he had been for a long time in the habit of committing these depreda tions, and of giving all the property he stole to the prisoner• Macqua, and another young woman named Elizabeth Hislop, the other prisoner, but that he was instigated to all these robberies by Macqua, who, as an inducement to his committing them, granted him all the personal favours she could be stow. It also appeared, that the prisoner Reid, be fore his apprehension, was seen at night to keep appointments close to Navarino•house, with the prisoner Hislop, and give her parcels of goods, which she carried to a house in Old-street-road, to which she was traced, and where the officers took her into custody, and found duplicates of property pledged to a large amount. The various paw►►brokers, who attended from all quarters of the town, produced nearly 200?. worth of goods in silks, satins, Irish linens, lawn, &c., the whole of which were identified as tl►e property of Messrs. Sewell and Cross, and stolen from their warehouse. The three prisoners said not one word in their de fence, and were fully committed for trial, and the witnesses bound over to prosecute. Major-General Ralph Oasley, of the Portuguese service, and a Lieut.-Colonel in the British army, was brought before the Magistrate under a warrant, in custody of Goddard, the officer, charged with assaultieg a young female named Eleanor• Rudd. The complainant went into the General's service on Saturday last, as housemaid, but on the very next morning she left him, in consequence of his re peatedly kissing her. She also stated that he seized her by the heed while he was in bed on the Sunday morning, and dragged her towards him in rather a rough sort of way. The General declared that it was not at all for the purpose of kissing the complainant that he ap proached so near her face, but to ascertain what he proved was the case with the girl, that she had teen using a very ruinous and powerful medicine. tie denied the assault complained of altogether, and in this denial he was in a greet degree borne out by another female servant, who also stated that the complainant had admitted to her having used the medicine alluded to. General Ousley also said, that the girl's father had threatened him with exposure, if he did not pay two sovereigns for the liberties he took with his daughter. The complainant's father denied that be had held out any such threat. In the end the General was convicted in the full penalty of eh for the assault, which he instantly paid. H ATTON. ARDEN. Yesterday George Crouchnian, William Willis, John Poivcll, and if Horn, were brought up before Mr. LAING and Mr. Serjeant SELLON, for re-examination on a charge of breaking into and robbing the malt and hop stores of Messrs. Tru man, Hanbury, and Co., the brewers. Mr. Harmer attended for the prosecution. The prisoners, after being placed at the bar, were ordered by Mr. LAING to be taken out, and the office to be cleared, which being done, a private in vestigation took place between the Magistrates, Mr. Hamner, and Edwards, the officer, who was chiefly employed in obtaining information and ap prehending the prisoners. When the prisoners were re-admitted, Mr. LAING said that the case should strand over for Wednesday next, and telling the prisoner Willis that he would be admitted to bail, desired the jailor not to lock him up with the other prisoners. A young woman, the niece of Mr. Ayres, whar finger, of the City Canal-basin, came forward and identified Crouchman. as the person who, on the Ist of last October, obtained from her, while in charge of her uncle's business, which is that of a sack-lender, the sum of 2/. Is. 5d., by means of a forged order, purporting to be signed by S. Reid, a person in her uncle's employ, whose business it was to grant such orders, for a number of sacks alleged to have been received from Vise and Snell, carriers. Reid was not present to give evidence as to the forgery, and Crouchman was remanded on this charge also. Mr. Harmer, at the close of the examination, alluded to the injury which the feelings of Mr. Far ren, the retail b ewer, of Exmouth -street, sustained in consequence of the reports circulated in the news papers on the first examination of the prisoners now remanded, in which Mr. Farren was stated to be the purchaser of the hops. The fact was, that Mr. Fat ren had acted by a preconeerted plan fur the pur pose of detecting ttie prisoners, and recovering the property of the owners. The reporters were not to Warne, for they had given the evidence as deposed to on the oaths of the witnesses. Mr. LAING said he had known that. BOW-STREET. Yesterday William Davis and Hannah Allen, who it appears are brother and sister, were brought be fore in orde r t o b e re-examined.—Re inm Mr. Jonathan Henry Wilson, and Ilia brother Mc. a VA HALLs, William Augustus Wilson, the two young gentlemen who were charged with having ridden over Henry Carlow, the toll taker at Waterloo-bridge, were again brought forward, when, after learning that the wounded man was out of danger, the prisoners were admitted to bail. Two gentlemen then came forward and entered into sureties, each in 250/:, for the appearance of the prisoners at the sessions, to answer any charge that may be preferred against them then. The pri soners were further held to bail in the sum of 3001. each on their own recognizaucee. A LAMENTABLE CASE.—Between nine and ten o'clock on Tuesday night, just as the sitting magis trate, Mr. Mitistiw., was about to retire from the office, the beadle of Waterloo-bridge brought before him a young female, named Alice .Yay!or, whom he charged with. having attempted to drown herself a few moments previously. The unfortunate woman's clothes were dripping wet; and she Feemed be numbed with cold. Finding that her power of speech had left her, the Magistrate ordered her to be placed before the fire, where she soon became so far recovered from her stupor as to be able to answer questions. Mr. MINSHULL—Do you not find that the heat of the fire is much more agreeable than the cold of the water ? Female—Fire and water are both very well in their way. I should have preferred being in the water. Nir.lNlvismuLL—What! do you mean to say that you would like to drown yourself? Female—l do say so, I don't wish to tell you a lie about it, Sir, for that would be sinful. . Mr. MINSHULL — You say that to tell a lie is a sin ; then how much more dreadful is the act which you contemplated ? Female—Perhaps so, Sir ; but there are plenty of people in the world without me. I would not be missed, except by my poor little child ; and even it would not miss me. Mr. MINN-FULL—You have got a child ? Then pray are you a married woman ? Female—l am not. I was seduced by the father of my child ; but 'tis no matter; he takes good care of it, and has not been unkind to me. Mr. MINSIIULL—Has any one else treated you ill? Female—No, Sir; no one. Mr. MINSIIULL observed that it was a lamentable case, and asked the poor creature what she would wish to have done for herself? Female—Nothing: I want nothing but to quit this weary life. The beadle stated that, hearing a splashing in the water, he ran down the steps on the Middlesex side of the bridge, and there saw the female wading into the river. At the time he saw her the water had reached above her waist, and it was with great difficulty that he dragged her back to the shore. — As she was advancing forward in the water she kept exclaiming, " Aly baby, oh my poor . baby ! Would you were here with me, that we might die toge ther !" Ile had ascertained that the unfortunate woman lived in Newcastle-court, as servant to her sister, who keeps a house of ill fame. Mr. MiNsuum, asked her if her sister used her ill ? Female—" Oh no. I've no complaint to make against any one; but would rather perish than live in such a situation any longer; that I would," she added, at the same time piteously wringing her herds. . _ Mr. M1N311111.1. ordered her sister to be sent for; bus:, a considerable time having elapsed without the sister having made her appearance, he directed that the poor creature should be taken to the house of correction, with a request from him to the governor that she might be made as comfortable as possible until steps could be taken to pass her to her parish. INTENDED MURDER OF A CHILD. On Tuesday, a young woman genteelly dressed, was brought to the bar in the New Bailey Court house, Manchester, charged with having attempted the murder of her own child, an infant about six weeks old. The revolting and unnatural character of the circumstance, and the comparative respect ability of the woman, created a great interest to hear the proceedings, and the Court was conse• quently crowded. The unnatural mother seemed fully aware of the dangerous and awful situation in which she stood, and was unable, in any part of the proceedings, to encounter the inquiring glances of the auditors. The circumstances, as related by the witnesses, were these :—About seven o'clock on Saturday evening, a 'woman named Ruth Harrop, living near St. Luke's church, in Chorhon-row, was alarmed by the faint wailings of an infant, and for some time could not discover from whence they pro ceeded. On further search she found that they pro ceeded from a public privy; where, on examination, she found a male child, about five weeks old, with out a single article of clothing about it, but which, from its warmth, it was clear could not have been there many minutes. It was immediately recog nized as the child of a woman who had for the last eleven weeks been lodging in the neighbourhood, within a hundred yards of the spot where the child was found. She had described herself as a married woman, named Elizabeth Hartley, coming from Pres ton or the neighbourhood ; and on inquiring where she lodged, she was found to be missing, and to have taken with her every article of clothing belonging to herself or her infant. Information was given to the police, and, after a diligent search for the inhuman mother, Holt, the officer of Chorhon-row, discovered that she had slept at the Flying Horse, in Market ' street, and had gone off at half-past four by a coach to Preston, under the name of Owen. Mr. Scott, the deputy constable of Chorlton-row, immediately went off to Preston, sad on inquiring at the coach office there, found that she had stopt at Clayton, about six miles from Preston, but that she had said she intended to proceed northward that day. In a short time she came, and with her a respectable looking young man, who was immediately recognised as being a person who had occasionally visited her, and whom she had described to her neighbours as her husband. Ott examining her trunks, the clothes in which the child was seen dressed not half an hour before it was drawn from the privy, were found. The wretched woman, who is of a respectable family near Lancaster, was brought to Manchester, and there committed to take her trial at the next assizes. She made no defence. MOLUCCA MARRIAGES. The following curious account of the ceremony of marriage in these islands is given by one of the officers on board the French frigate Astrolabe, dur ing her voyage in the Southern Seas to discover the wrecks of the unfortunate navigator, Monsieur le Compte de la Perouse, which vessel arrived but a short time ago at Toulon : " The woman, attended by some of her own sex, comes into the mosque and seats herself; then the Imum, or, if the parties are persons of rank, the Ca liph, holding the man's right thumb, addresses him, and inquires if he 1611 marry that woman, and live with her according to Mahomet's law ? To this the man answers I will, or 1 will not, if he has any par ticular reason for making the objection. Then the Priest asks the woman, who is veiled, and still sit ting beside, the like respective questions, if she will obey ? Three times must she answer ' I Will,' in a very loud tone of voice. " The woman then rises; the man and she pay their respects to the company present ; the woman is unveiled by the Priest, who gives her over to the husband as his private property to conduct home; but, before she leaves the mosque, the Priest gives the husband the folloning admonition You trust not touch your wife with lance or knife; but, if she do not obey you, take her into a chamber and chastise her gently with a handkerchief, for never be it said that the sons of iilahomet lay harsh hands upon his daughters.' The party then retire amidst the acclamations of the:assembly." It is a singular curiosity, that in a chapel in t his neighbourhood, oa Sabbath last, three young gentle men, all of the name of G—, all waives here, all pro bationers, and all licensed within twelve months of each other, preached in succession. The minister of the chapel, who was to be from home on that occasion, being asked by one of his congregation who were to preach on Sabbath, is said to have replied, with his usual pointed wit, " Three Scotch Greys !"—Aberdeen Observer. On Thursday evening, about seven o'clock, the Victory four-horse coach was overturned in Deans&ate, Manchester, opposite the end of Bridge-street, on its arrival from Chester. There were seven passengers, five of whom were on the outside ; and, by a singular de4ree of good fortune, not one of theta sustained any injury worthy of notice, although they were all thrown with violence upon the flags in front of the late Mr. Tivi,s's shop. The only person materially injured was the coach man (LyanY), who had his uncle dislocated. —Ma nches ter Mercury. CHARACTER OP THE PRESIDENT OF GREECE. d (From the Q:4arterly licrictr.) The man who by intrigue, by bribery, and 11 menace, has succeeded in placieg himself at the head of the Greek Govermnent, is a adventurer, and a mere tool in the hands et Russia. We say this advisedly. When Russia was required by the Allied Powers to give "P the lonian Islands, to be placed under the pr o 7 tection of Great Britain, she felt exceedingli sore at this arrangement. At that time th° family of Capo d'lstria had, great influence these islands, and Count John, the present Pre", - , sident of Greece, was one of the Russian Mi nisters at Petersburgh. The old Count and family, resident in Corfu, with all their Ltd' herents, were in open and violent opposition.to. every measure of the British Government; all its views and intentions were misrepir7; sented, and their unfounded grievances et )4 - calumnies were advocated in the British Parliament by Mr. Henry Grey Benett ana: Mr. Joseph Hume ; and in Petersburgh b 5, Count John Capo d'lstria, to whom the n hu. ' father wrote that, among other barbarities cow mitted by the English, they had designedly inv.( ported the plague into Corfu, with the view 0 ' reducing the people to such a state of desperr dency and entire submission, as to allow th e Lord High Commissioner to avoid the 1110'7 ment of such parts of the treaty as were O° S exactly to his liking. This letter from - - th e father to the son was intercepted, read, and for• warded ; but the Emperor Alexander knew the : English too well t o t a k e an y p u blic notice "," the absurd story of this silly old lonian. On this ground alone, we do not think thal, l either England, France, or Austria, ought t°,:. consider Count John Capo d'lstria as a fit person to be placed at the head of the Gree k . Government. It is, in fact, neither more 11 9, 1 1 : less than throwing Greece into the bands o Russia, between which and Servia the province! r Albania only is interposed. To talk of the index pendence of Greece under such a man as Car d'lstria i 3 a farce. Let us see what has he° his conduct since his arrival. At the national assembly of the Greek der . ties, for the choice of a ruler, held in June las t • at Argos, he had the indecency to appear in 3 full dress Russian uniform, decorated with itu r sian orders; and to protect his august person' against any retaliation on the part of some of th : e . deputies whom he had insulted, and to in;iT''' . date the assembly, he surrounded himself h Colocotroni's troops, which also bivouacked ,T . ) , the steps of the building in which the assembl y was held ; thus circumstanced, he had eve r)`, thin; his own way; he made long speeches, ._ 1 .7 not. one deputy ventured to utter a single He is accused, how justly we know not, of ell : pending the money sent by Russia and Frao`l ii ° in bribes to the electors and deputies; andt i a a, order to secure a majority for himself, he " the unparalleled audacity to bring forward Gr ee t deputies from Candia, Scio, Samos, Negroril and other islands and places still in the pcile , sion of the Turks, and not included within t " t s , line of demarcation drawn by the Allied Pl ese e • for the boundaries of future Greece ; but o ri a' arrangements he privately affects to despise, of been for that ilis impolitic cn(l'll9 e . talks of his conquests and the determinatioT - the . the Greeks to extend the b oun d ar i es bey o ",: s: indeed e d line proposed it t y n o the Allies. tack—to give it no harsher name—on, the Turkish fleet in Navarin, planned, as it loth -' now seem, by a Russian Admiral, and for 11:: sian objects—had we not compelled Ihrahl7_, Pasha to withdraw his troops, and the reniaiel of the Egyptian fleet to move homewards,—aa: had not a large French force lan ded on Morea,—it is clear, almost to demonstratial that the Russian army would never have.crosse". the Balkan, the Greek question would pr obal4 have been settled by the Ambassadors then re . ; gociating in Constantinople, and the whole ats ii of the Russian wir materially altered. f rb e _, might Count John Capo dlstria, with his brlrci ther, a man still more generally obnoxiou v ` r the Greeks than himself, have taken their dello ture for Russia, without the assistance and 07. 4 of an English line-of-battle ship, which affor ue a them a conveyance from Ancona to the M° l ,o and in return for which piece of service, it s g as civility, the said Count cannot c onceal ors bitterness and animosity which he bot c h against the English Government, and to vq„, he is said to give utterance in his conversa", ig to a d (T ee of indecency and irritation O s 1 ,1 ez; cial er quite laughable. The gallant officer, u" loo re Church, to whom singly the Greeks are kss re' indebted than to any other individual , " Lfi yr tired in disgust, declaring, that " the ae t " a hat? tern of the Government of Greece is no t ';; many with his opinions or conscienli . $ 0 therefore, it be meant to give to the fiel: i c t o de' by no means united, Greeks a steady 101 that pendent government, we are morally cetta . , l - r t be this object will never be accomplished lon e ,, administration of Count John Capo dqs. tr i: rn ea We should be very happy to hear cr f the the rumour of a Congress, to be 1 41 " °lt is settlement of these important time, if the peace of Europe is to be ore ' ery questions' ia; BIRTH. th e On the 17th inst. at Bevis-hill, near Southampw" , lady of R. Clutterbuck, jun. Esq., of a son. f. MARRIED. „,,t)f On the 17th inst. at Chatteris, Canthridgeshire , 2 o o Roy. R. Titian!, Rector of Bluntisitam, David let Chapman, Esq. of York Terrace, Reg,nt'a - 1 4 * 0 Maria, daughter of the Rev. D. CliattiAd, Chatteris. DIED. Nov o On the 18th inst. Captain Wiiliam Adamson, ed able E,st ladia Company's Service, of Clapham , e tyoir On the 17th inst. Maria, widow of the late W. ton, Esq. of Lesdenhall-street. 1.1 Ji l or ° On the 18th inst. the Rev. T. Powell, of - - u „ 1 0 1)- who had been 46 years pastor of the B..ptis t Mitchell-street. et , On the 17th inst. Mr. 11. Williams, of Turn aged 74. On the 15th inst. at Rye, Sydney, t'te el lest soa e Rev. R. R. Knott, A.M. . • , EAST INDIA.—DEATHS. • e At Vizagapatam, June 7, of apophxy, C o p •• 0 Ci 0 0 3d N. V. 8., aged 44. At Jauinah, April 13, Ensign .1. C. D urai'4' Regt. N. I. ~. r ip'. At Kamptee, May 16, J. Jones, Esq. '''' '' t 1) 5 9 Regt. Light Cavalry. At Bangalore, May IS, Ensign W. Ro bert n' is f Regt. N.J. . 9 At Madras, July 2, Mr. W. Grant, aged ''''' f .- 0 it e s Examiner of the Board of Revenue. sth At Kamptee, April 27, Cipt. A. Bent l eil - OP 1 N. I, late Paymaster• O lt . ' ' At Coimbatoor, May 29, Captain 11. . ' Regt. N.I. - ,401 ---___.- • • .,V - Panties AND PUDLISUED .ATMOW° 1 0 , • TX& SE X 01711“, 112, SNlAtifai li e '