The Sun. — London, England, 1829-11-23 00:00:00

SNRIT OF TUE runt.ic JOURNALS We copy the subjoined article from the Dub lin Freeman's Journal of Thursday, and as we were the first to allude to the conduct of Mr. Barron and Mr. O'Connell in the county of Waterford, it is right we should briefly explain the share we had in such allusions to these gen tlemen. At a time when Mr. Barron was can- vassing the county of Waterford for its repreeen tation, as a Catholic gentleman of independent principles, avowing the most uncompromising hostility to the Beresfords, as a family wholly undeserving the confidence of the constituency ; and when, likewise, Mr. O'Connell had travelled a great distance to give in person his cordial as eistance to the new tendidate, and had, at a public meeting in a county where he has no local interest, reflected on Mr. Sheil for his mis take" in excepting a brief from Lord Water ford's family, as well as ridiculed their idle at-. telutst to have returned him as their counsel ; a icommunication was made to us by a correspon dent, professing to be in full possession of all the particulars, to this effect :—That Mr. fle.rron had hineeelf, not casually or inadvertently, but repeated and persevering solicitation, offered to give the whole support of his family to the ticresfords in the county, provided they merely looked on while he endeavoured to get returned for the city ; and that Mr. O'Connell, who was of late so loud in vaunting his refusal of the large fee with a retainer, and expressing his astonishment that they (the Beresfords) could 'ave thought they could retain him it 3 their counsel, had actually, as far as he was concerned, occepted this brief, and huxtercd for a still larger rose In publishing these allusions upon the au tholity we have mentioned, our purpose was not to meddle with the confidential communications of private gentlemen, but to put to the test the conduct of public men seeking to be intrusted with the confidence of their fellow-citizens in the management of their most important national concerns. Mr. Barron has pleaded guilty to the attusation of our correspondent, and has thereby unqualified him from the trust he sought to execute. When the promised letters shall appear, it will then be seen whether Mr. O'Con ntil bat; acted openly and consistently in his share of the Waterford transactions, and 'has therefore ht' en groundlessly maligned. To us the Irish public will stand mainly indebted for hating that full and unequivocal explanation of' the affair, to which upon all sides it is now admitted to be entitled. Mr. O'Connell's friends, it is right to tneetinn, positively deny that he accepted the kid, or huxtered for his fee. They assert, that on the contrary he declined it, and upon the ground of his being then assured of his return to hrliament as Member for the county of Clare. Now, the representation made to us, and with every appearance of authenticity, was and is, that Mr. O'Connell, in his first letter, in reply to the solicitor's offer on the part of the Beresford family for his professional assistance, so far from declining the brief, did actually make specifica tines, and require explanations ()Nile duties which he should be called upon to perform, at the Fame time cordially concurring in the necessity and propriety of an oblivion of the past distinc tions between Protestant and Catholic, and in allusion to the offered fee of 6001., in the event of a contest, did expressly mention, that he had received that sun:from Mr. V. Stuart at the last election out of term," (these were his `.tints) ; adding, that as in matters of business the Beresfords had always treated him hand .7,-omely, he was willing to leave the fee for the eoesideration of their solicitors. Our correspon dent asks, whether the meaning of the word to huc4-ster is not to peddle ; and what is the in ference, but a hint for more money, which can he drawn from Mr. O'Connell's allusion to his fee " out of term" from Mr. Villiers Stuart, to the liberality of the Beresfords when they had previously swnployed him, and to his confidence in the solicitors, who were men of great respec tability in their profession, and his personal and " eery kind friends,; as he describes them in his letier to the Rev. Mr. Sheehan ? In his second letter to the solicitors, when the terms laid down in his fr. t were . fully conceded by the Beres fords, who only required his assistance as a professional man, and when, according to the fair interpretation of his answer to their application, it only remained, not for him to draw back, but for them to accept his conditions, he pleads to be excused on the eround of his being sure of his return for Clare, and therefore exposed to the liability of sitting as Judge upon the merits of an election on which he might have acted as counsel. Our correspondent asks how vihl this transaction look, if it should appear that Mr. O'Connell, elide bargaining about the brief, did expressly state in his'' first letter, that his election for Clare was fixed beyond all manner of doubt, even should Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald appear in person to oppose him ?” There is still more behind. Did or did not Mr. O'Connell, in his second letter, expressly and of his own accord, pledge himself, that as he felt be could not take part ,for the Beresfords, and only on account of his being the }member for Clare, he would not be engaged (and for the same reasons) against them ? How is this pledge to be reconciled with Mr. Barron's public declaration in the presence of, and uncontra dieted by, Mr. O'Connell at the late meeting, that the latter, while he scorned the bribe of the Beresfords, had promised to him (Mr. Barron), in his contest with the family, his professional services gratuitously? We, as independent journali4s, wholly unconnected with either party, have only to judge of the information we in most cases receive, from the appearance of probability which it posses intrinsically, and our confidence in the persons who transmit it. We are, of course, often liable to be deceived, without even impugning the veracity of our correspondents, who aretlike all people exposed to the influence of impressions arising from the communications made to them ; and on this occasion, we are only anxious for the sway of principle and .of truth, and to disburden ourselves of the inform tion conveyed by our correspondent, so that our readers, when the forthcoming letters - . appear (which must be at once), shall heve the means of comparing his statement with the original do cuments. The following is thC - article in the Freeman's Journal. Why this delay ? Who are the parties out of the country ? The cor respondence is between Mr. Mahony and Mr. O'Connell, and they are within stone's throw of eaeh other : " W e are authorised to state, that the publication of the correspondence between Mr. O'Connell and Mahony, touching the proposal of the latter to retain the former as counsel for Lord George Beres ford at the next Waterford election, is delayed in consequence - of it s ' being de eme d necessary to h ave a communication with all the parties concerned, some of whom are now out of this country. Until this correspondence, which has be . en most ear nest l y de manded by the public , shall. have - 4 com e f orma ll y before them it %ould be improper in us to de tail what we loow of its partici:lats. We may 1)r permitted, however, to appease curiosity to soul( small extent. The proposal of Mr. Mahony was to the effect, that Mr. O'Connell's profecsinoal services merely should be rendered to Lord George Beres ferd. In Mr. O'Connell's reply, we mean his firs! one, this proposql . appears to have been professim— ally and in the usual bUsiitessmlike way entertained. It has been Mest truly stated, that the learned gen- tlen.lan " huxtered fi;r a rev." The only pectiniar, observation in the letter refers to a sum of 500/. which Mr. O'Connell states his having been paid by Mr. Villiers Stuart on the occasion of the last clec• ion for tilt,. t °Wily of Waterford. Mr. O'Connel! dots not mention this as a standard whereby the Be resford fee, into the consideration of which he does not enter, should be rated. Upon this point his se cond letter is conclusive; for in the second he declines the engagement. This is done in a form of phrase and a spirit which, when ascertained by the docu ments to be published, must put Messrs. O'Connell and Sheil almost on the same footing with respect to the Beresfords, on the same footing, because Mr. O'Connell, in his letter, begs Mr. Mahon) , most distinctly to understand, that his declining to act for_Lord George is in nowise influenced by the considerations which Mr. Sheil is charged with hay. ing compromised. So emphatically does the Learned gentleman urge this, that the other circumstances and avocations, which he felt must prevent his accept ance of the retainer, are specified. According to Mr. O'Connell's own showing, therefore, the dif ference between his case and that of Mr. Sheil con sists in the fact of the latter having accepted the retainer, and of the former having declined it, not from any apprehension that the acceptance was im proper, but from a prospect of having more import ant•fish of his own to fry. It is another question to consider how far either may have been culpable,— Mr. Sheil, in taking a retainer, or Mr. O'Connell, although not taking it, in vindicating the harmless ness of its being taken. " The sooner the correspondence is given to the public the better. If Mr. O'( onnell has a copy of it, we are persuaded that DO respect for parties will induce him to withold that which, if unpublished, must continue to keep sonic parties wrong with the country. Lest this should he deemed an uncandid allusion, we may as well state that both Messrs. O'Connell and Sheil have copies of the letters."— Times. The change which has taken place in the French Ministry, at so critical a period as the eve of the Meeting of the Chambers, is rather calculated to diminish confidence in its dura bility. In that light the event is viewed by the liberal journals, of which the tone is what their opponents will call provokingly insulting. "In losing M. de la Bourdonnave, says the Jour nal des Debats of Thursday, with its usual epigrammatic point, " you have become more impotent for violence, without gaining on the side of legal order and liberty. In short, the re treat of M. de la Bourdonnave, whatever the cause, is an useful event. Why so much con gratulation, it will be said ; it is 1815 conquered byl,'oeil de Ba?uf; the Ministry is a little less prevotal, and a little more Jesuitical ; that is all. Yes—but at the same time, the Ministry has re ceived a mortal wound, and has become equally incapable of supporting itself." One great cause of the unpopularity of the Ministry is the pre vailing idea, that M. de Pclignae is devoted to England, and that English intrigue imposed him on France. M. de la Bourdonnnye was an uncompromising Ultra, but a decided French man, and less obnoxious to the people than M. dePolignae. The Journals, with much address, avail themselves of the differences between M. de la Bourdonnaye and M. de Polignac, on ac count of the English partialities of the latter, to render him still more obnoxious. " The more we reflect on the subject (says the Jour nal des Debats) the inure it appears to us that M. de Polignac brings to the Presidency no other title and no other force than his quality of agent of the English. But this British man of business (horn= d'affaires) knows nothing of business, and in this respect he is useless to those even whom he wishes to serve. Much has been said of the administrative capacity of M. de la Bourdonnaye, his extravagincies, and his impatience. We do not question these ; but every one should have a hearing. M. de la Bourdonnaye also tells curious things respecting the narrow bigotry and the prejudices of M. de Polignac, his aristocratical infatuation, and his eternal boring about England, and the right of primogeniture. One would swear he was M. t:ottt: in a Court-dress. / K. de la Bourdonnaye, it is said, is very amusing on this head. Accord ing to his account, be is solely the victim of the devout faction, in the eves of which his pure and simple absoltitism was insufficient." The Con stitutionnel also dwells on the infatuation of M. de Polignac for the worst part of what he saw in England. To an aristocrat, like M. de Polignac, the condition of his order in England must have appeared highly enviable; and we can easily un derstand how lie should have imbibed, during his residence here, partialities and predilections by no means calculated to add to his efficiency as a Minister in France. In the exclusive cir cles of London he imbibed notions which must have rendered the state of things in France far from palateable to him. It is not likely that a French nobleman, full of the recollections of the ancient regime, and dazzled with the ex isting splendour of the nobles of London, should, on his return to France, become enamoured of the system which, in place of . a wealthy aristocracy, a crawling middle class, and a starving populace, has given a large class of well informed men of moderate fortunes who despise the vices and the frivolities of the over grown rich, and an independent middle class jealous of their honour. A glance at the lite rature of England, as compared with that of France, at once shows the:difference in the social condition of ;the two countries. The English literature consists chiefly of light reading for the aristocracy, and muddling divinity for the class immediately above the lowest. The French literature is, - on the other hand, serious and sci entific. The Scotsman, in an article which we copied into the Chronicle of Saturday, observes —" It strikes us as remarkable that there are twenty Journals devoted to jurisprudence, of which a very few are mere reports of decisions — eight to education, which does not tbrm the staple of one periodical in Britain, so far as we know—twenty-one to science, which forms the material only of four or five in London—and twenty-two to medicine, which numbers only six or seven in its service in the British metropolis." In England we have heaven-born Legislators, who are freed from the necessity of devoting themselves to the study of Legislation, but a Frenchman can only hope to obtain the confi dence of his fellow-citizens by proving that he has merited it by his previous . exertions. But this is a state of things which eannot,be very ac ceptable to M. de Polignac, who no,doubt looks back with regret to the time when a Statesman was formed in the ball-room, and not in the study, and when if he had the air of the Court, his orthography was overlooked. That the English Aristocracy, the only remains . in Europe of the old order of things, should have encou raged M. de • Polignac in his feudal prepos-- sessioes, and convered him to their ideac as to the necessity of re-establishing primoge uiture in France, is also exceedingly probable. Without, therefore, attributing his elevation to the English Ministry, we can easily believe that he has returned with prepossessions in favour of the political excrescences, as it were, of England, which must peculiarly incapacitate him for the administration of France. Among our extracts from the French papers will be found some de tails respecting the election at Bordeaux, where the Liberals have carried the day by a great ma jority. Bordeaux used to be the head-quarters of loyalty to the Bourbons, and so marked a victory in that quarter is quite decisive as to the feelings of the French nation. The election was also one of those in which the rich men have the most influence. Another circumstance is noticed, namely, that the candidate returned would have probably obtained more votes if he had not. belonged to a religion which is not pro fessed by above one-tenth of the French. Bor deaux is the native place of M. de Peyronnct, but this does not. seem to have obtained for him the favour of his fellow-citizens, who are said to have insulted him on his issuing from the Elec toral College. The Gazette de France dwells on the necessity of arresting in time a move ment which threatens the• existence of the Mo narchy. " Whatever may be the difficulties which we have yet to surmount (says that jour nal), the combat is begun, and that is the first condition to arrive at victory. No one can doubt that this system of resistance on which we have entered is the only one which u,: - .2rs any chance of safety, and that at all events it can have no worse result than that. we should have had under the Ministry of concessions." The result may not be so very simple as this journal would have it. It is pretty clear, from the re sult of the Bordeaux elections, and other indi cations, that the people of France view the com bat for Monarchy, as it called, in a very different light from that in which it is viewed by the Ministry and their abettors. It is dangerous to proceed to far in the way of provoking a high spirited people like the French.—Morn. Chron. The Duke of Wellington is stated to have paid into the Treasury a thousand and some odd pounds, as the salary or emoluments of his office of Lord Warden of the Cinque Pmts. There is, we confess, apparently an ad-captan dunz sort of chivalrous affectation about this, which we do not much admire. If the fees or salary, or whatever they are, of the office, are such as ought to be refunded by the possessor, then we think it follows that they ought never to have been received. 'What is originally wrong cannot be made originally right by any subsequent proceeding of this kind. If the office is a sinecure its emoluments ought to be abolished. An act of justice ought not to de pend for its perrniance upon the will or the caprice of any man. If it is a mere spontane ous act on the part of the Duke, arising from a consciousness that he is already sufficiently pro vided for by the country, then that is a reason why his Grace should not have taken this addi• tional office. Besides, we conclude that, by paying the amount of the emoluments of the office into the Treasury, it goes to a fund from which it never came, and which has no claim upon it. If the emoluments arise, as we suspect they do, from fees—if they are unfit to be retained, they ought either never to have been received, or at .any rate should be returned to those who paid them. Thus applied, it has the appearance of inflicting a local tax for the general benefit ;—with this ag gravation, that the individuals suffer the hard ship of the taxation without the community being sensibly benefited by the application. This bears no similitude to the noble act of the Mar quis Camden, who has been so much and so justly extolled. The Marquis holds an office of large and inordinate emolument, which Parlia ment, by a solemn adjudication, has said shall cease to be such after his death. Lord Camden, with a liberal and just high-mindedness, which we repeat cannot be too much admired, says that he will not allow his life to be a burden to the country ; and by every year refunding what he receives beyond what would be the receipts of his successor, puts the country by anticipa tion in the same situation as his vacating his Tellership would do. But here is a returning of money which ought or ought not to be re ceived. If it ought, then the next holder of the office will keep its proceeds; if it ought not, then the receipts should be put an end to, and the country not be left to owe that to any one's liberality which the justice of Parliament ought at once to take away.—Morning Herald. Mr. Cobbett has announced his intention of commencing a series of Lectures on the subjects highly interesting to all classes of the commu nity. We need not add that we shall give full and efficient reports of them.. However much we may differ from the opinions which are occa sionally put forth in the Register, it is but justice to own that no one can read them with- out being benefitted. Whether Mr. Cobbett shall succeed equally well as a Lecturer, remains to be seen ; but from what he states in his last Register on the subject, we hove but little doubt upon it. " With regard to the mode of conducting the Lectures," says he, " it will be that which is pursued in other cases. Far from me be the ambition to shine as what the Irish call an orator. I have the most thorough con tempt for speech-making,havit ig observed through out my life that the most valuble speech-makers are the greatest fools. Plain talk is all that I aim at, conveying truth in a clear and in telligible manner. I should not like, indeed, to stand up and hacker and stammer like a poor thing protected by law from the contempt of my hearers ; and, indeed I should despise my audience if they would endure it; for I am for no eloquence, no ' intense eloquence'; plain matter in plain words, addressed to plain understand ings: those are the things that I am at." In the present state of the country no man who professes to speak sense, and nothing but sense, and fidfils his promise to that effect, need despair of an audience. The country is in a deplorable . ; state, and every one is anxious to know what Cobbett professes that he will teach —its causes and the remedies.—Morning Ad vertiser.—[The article upon the East India Trade in The Sun of Saturday, under this head, was by mistake attributed to the Ilorning Herald—it should have been the Morning Advertiser, front which paper it was copied.] A regiment of nearly 1,400 geese are making a rapid march. The General not being a very communi cative chap, we coull not exactly ascertain where they were bound for. Vary quartered near St. Ives on Thurs day last, and we presume their next quarters will be near Cambridge, where they will remain for a month, previous to their final much to the metropolis, where a terrible conflict is likely to ensue about Cluistmas. The enemy is well disciplined, a nd we fear very feW will escape their hungry stomachs. --Huntingdon Mercury. I'OLICE IN FELTAGENCr. MANSION-HOUSE. On Saturday Alderman VENABLES sat for the Lord Mayor. Jahn :ilrenbani, a porter, in the employment of Messrs. Bowman and Winter, Manchester ware housemen, of No. 21, Budge-row, Watling-street, was charged with sietilit4, , , a 1,0001. Bank of Eng land note, the property of his masters. Mr. Bowman, who attended to make the charge, stated, that on Thursday, the firm in which he was a partner had received a 1,0004 note, %t hick was de posited in a drawer by the clerk. On Friday, when the note was required, 'in order to its being lodged at their banker's, it was missing, and they were much alai mcd at finding that they had not taken the number of it. They were aware, however, that they had received it from Captain Farr, of the East India Company's sei vice, and accordingly witness's partner, Mr. Winter, went to the India House,to en deavour to get the number of the note. There they found that Captain Farr had received two 1,000/. notes on the preceding day at the Bank of England, the numbers of which were 601 and 602, and that he had paid one of them away to other parties, and that the number of that was 602; con sequently, the, number of Messrs. Bowman and Winter's note was 601. They next proceeded to the Bank, where they were informed that the note had unfortunately been paid in at about one o'clock on Friday, in the name of John Law, which was written on it, with the address, '' No. 21, London wall." The person had received in change 650 sovereigns, a 3001. note, and a 50/. note. While he (Mr. Bowman) was at the Bank, a gentleman called to say that the porter of witness's house had ab sconded. Ile then went to the Mansion-house, and saw Herdsfield and White, the officers, who imme diately took measures to examine the different coaches going out of town, and who managed things so dexterously that the prisoner was in custody in two hours after. Richard Clears, the clerk, on Thursday evening deposited the 1,0001 note in a wooden drawer, which he put into the iron safe. The drawer was lot locked. Mr. Alderman VENABLES asked the prosecutor whether he was not in the habit of sending large notes of that description to his banker's at once ? We understood Mr. Bowman to say that gene rally they did send them to their banker's, but they had omitted to do so in the present instance. Mr. Alderman VENABLES being a man of business himself, uniformly sent noes of a much smaller amount to his banker's, not merely with a ♦iew to secutity, but to prevent temptation. The examination proceeded :—The pris6ner was not present when the witness deposited the note in the drawer; at about eleven o'clock on Friday morning he went to the drawer and found the note was there ; at about a quarter-past one Mr. Winter asked him for the note, but on opening the drawer again he found that it was gone; the prisoner who had been sent out in the meanwhile, did u9(return, and after some time they sent to inquire after him, when it was found that he had taken his trunk in a great hurry from his landlady's,and told her he was going out of town, and would not be back for a week. Thomas Herdsfiehl, one of the officers employed, described the mann in which he proceeded to trace him, from which it appeared, as well as from the acknowledgment of the prosecutors, that he had exerted himself with great sagacity and zea'. Thomas White, the officer who took him, went, accompanied by one of Mr. Bowman's porters, to Piccadilly on Friday, and after waiting for some time, saw the prisoner go up to the Bath and Bris tol coach, when he arrested him. This was about five o'clock in the evening ; the prisoner had just engaged his seat to go to Bristol. On searching him he found a 300/. note, a 50/. note, and 17 sovereigns in his pocket; the notes were in his coat pocket, and the sovereigns in his waistcoat; he found the remainder of the thousand pounds in the prisoner's box at a public-house in St..latnes's-street ; the box was directed " C. Healy ; passenger, Bris- tol;" in the box were 637 sovereigns, which was 4/. more than the prosecutors had lost ; his brother, or a man describing himself as his brother, was with him at the time. After some conversation relative to the arrange ment of the evidence, the prisoner was remanded for further examination, and to give time for the produc tion of other evidence. GUILDHALL Thomas Kccme, a man about 50 years of age, carman to Mr. Smith, a cornchandler, in% London wall, was brought before Mr. Alderman GARRATT, charged with assaulting, with intent to violate, the person of Sarah Seharratt, a female about 28, yeas of age, in the service of his employer. Heiman, the constable, put in a surgeon's certi ficate that the young woman was not in a fit state to be removed, and he stated that she had been confined to her bed ever since the attack upon her, which was committed on Thursday last. He re quested that the prisoner might be detained until she should be able to attend and give her testimony. She was 'very much bruised. It had been stated to him that a basin had been borrowed from the ser vant, which she repeatedly asked the prisoner to hying back to her. She was particularly staid and disrreet in her manner, and refused to go into the men's loft to fetch it ; hut on Thursday she thought she would take advantage of the absence of the men at their dinner hour, and accordingly went up into the loft. It happened that the pri soner was later than the rest of the men in leaving the premises, and he observing her as she was as cending the ladder, reached the loft by another en trance, seized her, and threw her on some bags, and treated her in a very gross manner. She snug gled violently till she rolled down a trap-door into a loft below, when she escaped into the dwelling house. She went to bed immediately, and appeared to be seriously ill. The advice of a surgeon was oh mined, but she did not disclose what had occurred till her sister was brought to see her on Friday evening, and then the prisoner was apprehended. The prisoner's wife, a neat-looking young woman, was standing by, listening anxiously to the proceed ings, while he remained at the bar. Mr. Alderman GARRATT - asked the prisoner whether he wished to say any thing upon the charge. He replied that he wished to speak with a soli citor before he answered the complaint, and the Al derman said he would indulge him, and remanded him till the young woman is sufficiently recovered to give evidence. QUEEN-SQUARE. A BRACE OF VlRAGos.—Susannah Gears and her mother, a fiery little woman, who set all the police force at defiance, were brought before Messrs. MARRIOTT and WHITE, by a posse cf constables, charged with asssaulting and battering the sconce of M as ter William Stoneham, of Blue Boar yard, King-street, Westminster, something of a Giovanni in the lower parts of Westminster.—" Only let us get our breaths," exclaimed both ladies at once, " and we will tell you all about it ;" and a pretty long story it appeared to be, for they both rattled away, spite of the repeated calls of silence, and would certainly have torn all the clothes off the complainant's back had not au officer stood between them.—lt appeared, as far as we could understand, that the complainant had been ble4ed with a smil ing boy by Susannah Gear, and had been adjudged to p a y 2s. 6d. per week for his maintenance, and bad u nfortunately fallen into arrears, abort 125., for which he had been cited before the Magistrates by the parish officers; and it had been settled only a f e w minutes before that he was to pay the arrears by instalments; at which decision the defendants were greatly dissatisfied, and threatened vengeance a gainst the complainant when he came out of the Office. " And Mr. Secretary Peel shall know about it ; the parish offiurs are bribed to let the villain off so," exclaimed mother Gears ; "and 1 will write him a letter this blessed night, and I'll write about the Magistrates." No sooner, however, had tile complainant go' c .1 the Office than the) pounced upon him, like two furies, cwearing they would drag him before Mr. Peel, who would do them justice. The complainant tried to get away, but they held on ; and had it not been for the in terference of the police, the complainant would have stood a fair chance of paying his respects to the Home Secretary." Under the circumstances the Magistrates put a nominal fine on the defendants of one shilling,. "There it is," exclaimed mother Gears, throwing the shilling down ; " and now I'll be off to Mr. Peel, he is the man for me ;" and they both set off to the Home Secretary's residence. STATE OF TRADE. (Abridged from the Leeds Mercury.) " The state of trade continues to be the all-en grossing topic of the public journals and of private conversation. During nearly the whole of this year, and almost up to this present time, there has been a continued fall in prices; the value of all stocks has depreciated, money has been scarce, and wages have inevitably declined. For some weeks past a good deal has been doing in the principal branches of the woollen arid cotton trades, but with scarcely any im provement-in prices. Retail tradesmen are still ex ceedingly depressed, and bankruptcies and insolven cies are fearfully numerous. " In this state of things, it is our fixed purpose to communicate to the public the exact truth, as far as we can ascertain it, concerning the actual condi- tion of the districts in which we are situated. Our report of trade this week is somewhat less favour able than last week, though not materially so.— This is mainly to be accounted for by the season of the year. As soon as the month of November sets in, the woollen trade invariably becomes dull; the country trade is then supplied for the winter, and the manufacturers and merchants do not usually be gin to prepare for the spring trade till the com mencement of the year. It is common to take stock at the close of the year, and tradesmen are naturally desirous that their stock should be low at that pe riod. There is also at this season a cessation of the export trade to Germany and the north of Europe, owing to the continental communications being closed by the approach of winter. The woollen trade of this town is therefore flatter within the last week, and will probably continue so for a few weeks to come. We understand also that the worsted stuff trade of Leeds is now in a depressed state, and that a considerable number of hands in this line are out of employ. The demand for low qualities of stuff goods has for some time been extremely slack, as is experienced both at Leeds and Bradford; but for the finer qualities, called Merinos, chiefly made in the ne;ghbourhood of Bradford, there is a very large demand. " From,two communications from correspondents nt Huddersfield, it appears that the fancy trade, w hi c h employs so many hands in the populous villages near that place, is still suffering great distress. " We have stated that in Leeds the woollen trade has become flatter within the last week or two, and that some men are out of work ; but there are by no means so many persons unemployed as has been known in former periods of distress, and we hope the number will soon be diminished. It is known that a large establishment in this town, which has formerly employed two hundred looms, is now stand ing, from causes wholly unconnected with the state of trade, but it is expected to resume work very shortly. The manufactories in L?eds are, for the most part, well employed. The present comparative dullness in the demand is attributed by our principal manufacturers to the season of the year, and it there fore occasions no apprehensions in their minds. Many of them are already engaged in preparing for the spring trade, though the merchants and retail dealers do not begin to lay in their stocks till after the commencement of the year. The general im pression amongst the manufacturers ia, that we shall have a brisk spring trade, and they found their ex pectations on the well-ascertained fact, that stocks are now very low in the hands of the manufacturers as well as those of the retail dealers. The low ness of stocks is the most encouraging circum stance of the times; and combined with the belief which the most judicious persons entertain, that the depreciation in the value of goods has reached its lowest point, it will no doubt encourage the ma nufacturer to employ mote workmen. " We understand that in the clothing villages, though wages are low, there is a fair supply of work. We have before stated the testimony of Mr. Gervase Walker, the trustee of the Leeds Cloth-halls, on this point. We also learn that in the large manufacturing village of Biamley, the workmen are so well employed, that the overseer of the poor, during the last two fornightly pay days, has not had a single application for relief from any person in the woollen line, on the ground of want of employ. " We are happy to find from the Liverpool, Man chester, and Glasgow Papers, that the cotton trade has decidedly improved, and that both the raw ma terial and the manufactured article are advancing in price. At Glasgow particularly it is stated that the public works are all brisk, particularly the power-loom manufactories,' that ' the rents of the poorer people are better paid, and the local assess ments collected with less difficulty now, than for a considerable time past.' At Liverpool, the great mart of the raw material, the sales of cotton have been very large both last week and the present, and prices have risen for the first time, after a continued fall of several months. " Our opinion, then, on the whole, is precisely that which was expressed the other day by a cau tious, prudent, and well-informed banker—' I think,' said he, we have got to the bottom of a bad trade; things are now looking better, and I have no doubt but they will continue to improve.' We think that the country has seen the worst ; that the course of depreciation is arrested; that, after a few weeks of dulness always experienced at this season shall have passed, we shall again see a briskness of trade ; that bankers will be more disposed to accommodate, and that confidence will gradually return to the commer cial world." _ _ Besides the above, the Leeds Mercury has a long article in reply to that copied in our last from the Leeds Intelligencer, respecting the number of looms unemployed. We have not room for the whole of the reply, in which the editor states that he called several times at the office of the Leeds Intelligencer, to obtain a list of the names of the firms said to have looms unemployed, and that be was at last shown the list, but was not permitted to take a copy. The article then proceeds thus :—" We urged that we wished to investigate the circumstances, and that without a copy of the names, to show to what firms the numbers referred, we could not arrive at what was called in the Intelligencer the matter of fact.' All we said was :n vain. The decision was inexorable, and after glancing over the list, we were abliged to depart without a copy of the names. That our labour might not be wholly lost, we fixed our eye upon No. 7, containing the largest number of looms, which was 250, and which are said in the Intelligenctr list to be only partially employed. Opposite this number was placed the name of Ben jamin Gott and Sons; and to submit the list to at least one test, we immediately went to the counting house of those gentlemen, and, after explaining our errand, requested to be informed, if the question waa not thought an improper one, whether this re presentation of the state of their looms was correct or otherwise. To this inquiry, with their usual frankness, they replied, that the number of looms was, they thought, a little understated ;,they thought they amounted to about 270; that those looms were all fully employed, and that they were working from six o'clock in the morning to eight o'clock at night. This is what the Intelligencer calls only partially employed; and this we believe is a fair specimen of the veracity of that famous document, which is to show the utter hollowness of the Mercury's vaunts in favour of the falsely called free trade system. In another - ease we observed—No.4, one of the next largest lists, indicates Mr. Win. Hirst, m ho is stated to have 200 looms, all standing, but expected t 0 commence in a few days.' Now, though these 200 looms are included in the 785, men ioned in the Ilia telligenrer as sunniing, it is a fact of public noto riety, that the interruption in the business of that house arises from causes wholly unconnected th state of trade, and thus the 785 are reduced to 53.5. On a more particular examination of the list wit, of the Intelligencer-ollice (for though they had refused to allow us, who meant and stated that so meant, to investigate the circumstances, they had not been equally reserved towards others), we flu" that 57 looms of a house that had become bankrupt were'returned as' all standing,'—that 130 looms were returned of houses that had declined business, 29 standing;' and one house was said to have' between 200 and 300 looms, when 20 men would do all their work,' whereas the fact is, that this house never had more than 26 looms ! The result then is " Of the looms unemployed, amounting to 585 _ . there are, from causes not connected with the present state of trade lB7 " Error in the number of looms belong'ng to one house 200 367 " Reducing the actual number of unem ployed --- • looms that can be fairly reckoned, to 198 which we believe is as small a number as ever can be found unemployed in this town. So much for Intelligencer's ' truth, and whole truth, and no thing but the truth.' We beg to be understood , however, as not wishing to impute to our contem porary any deliberate wish to mislea.l. The erro- , neoul representations hare been received from per- sons suffering from want of work, without due In' vestigation ; and as they favour a bias against the Popish Ministry,' they have been inconsiderately taken for panted. We have not room to pursue this subject further at present, and shall conclude _ , with one observation—namely, that within the last fzuir or five years, that is, since the introduction of the much decried free trade system' (which, how' ever, we think, has little to do with the mat ter), the number of woollen looms in Leeds has been ill" creased from 1,500 to 2,200, making an actual in crease of nearly 50 per cent. since the year MELANCHOLY OCCURRENCE. Daniel Quarrier and J. B. Purvis, Esp.& were on Tuesday occupied a considerable time in inquiring': into a case of a very serious nature preferred against Edward Mitchell, a private in the 7th Fusileers. The • particulars of the case are as follow f—Edwarti Whitebread, a private in the 7th Fusileers, stated- - • When I came off guard on Sunday last, at nuoth a disturbance arose in the barrack-room at Hasler, between privates T. Thomasand E. Mitchell, respect.' boy a pot of blacking,which Thomas accused Mitch.4l - stealing. I endcavotned to reconcile the partieh and heard nothing more of them until tatoo time, when Mitchell came into the room where Thorns" and I were sitting. Upon Mitchell's entering he said, you robbers, you have robbed me. ' inquired who bad robbed him, and of what . • said, You have taken eighteen pence out of 101 pocket,' upon which Thoina , , replied, It is milt tit for tat : you stole my blacking in the morning. Mitchell immediately made towards Thomas, %/h ° was then standing near the fire-place, and P ra ve ' him three or four blows. Thomas bled verY fusely, and I then discovered, as did also s everal ° my comrades who were in the room, that Mit ch--ei - had struck him with a knife, which I saw i n h is hand. After the prisoner had struck Thoma 6, third time, the latter fell on his bed and exclai mea, You have cut my throat e upon which the P 1 sower immediately said, You —, I will gut tle you.' As soon as I heard Thomas say his throo , was cut, and saw the blood flow from his neck, I so f t for the surgeon of the 30th Regiment, who was It) the barracks." William Ifinkstan O'Reilly, surgeon in the 30th Regiment, stated—" About eleven o'clock on Si". day evening I WAS called on to examine Thomio Thomas, a private in the 7th Fusileers, who bad re i ceived some very severe injury from a comrade. d immediately went to the hospital, wher e I had arti er Thomas to be taken. I had his clo t h es , w ide') :‘cer saturated with blood, cut off, and upon exsol dl L r him I found a very extensive eta on the right s hotl ,- and the other part of the arm, from four to five inches in leagtn, and about two inches in dep th ' which roast have been inll•c;ed by a knife or some other cutting instrument ; one s uperficial cut over the right shoulder blade of about four inches in length, and two other cuts in the back of the neck, extend ing from the right side transversely across the spine cutting the lower portion of the lobe of the left eat' and terminating superficially on the cheek of the snme side, the depth over tne ,pine bomg about a° inch and a half." Thomal continues in a very dangerous state. The prisoner was therefore remanded to Gosport Bridr, well until a favourable account could be obtained el Thomas's condition. The cotton market has this week been veil satisfactory, the sales having been considerable, and the prices a little adverted. Twist still continues ststiontl' with the exuption of an inconsiderable fall in the pric e the lower numbers.—Manchester Atkertiarr. DUELS OF BEEs.—ln those tine sprin g . (Dys in which the s un i s b eau tif u l a nd warm, duels may ofteri f be seen to have taken place between two inhabitants tie same hive. In same cases the quarrel appears to lia sre begun within, and the combatants may be seen con , i n e g e out of the gates eager " for blows." Sometimes a b peaceably on the outside of the hive, or walking s fr bo c u t t' ai l . rudely jostled by another, and then the attac,l—„a-rts tnences, each endeavouring to obtain the m ost 3 "'il ic r; genus position. They turn, pirouette, throttle ea nb „ ° , has awl such is their bitter earnestness, that TIEAut„ -- ; t h s been enabled to come near enough to observe theill "" t io lens without causing a separation. After rolling an a l the dust, the victor, watching the time when Ills to uncovers his body, by elongating it, in tlic attenViito sting, thrusts its weapon between the scales, and th e o p instant its antagonist stretches out its quivering cf a , c ,ep% and expires. A bee cannot be killed so sudden'Yt ` - ,01e 4 by crushing, as by the sting of another bee. Sonl".. h ed the stronger insect produces the death of the vAq u''l tlll by squeezing its chest. After this feat has been . I ° °e ' o ar victorious bee constantly remains, says Ilr A ustc l4 , b o; his victim, standing on his fonr front legs, an d ru" the two posterior ones together. Sometimes the is killed in the hive; then the victor always earl' . g rs corpse out of the city, and leaves it. These coaibstid io strictly duels, not more than two being con'cr", b ,,,ls them; and this is even the case when armies meet in combat.—History of Insects. "" cli At —7 100 4 _, Panrris AVD PUBLISINED IT ~(1 or. Tint RIJN 01111014 lie, ASV/ BIRTHS.ta On the 22(1 inst. in Brydges-street, Covent' Mrs. Snitch, of a daughter. On the 22d inst. at Elton-place, the lady of C. (I -- low, Esq. M. P. of a daughter. b s ll' On the 20th , inst. Mrs. H. Werndly, of Vl " bridge-road, of a daughter. On the 20th inst. the lady of 11. J. Loyd, E s q' rister, 01 a son. MARRIED. Be l On the 19thirst. at St. George the Alartyr, tb a o s/i Edward R. Poole, of Queen-square, to Sq lus ;flefe" daughter of the date Rev. Dr. Lane, Prtbenda r y ford, lie. DIED. On the 21st inst. in Manchester-square, aged 2"o 10 the beloved wife of John Billingsley Parry, E!'!" Chancery Bar, aid daughter of John Fang, Eq. for Ox fordsh2oth ire. m pe p tit/ On the inst. in Bishoate-strtet , Mr. eel Greenaway, in 1 - is 80th year. so On the 2I st inst. at Cornwall-place, Hollows&%,,lile 71, Ann, relict of the late Mr. J. Banner, Of • ease-buildings. W • 41 00° On the 19th inst. Mr. Avery Benham, of aged 75. 0 1 $ 11 ' ° On the I )th it st. Mr. S. 1 lount, tygd !, u f o f mile-street. • On the lath inst. at his seat, the Yacht., 13ticks, Thomas Allen, E,q., aged 7.5. 4 . To On the 20th inst. Charlotte, the wife of Duke-street, Manchester-square. —4o*-I‘l