The Sun. — London, England, 1837-12-01 00:00:00

e cada c . (if of that high-minded individual, Major Browne.— clata ear tn ' ez i l le , a r , from the Opposition Members.) How was the lie wa t Impeaching Major Browne's conduct authenticated? the present in the Court, and the most responsible and ig a i o u ' r un respectabl e o f t h ose w h o signed that document he Major Browne declared that be had never seen it, that i t egad t never read it, and that he knew nothing of the charges He see a Ted• He stated this fact upon his own responsibility. liernbpc'llected when his Notle Friend (Lord Stanley) the the c ol t: ?r North Lancashire, when he was Secretary for as sti "le!, and that Lord Althorp recommended Mr. Blake Lora, peadiary magistrate in Jamaica, he believed the Noble itirmi re t Pnigh Mr. lilake was recommended by his colleague, NI, of ? into his character and finding him wanting in the „ e llaiacter, if Mr. Blake were appointed he struck him (R e or a ; 11 " he did not, he refused giving the appointment.— jesty,:e r .) This was another reason to show that her Ma. app o i nt „°vernment in Ireland knew nothing of the parties they I d ol e u•—(Hear, hear, from the Opposition Members.) He a ottid 1 1 3 :1ot say on e wor d more on thi s part of the case, as it 9oy e , the ground of action elsewhere. Her Majesty's ta t ''rnent, however, restricted him to the case contained in p ro :_e!t er, when there were a volume of occurrences to be kioteect_Which would have disgraced_ the appointers and the ap atite:it Had not t h e L or d Lieutenant sent down some one as bar uPon Mr. Blake in the county, God knows what would titotad a t ?Pened I When he was told that the proceedings 81 111 , ,',.'e in the natu re of a court-martial, be sent to Colonel tl e k e "nnady a copy of the court-martial upon Lieutenant 4, 4 1_, Of th e seven charges preferred against Lieut. Blake, li on :Id only read the fourth ; that charged Lieut. Blake with 181 3, Il trag,cous and dastardly conduct, on the 16th August, Ve te ' b t uwards Captain Cloome, having waylaid and se- N ett Y t eaten him with a stick, and having knocked him down abl e" to his blows s e veral times, until Captain Cloome was err ata! :drala his sword, when he (Lieut. Blake) ran away , d escriptiondiff of his person was circulated amongst the f ort , ent troops in Ireland. The finding stated that on the di nh u i charge the prisoner was guilty, and he was accor oftri csentenced to be cashiered. Then followed the approval tlie e sa r rince Regent in the usual terms, and it was determined st e t h ` a a_? sentence should be read at the bead of every regiment. Pet, a " yet to learn why the government refused to lay the pa betaLte required upon the table of the House. They were to te b„" k r ld upon the orderly book of every regiment, and appeared the f "wn everywhere but in the castle of Dublin.—( Cheers, bee tt rc " Opposition Members.) Another occurrence had imputed to him by papers in the support of t ed government, th a t h e , as an Orange magistrate, at aoto e d at the case o f a man c h a rged with murder. He did of ti a l tte a d it. There were seven magistrates attended, and G o2 ,; se five who had sianed the coMmittal, including the b:r i etnent maaistrate, a n that Mr. Spelman should rite bailed ; and he had to add that he believed'not one of the p,ogiStrates was an orangeman. He found it necessary to dis ao:e the statement respecting Mr. Spelman, and should I nv conclude by moving for " a copy of the charges, find ttreit and sentence of a general court-martial, held at Har leant On the 9th of August, 1816, and continued by adjourn lZi to the 26th of the same month, upon Lieutenant a ro e t , I rd Wake, of the 55th regiment. together with the ap craa''' of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, and the f -r s of his Royal Highness the Commander- in-Chief in re ereenc,e thereto." Baid , ) "el CONOLLY, in seconding the motion, felt, he etse actuated by two considerations in ding so—one was oth„ nt , i allY connected with the subject before them, and the pp -I ' 'le should not conceal from the House was, that his own sli rsen al feelings were very much involved in it. He should tale, in the first instance, to the matter to which his Hon. paGallant Friend had referred, and then he should tres sei; uPon the House with a matter which was personal to him of In respect to the high authority and exalted station ' 4 th e to noble individual already referred to, he should . yield . dual ° Iri an ; but, in proportion as the station of the indivi tett was exalted, so ought, he thought, to be modified the I s h i e ek and language of his Excellency in another place, .in (ca," areno hia Excellency ha imputed a mis-statement to him sa Courtly) This arose from a great misapprehension ane part of t h a t . noble person. The charge was preferr ed the" a statement made about a man named Allen, under 'l , , iMnression that he was relating a transaction near j o u t ,° a hereu ray , in the county of Sligo, when his statement was tla et in relation to the attempt to murder another person trt • Y.six miles distant from that place. Although a large t4 ,_ 41 Subscription had been raised, the Government had not T ' l L i ert the slightest notice of the brutal attempt at massacre. h is 's individual had been thus brutally treated simply because father la.d voted fur Colonel Perceval. The unfortunate m an had b een pursue d t h roug h two coun ties ; he had been at o4eked in the f ace o f day and in a public fair, and when he had e Illitured to call attention to the fact, a high authority in it o er l to p ace charged im with a mis-steent. He begged rthemind the House that Mr. Blake w ta as t m he stipendiary ma istrate who ought to have supplied the Government with the n ecessa r y information. A very extraordinary course had been t tl .i r stled towards himself. A Noble Lord, in another place, t a '' chosen to style him an itinerant orator.—( Loud 1augh .41..) A more unfounded or offensive charge had never it - caped the lips man.—(Continued laughter.) He had "tiled only at e public meeting in 1837, and that took place he eighteen miles of his house. Upon such an invitation ''e had dined once in public ; and he would ask if upon such Pounds that exalted personage was justified in calling him an I tinerant orator ?—( Renewed laughter.) Lord MOR PET El said he was sure it would be most 4greeable to the House that he should confine himself princi pally to the subject before them ; but he felt bound, in the first instance, to refer to the digression into which the House i; d h,een led by the Hon. and Gallant Member for Do ne g al. a v e „rd only to observe, that with regard to the offering of re variatif°r the detection of offences, Government almost in- Th e e l Was guided by the report o f the p ro p er officers. frm Go vernment thought, and with just ice, that the parties, o beat- their intimate knowledge of the t ransactions, were qualified to offer suggestions on the subject , and to tell Wheth er the offer of a reward would conduce to the detection (:d the Offence. Th e Hon. and Gallant Mem ber for Done ga l 111 alluded, not with strict regularity, to some comments made els M e e _ w , he rc• Now, he thought that the Hon. and Gall ant th 'otter viewed these charges in rather a graver light than Witwere intended to be conveyed. He admitted that his xeellen e y %chi a the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, in the speech a 2 L e " he had made elsewhere, had been misled, inasmuch then, had . thought that he was alluding to one transaction, en, in fact, he alluded to a different transaction.—( Hear, Le ar.) At the same time it should not be forgotten that allusion had been made in a manner most derogatory to the character of the Government, in which they had attributed tAlthem an ins ens ibility to the protection of the lives of her aiesty's subjects.—( Cheers from the Ministerial side of the a eu se, re-echoed by the opposition.) With reference to the eepression " Itinerant Orator," he thought that the Hon. and G allant Member had invested it with a more offensive ap pearance than he needed to have taken upon himself to have iinvested it with. The great extent of the property of the r ather and Gallant Member in various parts of Ireland led ther to a multiplication of his appearance on the political se. and the Hon. and Gallant Member should remember th e he delive re d his own sentiments rather too warmly to entitle L ine to any special forbearance on the part o f others. He pre sented . that the word " orator" was not the part . for.which t : had to offer an apology.—(Great laughter.) With reference the motion immediately before the House, he was not aware ca of any technical objection on the part of the War twee or the military department to the production of the pa pers moved for. But he would proceed to state briefly t Y he thought this motion should not be made, and if made I all, why it shonld not be made by the Hon. and Gal -1,,11t Member for Sligo. He did hope that sufficient pub 'ettY had been already given to this transaction to dispense wi f e rec apitulate .the necessity of fu - rther proceedings. He would briefly 21. paulate the circumstances of the case. lie . had seen after We arrival of the present Lord Lieutenant in Ireland the : I ti tte of Mr. Blake submitted as a proper and eligible per ti -t° he appointed a stipendiary magistrate. A recommenda na,-, statig his qualifications in sign terms, had been entea to ta e Lord Lieutenantd by the Lord-lieu ", , n, 4 , tit of th e counts', Lord Oranmore , b y Lord Dillon, and rr ii i . aa string of other names of the hig hest res p ectability. l a „ t rt recommendation had been suppo rted by the Hon. Mem th for the coun ty, a nd he had been informed on all s . id l e , _s e th a a - t a ppointment of Mr. Blake was a proper and elir 1 em p_ tca n tment. When they had duly considered these lir recom mendations sh'nditions they determined that on a vacancy b e e f u ld be appointed. This decision had been. vacancy Mr. long ri - ,„, er e they knew anything of Mr. 131ake being a car n and Lea rn ed or dining at the same table with the ti o e n -l ' T l N ed Member for Dublin.—(Cheers from the this would Aii e : form e d any disqualification.—( Loud cheers from h table with Benches.) He had sat himself at the same ß `e with the Hon. and Learned Member for Dublin—( e Dublin—(Re f -We d eheering)—and he, at least, should not press to exclude ; f e el offices those who adopted a similar courae.—( Cheers.) Itt7 r ev cr, as it happened, Mr. Blake's accompanying the Hon. a i l th ' i _earned Member for Dublin to Sligo had nothing to do ara. his appointment • indeed, from the dates which the Hon. heat Gallant Member for Sligo had himself stated, it appeared la ß at Mr. Blake went to Sligo on the 21st of January, and . thtt a PPointment Was gazetted on the Ist of February, proving anything at the time the Government could not possibly know ehing of Mr. Blake accompanying the Hon. and Lea r n ed sti e rnber f or D u bli n. M r . Bl a k e wa s accordingly appointed ti o l ' n en diary magistrate, and in addition to the recommenda liawhich Government had received from t hose best qua fot,„•-, to give accurate and satisfactory information , the y a ,,aa that this gentleman had acted for eleven y ears as a Doitlent magistrate of the county of Mayo, having been ap ,eted by L or d Ch ance ll or Manners.—( Loud cheers.) Dur titiZthese eleven years there had been no rumour of miscon e4;vneo complaint against Mr. Blake had reached the ears - 4 rtament.—( Cheers.) He would now come to the pc_ f c °l . the late elactions. The Hon. and Gallant Member complained that Mr. Blake had identified himself 1 . 1 . 1 Tt political party during his attendance at the election. th e . ",e, Hon. and Gallant Member derived any benefit . from thi nt mission he vitas not unwilling to confess that he did not Thy this a most eligible appointment, and for these reasons. L t a , appointment was necessarily made while the Lord . Lieu ti ?tit and himself were in this country attending to tiret t r e u t:ititOnd from the numerous applications for asmstants at iittl the elections, the appointments were made with some 4 e degree of hurry. The Hon. and Gallant Member whose ytt :l° himself admitted that there was gentleman to b Je ca l eation for the discharge of his duty he made no o .- ta n - a ' u ll, but, on the contrary, to which he bore high . testi aarv-IY, and who had been sent to assist Mr. Blake . in pr , e a - t It V the peace during the election, It was true t 1 1 1 7 the termination of the election the Honourable andGal ('ternber addressed to the Under Secretary for Ireland •' b utnimond) a letter containing sundry complaints rbe Zia' mast t he Conduct of Mr. Blake during the election. 1 d Member had been informed, and as be tho ught , Riost ) properly that before the Government could 7 explanation was forwarded to the Gallant Colonel. The Gal lant Colonel, upon receipt of this, was not satisfied, and de manded an inquiry, which was accordingly directed to take place. And to whom was this delicate investigation entrusted. To a partisan—to a violent politician—to a man who would have an interest or find a pleasure in screening the guilty or of wrongfully convicting the innocent man? No : the investiga tion was committed to the hands of Col. Shew Kennedy, an of ficer of whom it was known that there was no man who, in his official duties, manifested more thorough understanding and good feeling ; and he was accompanied by a Queen's Counsel, a gentleman of the name of Brooke, a gentleman who was only known to be respected, who bad quietly pursued his professional career apart from politics, and who had never taken a part in anything which might be even termed culpable agitation. When these gentlemen nisde their appearance for the purpose of conducting the inquiry, the Commission being already opened, and Mr. Blake being prepared with his witnesses for his defence, the Gallant Colonel writes a letter, trying that he could not undertake to maintain the specific charges he had brought forward ; but stating that there were other charges which ne could prefer, and which he should be better able to substantiate. To this the Commissioners replied, that the charges which the Gallant Colonel offered to bring forward were matters with which they had nothing to do, and which, therefore, they could not go into. One word more. It had been alleged that Major Browne had been put upon his trial upon receipt of the first letter of accusation against him. But why was this ? Because this letter con tained specific charges against that individual, wick the first letter of the Gallant Colonel did not. The charge against Major Browne was specifically, that he had wantonly ordered a charge of dragoons ;when none need be made, to the great injury of the persons against whom it was directed. Mr. D. BRO WNE acknowledged that he was the person who recommended Mr. Blake as a stipendiary magistrate. He presented a memorial signed by Lord Oranmore and Lord Dillon, in which it was stated that Mr. Blake had been in trusted with the Commission of the Peace for the county of Mayo, in which he had conducted himself with credit to him self, and to the satisfaction of the county. Mr. Blake had also acted as Justice of the Peace for the county of Galway; and bad even been appointed under a Tory Government, he believed that of the Duke of Northumberland, to a lieute nancy in the Yeomanry Corps. Under these circumstances, he (Mr. D. Browne) thought he was perfectly justified in re commending Mr. Blake as a stipendiary magistrate. He could only say further, that at the time he was not aware of the Court-martial on Mr. Blake, which took place only two years after he was born, and could not, therefore, be said to have occurred within his remembrance.—( Hear, bear.) The Hon. Gentleman then proceeded to state, that at the Sligo election he saw an individual of high character in the neigh bourhood strike an unoffending person, and that individual was the Gallant Colonel oppcsite.—( Hear, hear.) He solemnly affirmed, in the face of the House acd of the country, that what he said was the case. Colonel PE RC E VAL esever struck a man in his life. Mr. D. BRO WNE—The Gallant Gentleman was within two hundred yards of me when I saw him, I repeat, strike, and that with not very slight exertion, an inoffensive peasant, who did not appear to be doing any further harm than that of running away from the political vengeance of the Gallant Colonel. The Gallant Colonel also had complained that Mr. Blake had accompanied the Hon. Member for Dublin from Castlebar to Dublin. He would grant that he had done so— he would grant, even, that Mr. Blake might have spoken disrespectfully of the Hon. and Gallant Colonel; but if he did so, he did not think that this was any reason why Mr. Blake should be excluded from an official situation ; there were many of the Gallant Colonel's associates of whom it would be difficult to speak in any other terms. He trusted that the Government would resist this motion, which was only mrde to satisfy the cravings of an expiring faction. Mr. F. SHAW began by observing that the Hon. Member who had just sat down had made one statement of fact, in which, upon consideration, he was sure he would admit him self to be mistaken, namely, that of his Hon. and Gallant Friend having struck a person at Sligo. His Hon. and Gil lant Friend averred that no such occurrence had taken place, and the Hon. Gentleman, who was distant two hundred yards Mr. D. BROWNE—Two hundred feet. Mr. F. SHAW had certainly understood the Hon. Member to say two hundred yards ; and surely at such a distance, par ticularly after the assertion of the Hon. and Gallant Colonel to the contrary, the Hon. Member could have no difficulty in admitting himself to have been mistaken.—( Hear.) He had now one remark to make upon what had fallen, he was sure quite inadvertently, from the Right Hon. and Learned Gen tleman opposite chargin g his Hun. and Gallant Friend with wishing to put Mr. Blake on his trial under unfair circum stances. When the inquiry was about to be instituted, and Colonel Shaw Kennedy arrived, his Gallant Friend was in formed that the inquiry could not be u general one, but must be confined to the circumstances of which his Gallant Friend had personally to complain. His Gallant Friend, upon this in timation, at once declined to stand forward as Mr. Blake's ac cuser, in such comparatively trifling circumstances as he was aware of, as the case would be very incomplete if confined to these. As soon as it was resolved that no inquiry was to take place, his Gallant Friend assured his constituents that he would take the earliest opportunity of bringing the subject under the notice of the House of Commons, and that pledge he had this evening fulfilled. With respect to the fact, that a conditional order had been granted in the Court of Queen's Bench against his Gallant Friend, the Learned Attorney-General had really, as it appeared to 11:.m, laid more stress upon that circumstance than it was entitled to. _ _ _ direct a specific inquiry into the allegations, a specific and not a general charge must be made. The result was a letter of s ame length from the Hon. and Gallant Member, in which he set forth three distinct specific heads of accusation. The letter contained three specific charges ; and accordingly Government directed an inquiry to be instituted into these three specific heads of accusation. The inquiry was fixed for a certain day, on a Monday he believed; there being another inquiry at the same time instituted at the request of the other—the popular— party in Sligo, against Major Browne. Both inquiries were to take place continuously, and, in fact, there was almost the same array of witnesses on each side, and the same person was directing it, namely, Co!onel Shaw Kennedy, under the orders of the Government. Three or four days after the day fixed for the inquiry into the conduct of these parties, there came a subsequent letter from the Hon. and Gallant Member for Sligo, inclosing a memorial containing several other distinct and specific charges against Mr. Blake. He referred this letter to the Right Hon. the Attorney-General, in order to consult him and have his advice, whether he thought such a pro ceeding would be fair towards an individual in an ordinary case at law or equity ? They had been distinctly told by the Right Hon. Gentleman that his opinion was, that having re ceived a series of specific charges against Mr. Blake, and having directed an inquiry into these charges, and having named the day on which the inquiry was to be appointed, it would be neither just nor fair to graft upon the charges already made, to foist into them, any separate and distinct charge.—(Cheers.) They did not wish to prevent an inquiry being held on these charges on a subsequent occasion ; but they refused to go into these new charges until after the ter mination of the inquiry already directed. The Hon. and Gallant Member for Sligo had been pleased to say that Go vernment had dealt out a different measure of justice to the other party. In the course of the same proceeding, and when the inquiry was proceeding against Major Bro wne on distinct charges, an application was made to extend the inquiry into the conduct of the troops. The Government, however, de termined to allow no new charge to be introduced in the course of the proceedings, and they directed that the inquiry should be made solely with reference to the grounds of accusation already before them.—(Cheers.) The Hon. and Gallant Member for Sligo had moved for the production of the charges, finding, and sentence of the general court martial on Mr. Blake. That Honourable and Gallant Mem ber had expressed his surprise that Government was not ac quainted with the existence of this court-martial. The Hon. and Gallant Member did not give them too much credit, for he could solemnly assure him that till September last no know ledge of any such court-martial had ever reached them. He could only say that if they had heard of it their conduct would have been the same as at the present instant, for as soon as the charge and the finding of the court-martial had been submitted to them, they had never wavered in the course which they thought right to pursue.—( Cheers.) The existence of the court-martial was intimated to Government after the inquiry had been directed into the conduct of Mr. Blake. He could not understand whether the Hon. and Gallant Member founded any charge upon the fact, but Government considered that the finding of the court-martial formed a distinct subject of inquiry from the conduct of Mr. Blake at the election, and the inquiry was therefore allowed to proceed. Immediately they heard of the sentence, Government thought it their duty to request from the Commander-in-Chief a copy of the sentence, and the report of the court-martial. It reached Government about the same time that the inquiry which had been carried on came to a termination, and directly the proceedings connected with that inquiry came to a termina tion, in pursuance of the sentence of the Court- Martial, Go vernment thought it their duty to intimate to Mr. Blake that they could no longer continue to accept his serviees as sti pendiary Magistrate. He confessed that he did not come to this resolution without much pain.—( Hear, hear.) The pro ceedings had taken place twenty-three years ago.—( Hear, hear.) Mr. Blake was then a very young man.—(Hear, hear.) The Hon. and Gallant Member for Sligo had read one of the charges against Mr. Blake on the Court-Martial. He did not remember, he was not quite sure, that the Hon. and Gallant Member had read another part of the sentence, namely, that the Court at the conclusion of the trial recom mended Mr. Blake to the merciful consideration of the Crown. --(lmmense cheering from the Ministerial benches.) The re commendation of the Court was, however, not acceded to, and the sentence was carried into effect.—(Cheers from the Opposition.) But all this took place twenty-three years ago. Mr. Blake was, as he said before, a young man ; he had since for eleven • years continued to fulfil the duties of a resident Magistrate. At the time he was recommended for appointment as a Magistrate the cir cumstances of the Court-Martial had been brought under the notice of Lord Chancellor Manners ; that Noble Lord in quired into them, and after doing so he still persevered in the appointment of Mr. Blake.—( Cheers.) Having been thus appointed, he for eleven years fulfilled the duties of the office, and the step which they had thought it their duty, however painful, to take, besides inflicting a large actual loss on this gentleman, was also calculated to throw a slur and cloud on his future peace and prospects.—( Hear, hear.) But, never theless, after the finding of the court-martial, they felt that they had no other course open to them but a dismissal, sum mary, instantaneous, and complete.—( Hear, hear.) He had hoped that this would have been sufficient to slake the hostile feelings of his opponents.—(Loud cheers.) Ile did hope that it would have slaked the hostile feelings even of the Hon. and Gallant Member for Sligo. It seemed that he was mis taken, both from the motion which had been made, and from the extract which the Hon. and Gallant Member had thought it his duty to read to the House. But he did hope that that House would consider that a sufficient penalty had been in flicted—( Loud cheers)—that sufficient publicity had been insured, and that they would not give further publioity to these old charges by assenting to the motion.—(Loud cheers.) Having thus given his reasons for refusing his assent to the motion, he had only to state the reasons why he thought the Hon. and Gallant Member should not be the person to make it. This he would do by simply stating what had occurred within the last fortnight. In the Court of Queen's Bench in Dublin lie found by the record that before the rising of the Court Mr. O'Dowd moved, on behalf of Mr. Blake, for liberty .to file a criminal information against the Honourable and Gallant Member for Sligo. The affidavits in support of the motion stated that on the 15th of August last, at the election for the county of Sligo, whilst he (Mr. Blake) was acting in the discharge of his duty and preserving the peace, having railed off a particular space within which he intended that neither of the parties should enter, some of Colonel Per ceval's friends pressed and entered into this particular space, and Colonel Perceval, who wad present, called him a scoun drel, a rascal, and a coward. Colonel PE RC E VAL said that those words had never been attributed to him in the affidavits. Lord MORPETH said he was reading the account of what took place. The affidavit went ou to say that the only re ply of Mr. Blake was, " I thank you ;" that the witness be. lieved that the offensive language used towards him was in tended to induce him to commit a breach of the peace. The result was that the court granted a conditional rule. Of course he (Lord Morpoth) could not venture to decide upon the justice of the allegations or upon the merits of the case, but he did submit to the House that the Hon. and Gallant Mem ber for Sligo would do well to be content to abide the issue of the evidence, without moving one of the parties into a court where it was impossible for them to meet on equal terms.—( Cheers.) He had stated his reasons why he hum bly ventured to think that this motion ought not to have been made, and why he thought the Hon. and Gallant for Sligo ought not to have made it : and for these reasons, if the mo tion were pressed to a division, he would give it as flat a ne native as his voice or his vote could give it.—(Loud cheers.) Mr. Sergeant JACKSON should like to know what paper the Noble Lord had referred to respecting the motion for a criminal information, because he had seen the documents on which that motion had been made, and he could state that the affidavits did not venture to attribute one syllable of that which . the Noble Lord had thought proper to read to the House as having been attributed to his Hon. and Gallant Friend.—( Loud cheers from the Opposition.) It seemed to him that what the Noble Lord had read was an extract from a newspaper.--( Hear, hear.) He would only add, that the county of Sligo had been peaceable and orderly until it suited the purposes of certain parties to agitate it, and until the ap pointment of stipendiary magistrates, in the absence of the Lord Lieutenant and the Noble Lord opposite, had devolved upon persons who did not know those whom they sent to exe cute the laws of the country. Mr. W 0 UL FE said that his Noble Friend (Lord Mor peth) had merely stated that he thought, under the circum stances of the case, that the charges against Mr. Blake might have come with more delicacy from any other quarter than the Hon. and Gallant Member for Sligo, and for this reason, that there was pending between Mr. Blake and the lion. and Gallant Member a litigation of a serious nature in the Court of Queen's Bench in Dublin. That Court had already granted a conditional rule for a criminal information for gross misconduct. He must say this much with regard to Mr. Blake, that the proceedings for which he was now punished took place many years ago. The Lord Lieutenant with great pair had come to the proper conclusion. He had never seen Mr. Blake ; he had never spoken to him; he was not on terms of intimacy with any one w ho, he believed, had any knowledge of him ; but he felt called upon in common justice to say, that the conduct of Mr. Blake as a Magistrate had repeatedly come before him uncon nectedwith party measures, and a more useful Stipendiary Magistrate he had never known.—( Cheers.) He never heard any complaint ; he had repeatedly had opportunities of wit nessin„e• his conduct in matters unconnected with politics, and he had always found him a remarkably active, useful, and dili gentHe might refer particularly notice in the north of Ireland : he meant the affair . of the atlt:aicetiOinneoefrg."—retitCtll=nt, and which had excited much againstln that a e l t a l i e r m , a w n h c o n t. t ß h a e lly l s e h s a se n e non an fi d sh l e e r s y s . . o — r the name of Hector, and when a most atrocious a' tack ( c H o e n a ib r ine h d ear.) was made on the property of Mr. Hector, Mr. Blake had proved himself an eminently useful officer.—(Cheers.) The first letter written by the G allan t Colonel containing charges against Mr. Blake was couched in very general terms, imputing partiality in his official capacity, and calling for an inquiry into his conduct. He rather beli eved a t the time this letter was written his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant and also the Noble Secretary for Ireland were not in that country ; a letter however was written acknowledging the receipt of the Gallant Colonel's letter, and stating that it contained charges of a very grave character which demanded mature investiga tion, but that it would be impossible to put the party on his trial unless the charges upon which he was to be tried were in a more specific form. The Gallant Colonel then wrote another letter, in which he did bring three specific charges against Mr. Blake, which he numbered 1, 2, and 3, declining, however, at the same time, to become the public prosecutor of that gentleman. Mr. Blake having been furnished with a copy of the Gallant Colonel's rAter was called upon for an explanation of his conduct. Mr. Blake, in com pliance with this invitation, did give such an expla nation as he thought the circumstances required, and this The O'CO NOR DON said, that allusion having been made in the course of the present debato to Lord Oranmore, he had been requested by that Nobleman, in case such allusion were made, to state, in his name, that some yelrs ago he had been applied to to recommend Mr. Blake to the commission of the peace, but that Mr. Blake having been ti iei and con. victed by a courtmartial, he had declined doing so. Subse quently, however, Lord Bingham dil recommend Mr. Blake, and be was appointed, not only to the county of Mayo, but to the county of Galway, and after that also was made a Lieute nant in the yeomanry corps of Mayo ; in all which capacities he (the O'Conor Don) believed that Mr. Blake had conducted himself in a most unimpeachable manner. The Gallant Co lonel had this evening read those parts of the proceedings of the court-martial whish bore most heavily on Mr. Blake, but he (the O'Conor Don) thought the Gallant Colonel should in fairness have read those passages also which tended to the justification of that gentleman. It was true that this court martial cad found Mr. Blake guilty, but it was also true that it had recommended him to mercy, because the officer whom he struck was tha cause of all his misfortune, and because his previous conduct had been unimpeachable. He hoped the Gallant Colonel would withdraw this motion, and not press it to a division. Mr. SOMERS said, the Gallant Colonel had entered into many particulars, but there were some which he had not stated, and which were wanted to complete the picture. The Gallant Colonel had not stated that there was a gentleman of great influence and standing in Sligo, who had distributed a large quantity of daggers amongst the peasantry, each of which bad his name upon it, and that individual was no less a person than the Hon. and Gallant Colonel himself.—( Hear I and a laugh.) Was this the man who wanted explanation ? Did the Hon. and Gallant Colonel forget the case of Simpson? He appealed to the Gallant Colonel whether he did not take the hand of that man, in Orange union, who was now under a charge of ma licious cutting and maiming? Did not the querulous Member for Sligo—( A laugh)—hand pistols from the bench to Simpson, desiring him to use them?—( Renewed laughter and cheers.) He could corroborate the statement of the Hon. Member for Mayo with respect to the Gallant Colonel's having struck an inoffensive person. The Gallant Colonel did strike a man with an umbrella.—( Loud laughter.) And much to the cre dit of Mr. Blake be it added, that this was the only breach of the peace which was committed at this election. He would ask the Gallant Member whether or not he had shaken hands with Simpson in public Court? Colonel PE RCEV A L Yes, often; and will again. Hear, hear, and a laugh.) Mr. S 0111 E RS, after a few general observations, sat down thanking the House for the attention with which it had listened to him. _ _ _ THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1<437. Mr. BRISCOE never had heard a charge brought forward against any Government so feebly supported and so triumph antly answered as the present.—( Hear.) He would refer to the recommendation of the Court-martial which had tried Mr. Blake, and would ask whether the Government, after 23 yerera of unexampled good conduct on the part of Mr. Blake, would not be fully justified in tempering justice with mercy; and al though they would not, perhaps, be acting wisely in reinstat ing him in the same office, yet he (Mr. Briscoe) hoped that, in consideration of his valuable public services and strict im partiality of conduct, some other situation would be found for him.—( Cheers. ) Mr. S. O'BRIEN thought that Mr. Blake, and not the gallant Member for Sligo, was the aggrieved party. Colonel PE RC E VAL rose to reply : he felt he was in the position of a person on his trial. He had been accused on all sides. There was one question to which he had an affirmative reply to give. He had often shaken hands with James Simp son—(a laugh and cries of ",oh, oh I") He had been accused of shaking hands with him in the felon's dock. He had no re collection of this, but it was very likely he had done so.—(Re newed laughter.) The dock formed part of the Court of Re. gistration, where the scene took place , and there were a great number o f persons in it at the time, and for all he recollected he might have been in it himself.—( Laughter.) As to the case of pistols, all that he had to say was, he did give Simpson :a case of pistols. At the time his life was threatened he being a valuator ; and he (Colonel Perceval) was obliged to call an assistant bar rister to protect him to his lodgings, and in doing so he felt that he had only done his duty.—( Hear, hear.) As to the daggers, he had never given one in his life to anybody, and he believed there was not a dagger on the face of the earth with the name of Alexander Perceval on it. Another Hon. Member had accused him of having struck a man at the elec tion for either the Sligo borough or for the county. On the honour of a gentleman he did not strike a man at either election.—( Cheers.) He saved his head from a blow aimed at it by raising up his umbrella. The man in question, it was true, was struck, but not by him ; and if necessary, he could bring many of the highest repute. in the county to bear him out. Indeed he was not conscious of having given so, tl it ie um, muovteior,n, he e e a man a blow in th e w h o l e course o f hi s lif e . with regar d t mustwas h w a i v ll e ing su t m o u w e it x h pl r u a n w atiu it u .. Before doing Th e Right Hon. dbntleman the Attorney-General (for Ireland) bad ac cused him of having addressed very grosa language to Mr. Blake; and the Noble Lord, following up tfie attack, had charged him with applying to him the terms coward and liar. Such words never escaped from him ; and if the Noble Lord desired it he should have an affidavit to prove it. The Hon. and Gallant Member concluded by repeating his willingness to withdraw his motion, and moved for leave accordingly. — ( Loud cries of " Divide, divide! withdraw I" &c., which con tinued some moments.) Sir R. PEEL and Lord J. RUSSELL suggested that ss there was no charge conveyed by the motion, the better course would be to allow the Hon. and Gallant Member to withdraw the motion. This recommendation seeming to be the gene ral wish of the House, the motion was withdrawn. IRISH CONSTABULARY. Colonel PE RCE VA L, in pursuance of notice, moved for a return of the names of the chief constables submitted to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland for promotion under the new Bill by the Inspector-General, distinguishing the names of those promoted, if any. His object in moving for this return was to ascertain clearly in whose appointment were the places of chief constables in Ireland. Sir R. BATE SON seconded the motion. Lord MORPETH found himself again unable to accede to the motion of the Hon. and Gallant Member. He thought, however, he should be able to satisfy him as to its being unnecessary. In point of fact, so far from the names of the chief constables being submitted to the Lord Lieute nant, they were submitted by that functionary to the In spector-General. The Lord Lieutenant retained in his own hands the selection of those who were to fill the offices of chief constable. There had been no transfer by the Con stabulary Bill of these appointments to the Inspector-Ge neral, nor was any such transfer at any time contemplated either by him or the Government. The appointment to the office of chief constable had always been vested in the Lord Lieutenant, and so they remained. The appointment of sub constables, before the passing of the Act, lay with the Local Magistracy, and these by the Bill were transferred to the In spector-General, and on every occasion were by him made. This was the error made by the Honourable and Gallant Member. He confounded the appointments of chief constables and those of constables and sub-constables. In regard to the former the Act made no alteration ; in the case of the latter the appointments were transferred from the Local Magis trates to the Inspector-General, and, he repeated, the right was invariably exercised by him, as, by the statement of Col. Shaw Kennedy, in a letter addressed to him, would appear. The Noble Lord here read the following extract from the communication in question: ‘• The appointments of men to the force, as sub-constables--the promotion of sub constables of the second class, to the first class—of sub-constables, of the first class, to the situation of constable—and of constable, to the situation of head constable, have been left entirely with the Inspector- General ; the Government having in no way interfered to in fluence the selection of men for entering the force, nor has the Government influenced the promotions to the situations named.—J. S. KENNEDY." With respect to the re-appoint naent of Mr. Gore Jones, alluded to by the Hon. Seconder, he had only to say that the Government had seen nothing in the conduct of that Gentleman rendering him unfit for the public service, and, accordingly, he had been appointed to a station in the Southern part of Ireland. Mr. SHAW was'of opinion that the view of the case taken by the Hon. and Gallant Mover was the correct one, and that all the appointments in the constabulary force were by the Bill invested in the Inspector-General. - Mr. BELLEW eulogised the existing police force in Ire land, which he asserted was fairly and impartially selected. Lord JOHN RUSSELL denied that on the occasion of any discussion upon the Constabulary Bill he or any Member of the Goveroment had held language calculated to raise the supposition that the appointments of chief constables were to be taken from the patronage of the Lord Lieutenant, and vested in the Inspector-General. Such a thing was never even contemplated. Mr. SHAW was proceeding again to address the House, but was called to order. Sir R. BATESON explained. Colonel PERCEVAL replied. Mr. FORBES stated that it was distinctly understood that the nomination and regulation were to be altogether in the hands of Colonel Shaw Kennedy. The motion was then put and negatived without a division. FIRST FRUITS, TENTHS, AND QUEEN ANNE'S BOUNTY. Mr. G ALL Y KNIGHT moved for, and obtained, leave to bring in a Bill for the Consolidation of the Boards of First Fruits, Tenths, and Queen Anne's Bounty. The Honourable Member subsequently brought it, the Bill, which was read a first time. REGISTERED ELECTORS. On the motion of Mr. 1-1 U ME, several returns were ordered to be laid before the House of the number of electors regis tered in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. COLONEL VERNER. The SPE AKER called upon Colonel Verner, who had given notice of a motion for a copy of the correspondence between her Majesty's Government and himself, with re spect to his removal from the offices of Deputy-Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace of the county Tyrone. It appearing that the Hon. and Gallant Member was not in the House, there was a loud cry of " Hear." HIGHWAY-RATE. _ Mr. SHAW LE FE VRE moved for and obtained leave to bring in a Bill to authorise the application of a portion of the Highway-rate to Turnpike-roads in certain cases. The Hon. Member subsequently brought in the Bill, which was read a first time. SALMON FISHERIES IN SCOTLAND. Mr. ELLICE moved for, and after a short conversation, in which he stated that he had struck out of the Bill that part of it which had been objected to by the Right Hon. the Presi dent of the Board of Trade, obtained leave to bring in a Bill to amend the Act for the Preservation of Salmon Fisheries in Scotland. MUNICIPAL OFFICERS' DECLARATION BILL. Mr. BAINE S moved the Order of the Day for the second reading of the Municipal Officers' Declaration Bill. Mr. PATTISON gave notice that when the Bill went into Committee, he should move that the relief be extended to persons of the Jewish persuasion. --(Hear, hear.) Mr. SHAW observed that when leave was given to bring in the Bill, it was on the understanding that Jews should not be comprehended in its provisions. Mr. PATTISON should certainly persevere in the propo sition of which he had given notice. Mr. BAINE S had not the slightest hostility towards the Jews ; but he was anxious to secure to the Quakers and Mo ravians the privileges which the Bill contemplated. Mr. WARBURTON was astonished, at a time when Jews were placed in the high and responsible office of Sheriffs, that any disposition was exhibited to exclude them from other offices. He hoped the Hon. Member would persevere in his determination to move an introduction to the Committee on the subject. After a few words from Mr. G. F. YOUNG, Sir R. INGLIS, and Mr. lIUME, the Bill was read a second time, and ordered to be committed on Monday. Adjourned at a Quarter past Ten. ELOPEMENT EXTRAORDINARY. Wednesday morning, at an early hour, a postchaise with four bay horses were seen by some men going to work on the road to Eltham, Kent. They (the roan) had proceeded but a very short dis tance before they met a young lady, beautiful in person, and elegantly attired, who inquired.anxiously if they had passed a postchaise; and, on being answered in the affirmative, she pulled out a purse and gave them a sovereign ; in a few se conds she was met by a well-dressed man, and both having entered the chaise, the postboys went off at a railway speed. The young lady is the only daughter of a rich widow, living not a hundred miles from the Regent's Park (she was on a visit at a gentleman's house in the neighbourhood of Eltham), and the lucky husband (that is to be) is the butler to the gentleman above alluded to. The young lady, who was of ago in September, is in possession of 5,0001. a-year, left her by her grandfather. The surprise of the gentleman and his family on finding his visitor and butler both gone may be easily imagined. MRS. GORE'S NEW TALES.—We cannot help thinking it almost too serious an undertaking for a female mind and pen, to construct and carry through to its consummation a regular three volume novel. Our Lady writers, eminently gifted as they arc, invariably begin their productions of the above class better than they end them ; and the reason is that they get tired of their own labour. But for a brief tale— piquant, pointed, polished, and perfect in all its parts, as all brief tales should be—commend us to our female pens alone, and to that above all others which is so happily and so bril liantly wielded by Mrs. Charles Gore. Marmontel himself, though a little more philosophical perhaps, was not so gay, so graceful, so buoyant, and altogether so felicitous in this class of writing, as is this gifted lady ; and we venture to say, that the has never before succeeded more entirely than in the charming collection she has just given to the world under the title of " Mary Raymond, and other Tales." By the last arrival from India, overland, intelligence has been received that the city of Surat has suffered very much from an inundation of the river Taptee, one of the worst that has ever been known, and it is feared many lives have been lost and great numbers of cattle carried off by the flood. Several other parts of Goojerat have been visited by the same calamity, especially Kairo, Gundavee, and Nowsaree. Yesterday morning, about half-past 12 o'clock, as a young man of the name of Daniel Campbell, who resides on the Port. Glasgow-road, was proceedi ng o n his way home from Greeno c k, he met two men, one of whom was carrying a gun, and after a little conversation Campbell charged them with having been poaching, and continued to walk homewards, when he was followed by the men, one of them exclaiming, " I'll poach you at any rate." In a short time a gun was fired by one of the men, and the contents lodged in the left hand and breast of Campbell, who instantly fell to the ground, bleeding terribly. Although the noise of the shot, and the shouts of murder by the young man, were heard by some people, yet the loneliness of the place (nearly half way between Greenock and Port-Glasgow) and the early hour of the morning prevented people from going to his assistance. The poor fellow lay on the road insensible for about 40 minutes, and on coming to himself a little, crawled to the ditch and put his bleeding hand into the water, and, feeling thirsty, drank a little of the dirty water within his reach, which revived him, and enabled him to walk home, a distance of a quarter of a mile. Dr. M'lntyre of Greenock was sent for immediately, and it was found necessary to amputate the thumb and three of the fingers A notorious character of the name of M'Culloch, a turner in one of the foundries, and his uncle, a man of the same name, are in custody.—Glus yew Chronicle. MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT.—On Friday evening last as Mr. Eldridge of Seddlescomb was returning - home in a chaise from a shooting excursion, his gun, which stood by his side, went off, and with regret we add that the charge passing through the unfortunate gentleman's body caused almost in stantaneous death. Deceased had been but a short time married ; and his wife bearing the chaise drive up ran to the door, as she supposed, to welcome her husband home, when her feelings may be better imagined than described upon per ceiving him brought home a bleeding corpse. —Brighton Gar. dian. MAGAZINE DAY. BLACKWOOD. In the notice of Alison's " History of the French Revolution," the sixth volume of which has just ap peared, the Reviewer does ample justice, but not more than it deserves, to this elaborate and impartial work. But why does lie go out of his way to preach the vices of what he calls, " Whiggism ?" Surely he should have known that it was his own be-lauded Wellington and Peel who carried Catholic Emancipation—not the Whigs ! As for the latter " fanning the virulence of American revolt," they did no such thing. Tory taxa tion was the arch-incendiary. In like manner, it vas not the Whigs who " fanned the flame of the French revolt," but the annual deficit of seven millions sterling in the national finances, which was almost entirely owing to the extravagant and corrupt habits of the Tory Aristocrats of France. The Whigs have quite sins enough of their own to answer for, without stand ing godfather to the more heinous offences of their adversaries. " Herder "is a translation from this eru dite German's criticisms on Homer's two immortal epics. We should have relished it more—for it con tains much acute observation—had we not a vivid recollection of a masterly series of papers that have already appeared in Maga on the same subject ; but " the words of Mercury are harsh after the songs of Apollo "—that is to say, Herder Is coarse and com mon-place, when one has been accustomed to:the grace and spirit and fancy of Kit North. " Circassia "is a continuation of a very able and valuable paper that appeared in this Periodical last month. We subjoin some remarks on the present condition of Nicholas and his vast empire, which are characterized by sagacity and foresight : " We say that Nicholas cannot stop ; that the safety of his empire is involved in th e ques ti on o f hi s p rogress an d success. His is a course in which to halt or hesitate might be fatal. He, or rather his predecessors, have long passed the Rubicon, and must on. This is the law which constrains all conquerors whose existence must rest upon opinion as much as on the might of their sword. A check, a symptom of wavering might change the whole aspect of his fortunes, and raise a host of foes that now crouch intimidated at the apparent resistlessness of his career. Besides, these mighty undertakings have in volved the necessity of an enormous military establishment, which even at the miserable rates of pay which it receives, is far beyond the means of Russia to support without distress ; and she is now impoverished almost to bankruptcy—a nation of soldiers and of slaves. The nobles, instead of being occu pied in improving their vast estates, are all civil or military servants, and their peasants are continually drafted away to supply the vast expense of men. In times of war this evil is little felt, except in so far as regards the drain upon the treasury ; but in peace, when the pay of the army is reduced, and there is no hope of plunder for the soldier, nor of pro motion for the officer, when malecontent; have leisure to brood over wrongs, and to meditate revenge—then is the time for plots and conspiracies, for alarms and arrests, and military executions, and wholesale deportations to Siberia and the Caucasus. Thus, not only must the mighty engine of state that has been set in motion be kept moving, lest in stopping it crush its engineers under its weight, but the minor instru ments must be constantly in use, lest they get into disorder, and destroy the machine. In simple language, the enormous standing army of Russia, the 4 million of bayonets' of Alex ander, must be kept in constant action, lest, like the Pretorian guards, or the Strelitzes and the Janissaries, they take mat ters into their own hands, and show up their Sovereign to the eyes of the world as, what he cannot but feel himself—their slave." " Guizot" is an entertaining biographical sketch of one of the profoundest thinkers, and most learned men in France, whose works are not yet appreciated in this country as highly as they should be. " The World we Live In," runs over all the lighter topics of the day in its usual lively and rapid fashion. There is always much variety in this article, and its subjects are discussed in ad captandum manner. " Augusta Vic trix" is a complimentary address to our present Queen Victoria, more remarkable for its loyalty than its poetry. " Solomon's Flight" is an amusing tale, full of humour, which would form the subject of an ex cellent farce. " Justice to Ireland" is a desperate Tor) diatribe, which reads as if it were penned under the splenetic influence of a liver complaint. " The Augsburg Goldsmith" is a talc from the German,. abounding in mysteries and surprizes. NEW MONTHLY. The " Gurney Papers" contain more than the usual amount of dialogue this month, and Theodore Hook excels in smart, pointed, off-hand dialogue. They arc in consequence extremely diverting. In the " Letters from Ireland"—hacknied as is the theme—there are many passages, chiefly of a descriptive character, well worthy of perusal. The description of Cork, in par ticular, and of its vicinage, shows much graphic skill. " The Passage from Cove to Cork," - says the writer— " Bears no faint resemblance to that of the Bosphorus, be tween Censtantinople and Therassia ; inferior, but not unlike in loveiine's anJ magnificence. The shores are lofty, but without high hills or mountains in the back-ground, that give perfection to such a scene. They are covered with groves, pleasure-grounds, and gardens, down to the water's edge ; villa rises beside and above villa for a number of miles, in end leis and ever-varying succession ; and each stands alone, in its own little or large, yet exquisite domain—.each rejoices in its own beauty of wood, park, avenue, and dell, without inter fering with its neighbour ; whatever their taste, or form, or size, each looks luxuriously from its windows and shady places on the sails of every nation, on the broad river that looks like a lovely and peopled lake. There arc here and there little creeks and reaches of the stream that bathe the entrance to the recesses of some noble villa, and give to it a semblance of loneliness; for it is impossible to feel alone on this estuary, the sights and sounds of life, and prosperity, and commerce, are too bright, vivid, and ceaseless." " The - Sky-Blue Domino," is a tale, replete with entertaining incident, the scene of which is laid in the Grand Dukedom of Lucca. Captain Marryatt is the author, and exhibits no falling-off in point of inven tion. " Life in the East," has but one defect—it is :oo short. There is so much good sense in the re- marks, and spirit in the style, that we could have wished it to have been twice its present length. Mr. Quin is an experienced traveller, whose mind is ever on the watch. Nothing seems to escape his searching scrutiny. his observations on the treatment of young Circassian slaves by their Turkish masters, will serve to dispel a very general notion, that they are subjected to all sorts of indignities. Of the Grecian females, Mr. Quin has no very high opinion. All the accounts of their per sonal charms with which from time to time travellers have inundated us, are, he says, mere fictions. Their voices, he adds, are generally as hoarse as that of their crows ; and their unstayed busts, their homely figures, their pallid, or rather swarthy, countenances, and their clumsy feet, would induce a stranger to suppose that they were so many Scythian boors in female attire. " The Manager's Note Book," contains some amusing reminiscences of Mrs. Mardyn, Matthews, and,George Colman the younger. " Captain Pomponius Nix," is a capital quiz on the manufacturers of biographies of small wits, from the pen of Mr. Poole. Had this jells d'esprit, however, been a little more condensed, it would have been improved. " A Glimpse at the Royal Procession" trips off in a light, buoyant, and jocular spirit. We subjoin a specimen It is half after two, I can hear by St Paul's, Though I hardly can hear the bell toll for the squawls Of the women, who screw round the post and the walls And lost all by dozens are children and shawls Oh I the crowd is becoming uncommonly dense— For the ardour's unbounded —the murmur intense ! There's a piece of the coping come down with the hawls Of the cursed climbing servants—it turns, as it falls, A child to a biffin. A man of no sense Rams an old woman's eye out, and hopes no offence; Whilst an old English tar, with mahogany mug, An-chors fast with his dark wooden leg in a plug. The mob is like mad !—thieves for purses or pence, The young artful dodge—the high swell—the low fence, — All, all are incessant to wheedle or lug ; • But all have the seeming for loyalty's calls And the bellowing deepens—the strife never palls I FR.4 SER'S MAGAZINE. There is a powerful article in Fraser for this month entitled " The Anatomy of Gaming, by Nimrod," to which the attention of those who are exposed to the temptation of becoming the victims of this Tuitions vice cannot be too forcibly directed. It is a dissection 4 the various devices by which sharpers contrive to v►in at all games played by means of cards and dice—which devices are explained by woDd-cuts designed to illus trate the text. An article on the " Use and Abuse of Friendship" is devoted to the abuse of that " best abused man" in the United Kingdom—Daniel O'Con nell. The Hon. and Learned Member for Dublin is the Tories' stock in trade, and long may he continue..to be so, for the sake of his country. " Emigration and _ _ the Canadas" is a clever, matter-of-fact article, by a sixteen years' Resident in the Upper Province—a pe riod quite long enough for acquiring an ample know ledge of the country, its capabilities, and inhabitants, civilized and savage. The article on the authorship of the " Doctor" is full to overflowing with the recondite lore of Father Prout ; but it wants the humour of the jolly Old Divine—it is too dry, crabbed, and scholarly to have been inspired by the fumes of the mountain dew. The "Pyramids, their Builders, and Historical Epochs," 'ought to be stereotyped for the use of the Society of Antiquarians. No subject could be imagined less in viting to the general admirers of Magazine literature, but to such as relish such inquiries we can earnestly recommend it as among the most ingenious that it has been our fortune to meet with ; and altogether such as would do credit to the talents of the author of the " Monde Primitif," or the " Galerie Antique." The " New Predicament of Parties" is, as the title imports, a note of triumph over the unfortunate declaration of Lord John Russell, on the occasion of his Lordship's refusal to swallow any of Mr. Wakley's three cele brated Radical " Powders." The other Papers are less important. The " Sacrifice," a tale of love, se duction, and desertion, is but a tawdry copper imita tion of Miss Landon's " Ethel Churchill ;" and as 'or the sonnets, the best we can say of them is, that they are by no means equal, either in conception or execution, to the bulk of those which appear in the columns of Regina. " Does your Mother know you're out," is by far the best of them. Altogether Fraser is dull this month—quite as cheerless as Croker and Billy Holmes gazing at the Ministerial seats from the back benches of the Opposition. BENTLEY' S MISCELLANY. This Miscellany has only reached us this morning, consequently we have been unable to do more than just glance hastily over its contents. Unless we re ceive the Magazines on the last day of the month,i is impossible, with the vast number that crowd our table, to render them anything like justice. " Oliver Twist "—so far as we can judge from a very super ficial perusal—does not diminish, but, on the contrary, seems to increase, in interest. The usual " Song of the Month," is neatly and pointedly written. It is from the pen of Cornelius Webbe. But the best article in the Number is decidedly the essay on the character of Lady Macbeth, a con tinuation of Dr. Maginn's admirable " Shakspeare Papers." In this essay the author defends the cha racter of Lady 'Macbeth at the expense of her hus band, thus directly reversing the criticism of Campbell on the same subject. His introductory observations on Shal:speare's women are beautiful, though Hazlitt has almost exhausted that theme, which was a favou rite one with him. We do not hold with the Doctor's theory on Lady Macbeth, which we think is far too finely spun ; but this we will say, that it is defended with consummate adroitness and ingenuity. " Except her share in the murder of Duncan—which is, however, quite sufficient to justify the epithet in the mouth of his son—she does nothing in the play to deserve the title ; and for her crime she has been sufficiently punished by a life of disaster and remorse. She is not the tempter of Macbeth. It does not require much philosophy to pronounce that there were no such beings as the weird sisters ; of that the voice that told the Thane of Glamis that he was to be Kin.. of Scotland was that of his own ambition. In his own bosom was brewed the hell-broth, potent to call up visions coun selling tyranny and blood ; and its ingredients were his own evil passions and criminal hopes. Macbeth himself only be lieves as much of the predictions of the witches as he desires. The same prophets who foretold his elevation to the throne, foretold also that the progeny of Banquo would reign; and yet, after the completion of the prophecy, so far as he is himself concerned, he endeavours to mar the other part by the murder of Fleance. The weird sisters are, to him, no more- than the Evil Spirit which, in Faust, tortures Margaret at her prayers. They are but the per sonified suggestions of his mind. She, the wife of his bosom, knows the direction of his thoughts ; and, bound to him in love, exerts every energy, and sacrifices every feeling, to minister to his hopes and aspirations. This is her sin, and no more. He retains, in all his guilt and crime, a fond feeling for his wife. Even when meditating slaughter, and dreaming of blood, he addresses soft words of conjugal endearment ; he calls her " dearest chuck," while devising assassinat ons, with the fore-knowledge of which he is unwilling to sully her mind. Selfish in ambition, selfish in fear, his character pre sents no point of attraction but this one merit. Shakspeare gives us no hint as to her personal charms, except when he makes her describe her hand as " little." We may be sure that there were few " more thorough-bred or fairer fingers," in the land of Scotland than those of the queen, whose bear ing in public towards Duncan, Banquo, and the nobles, is marked by elegance and majesty ; and, in private, by affec tionate anxiety for her sanguinary lord. He duly appreciated her feelings, but it is a pity that such a woman should have been united to such a man." " Adventures in Paris" are sprightly, and not de void of humorous incident. " The Glories of Good humour" sufficiently explains its subject, which is treated in a befitting spirit. " Eighty Years Ago" gives us some singular details respecting the exe cution of Earl Ferrers for murder. " Jack among the Mummies," to which an illustration by George Cruick shank is attached, is full of the most diverting carica ture, and will occasion a hearty laugh. " The Last of the Bandits" is not so interesting as its title would imply. It may, however, serve to amuse an idle half ' hour. MONTHLY MAGAZINE. The present Number of this octagenarian periodi cal contains two engravings, from designs furnished by Alfred Crowquill, illustrative of the travels of Mr. Pickwick and his valet, Sam Weller. To these are attached a series of papers, entitled 4‘ Pickwick abroad, or the Tour in France," which are evidently intended as a continuation of Boz's well known sketches. No one will mistake them for the production of Mr. Dickens; for, like all imitations, they imitate the de fects, rather than the excellencies of the original, to which they bear about the same resemblance that Mr. Croker's battle of " Talavera," bore to Scott's battle of " Flodden Field." Here and there the writer gives us a sprightly, amusing sketch ; but, as a whole, his descriptions want life and spirit. Crowquill's illustra tive plates, however, are by no means deficient in humour. " The Life of Talleyrand" acquaints us with some curious anecdotes respecting the early career of one of the most successful diplomatists, and despe rate intriguers of the age. Talleyrand, in his more bustling days, was the very incarnation of intrigue—a IVlachiavel in action. It was his favourite maxim-- that 44 speech was intended to conceal one's thoughts," a maxim thoroughly characteristic of the man.. We believe he has been in at the death of at least a dozen political systems and dynasties, and digested oaths that might have choked an ostrich. " Portraits from the Peerage" is an agreeable biographical sketch, rath er too honied in its complimenti, of the present Earl of Munster. " The Sisters" is a tale written in an easy, unaffected style. But the most lively article in the Number is that entitled " On the Inconveniences o. a Good Appetite." We have no space for extracts, as will be seen by the crowded state of our columns. HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. This work, justly esteemed for its beautifully coloured plates of florists' flowers, and its originality of style, is much the same as usual. Speaking of the Royal Society and Central School of Horticulture and Agriculture, the Editor says'''''' 44 Upon the whole, the exhibition was highly gratifying, and manifested such an advance in the state of the Society, which has hardly been established two months, that we are prepared to Ecc it the rallying point for all the County Asso