The Sun. — London, England, 1837-08-07 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS Lord Nugent, in his able address, enters at consi derable length on " the question which must early arise, the effecting the hitherto imperfectly accom plished object of the Reform Bill by better providing for the freedom and purity of election." " Look," added his Lordship, " at the contest we bac e just gone through. I said early in this address that votes ad been bought not only with private, but with public Money—every petty office in the service of the county, 4 0, paid fur out of the county rates—every employ, as Sherm javelin -man , or special constable—every contract 'for labour td be done or for goods to be supplied for the county, is doled os2t , for the purpose of influencing votes at elections, or at least had t.l la t effect. Look at the returns of the Poll, and compare thcni with the list of the per sons employed for work, and as tradesman,at the county charge." Lord Nugent contends that there is but one mode of reducing influence to what it ought to be—the Ballot : " It is contended," his Lordship said, " to be an un manly mode of voting, and to tend to promote falsehood and duplicity. Between the unmanliness of voting se- cretiv and the unmanliness of voting under the open and notorious dictation of a master, I should not be long in pronouncing which is the more unmanly ; and to nine tenths, or more, of the poorer sort of voters, under the present system of influence, no third choice is left. Of all the arguments against the ballot 1 think that which I have heard stated with the greatest pomp is, as is not un frequently the case, the feeblest and the worst consi dered. The elective suffrage is a trust, it is said, to be exercised for the public good, and nothing in the nature of a trust should be exercised in secret. A trust, in the strict sense of the phrase, it is not ; because the voter has not received it from the choice of those in whose be half it is exercised. And, in the looser and metaphorical sense, all property is morally a trust for the public good, and no man has the moral right, though he has the prac tical power, to administer any property of his own un justly. No man has a right to bequeath his property un justy. It became his, like the franchise which was part of that property, under the moral obligation to administer it justly. Does he then seal his will to be opened and proved only after his death 9 ' Oh, shame on his unmanliness! If he be a man, let him declare his testament, and publish it in his life, that if he have dealt justly he may be glorified before men ; if unjustly, that those who Dave suffered in justice may rebuke him openly.' This would be, I think, about as r easonable as the talk about the unmanliness of secret voting.' The present election has made many converts to the Ballot. Among other converts, Mr. Angerstein, we perceive from his address, is one—" I have the strongest conviction in my mind, he says, that if the registered electors had not been prevented from exer cising their legal privilege, by intimidation on the part of many, by the majority of the clergy, by a partisan ma gistracy, and by others, I should have been returned ;" and, he contends, "it is, therefore, the duty of the Legislature to protect the tradesman or tenant so circumstanced, either by the Ballot or some better measure calculated to secure him the free exercise of the franchise which the law has awarded to him." But the very reason which induces the Reformers to wish the Ballot, renders the Tories inimical to it. It is, no doubt, highly desirable that electors should be protected, but the protection of electors would be a death-blow to the Tories. This is one of those great changes in our system which might have been made at the time of the Reform Bill, but cannot be made now. Tha trite remark of the poet, that " there is a tide in the affairs of men which taken at the floods leads on to fortune," &c., is applicable to the Ballot as well as other things. It is one of those re forms that cannot be hoped for during an ebb tide. While it could have been obtained the Liberal party were not in favour of it ; and now that they are generally favourable to it, they cannot carry it. It is proper, however, that Reformers should not lose sight of the question, because till electors are better protected than at present, every contest is productive of much suffering. Without the repeal of the 501. tenantry at will clause, and the ballot, the county elections will exhibit most unfortunate results.— Morning Chronicle. It is with great satisfaction that we notice the ap pointment of Dr. Musgrave, the Dean of Bristol, to the Bishopric of Hereford. This appointment cannot fail to give great satisfaction to the Liberal party, for Dr. Musgrave is not more distinguished for his learn ing and talents than he is for his personal worth and the liberality of his principles.—Morning Chronicle. The progress and hitherto ascertained results of the county elections for Great Britain are more decidedly favourable to the maintenance of the Constitution than the most sanguine Conservative existing had ventured three weeks ago to prognosticate. As the political mist has cleared away, and the national mind has be come gradually more familiar with the real shape and position of certain objects, people have learned to dis criminate between words and things, to class measures according to their practical tendencies, instead of taking for granted the fitness of the arbitrary names assigned to them, and to estimate men by their conduct and ge neral character, rather than by their professions, how ever boisterous or imposing. There are some perni cious fallacies which have thus been detected, and truths of the highest importance which have super ceded them in the minds of the majority of English men, and all within two or three short years. It has been discovered, or, speaking more precisely, the discovery, which before was confined to men of shrewd experience, has since spread itself among the people, and been acted upon by them—that the epithet " Re former" ought not to be applied to a partisan of endless change ; that the term " Liberal" is improperly as sumed by men who are clamorous advocates for the extension of political power to those who have no ca pacity for its right employment, and every temptation to make it the instrument of wrong to others ; that an unbridled democracy may be the most intolerable tyrant ; that the " voluntary principle" is another name for depriving the poor of all religious knowledge and comfort ; that " justice to Ireland" is a hypocri tical expression, which really means nothing but esta blishing the snoremacy of the Romish priesthood in that island, to the overthrow of Church and State, and the entire dismemberment of the Monarchy ; that institutions !my be wholesome and conducive to public happiness, altholo England has never been without them for 600 years ; and, finally, that the Whigs, as they have chosen to call themselves, who being out of office for half a century had declaimed in favour of " liberty," and against " corruption," because they had no power to pervert, and no public money to bribe with, have since their accession to the Go vernment proved themselves to he nothing better than the greediest and most unprincipled oligarchy on record, perpetrating, a larger amount of oppres sion, and scattering corruption more profusely and flagitiously, than any Administration that ever ruled thin empire. Now, here are no less than seven truths, one and all of inestimable value to the people of England, which, long known for such among well-informed and reflecting men, have not been re cognized for truths until some time since the formation of Lord Melbourne's Government by the people at large, and only now, viz., on the first opportunity since the course of that Government became clearly vissible and unquestionable, have been generally acted upon throughout the land. That the towns, which are the great foci of levity, vice, and turbulence, should not have exhibited the above re-action in so eminent a degree as the counties of the kingdom, is an inevitable consequence of the character of that town population to which has been entrusted so extensive an exercise of the elective power. There may, among the working classes irt the towns., be more vivacity of intellect than is shown on ; . he average of occasions by the agricul tural population. But if there be greater sharpness of wit, there is al so greater i7ofli . gacy of motive and violence of passion. The harvest of g demagogue is in the urban rabble, of which tens of thousands have, by virtue of the household suffrage, the right of choos ing town representatives. The advisers of the country voters are of a different and far superior class to those who influence a large proportion of the city An d borough constituency. They are country gentlemen—.. many of whom are likewise possessed of monied capi tal—hut all of whom have a fixed and enduring stake ,in the greatness and prosperity of the realm. If we • • wei!eil ee d what portion of the community it is that construttost properly the substance of th e nation, • , is - , rho entirely inseparable from it, must we not ssty the ' psori etors and cultivators of the Lou of .Eng - la;0 7 1.- They cannot be torn from it ; they are mew - 4:z u poratcd with it ; neither landlord nor tenant can make paper wings and fly off to France, Italy, Russia, or America, on a bill of exchange for the whole amount of his fortune, as a mere merchant or tradesman can do, at twenty-four hours' notice. The dependence of the landed population for its whole well-being on the general safety and stability of our institutions is in some important respects, if not peculiar to that class of our tellow-subjects, felt at least by them with peculiar force. The man in trade asks how such or such a mea sure will immediately operate upon himself—the man who holds his paternal acres th s how it will affect his grand child. For many years past—namely, since the cessa tion of foreign war threw back the English mind upon our domestic interests—the question of Parliamentary Reform had been making way amongst us. The crisis of 1830 in France gave a fresh impulse to the public spirit on that question. From that t►me down to the !access of the Melbourne Ministry, the Democratic principle was in a state of rapid and vehement evolu tion. The innumerable follies of that disgraceful Go vernment—the ignominious terms imposed upon it by the worthless Papist at whose feet it lay, and the consequent mischiefs into which it was huiried—com pletely disabused the credulity of most men who, with the best feelings, had indulged Utopian visions of some impracticable future. The exposure of much disho nesty in the agents--the evidence of much perverseness and danger in the system, which had assumed to itself the name of " liberalitg," wrought a change in men's sentiments on behalf of what was tried more ra pid and far more rational, than the previous one in fa vour of the untried, and the democratic principle, from its state of evolution, passed over into that state of self-correction which we see now illustrated by the pu rified and much-improved character of our county repre sentatives. There is another testimony to the spread of political re-action in this country—less satisfactory, per haps, with a view to immediate objects, though quite as convincing, and quite as gratifying, for those who look to the permanent welfare of the realm, as any that can be derived from the increase of Conservative returns. It is the prodigious excess of Conservative votes in those eonstituencies where the majority have still been in favour of Radical candidates beyond the number of Conservatives:who had polled at any preceding elec tion. There is no instance in the history of Parlia ment where the successful candidate being a declared friend of the Minister was run so close as almost invariably at this last election. The cases are too numerous to be specifically referred to, but we state with confidence, and appeal to the several polls, that no political contest ever yet took place where the losing candidates opposed to the existing Minister ran their successful antagonists half so close. The re sult is, that for Lord Melbourne to stand will be impossible. He has not merely to fight the adverse votes in Parliament, but to encounter the moral in fluence of that vast progress of Conservatism out of doors, which has been demonstrated both by its growth within doors, and by the severe nature of every elec tion struggle where it has just failed of succeeding. What may be done in Ireland is difficult to tell, nor is it of much more serions moment. The rottenness of Lord Melbourne's position is this—viz., that while he has England for his enemy, he has also O'Connell for his friend. In our opinion, if the Papist and rebellious interest were less eager in its partisanship of Lord Melbourne, the Noble Viscount would fare somewhat better in the estimation of Eng lish Protestants. The sworn devotion of O'Connell to the Ministry is not given gratis. The question asked by every man in England is, what price of Bri tish freedom, religion, or supremacy does Lord Mel bourne pay for the support of this alien mercenary ? What is the amount of the bond which he has exe cuted to the Shylocks of Maynooth ? By what sa crifice of her honour or tranquillity is England to buy this disgrace ? The wretched impolicy by which the grant of political power to the Irish mob was dictated manifests itself by the sort of hands into which that power has practically fallen. The question is not whe ther we shall tolerate the Popish priests of Ireland, for it is no longer a question whether they will tolerate us ; they avow that they will not do so. " Justice to Ireland" requires that they, the priests, should exer cise dominion over Ireland ; they acknowledge no other " justice." In this spirit it is that O'Connell has summoned over to Ireland the refuse of the re jected Radicals from this country—that he denounces as traitors those electors who will not yield their votes as he commands them. The arch impostor's majority for the city of Dublin over the Conservative candi dates in 1835 was nominally a majority of some hun dreds. It was a fictitious majority of fabricated votes, and so proved to he on a petition to the House of Commons, under all the disadvantage of proceedings instituted to serve the purposes of O'Connell, though ending in his discomfiture and disgrace. We foretold some days ago that lie would " per fas vel ;Islas" pro cure the return in his favour in this present election, and doubtless in that respect lie will have laid his re resources too artfully to risk a disappointment. He imposes on the Conservatives the necessity of another petition, and in the meanwhile usurps, with a sort of impunity, the privileges of a Member of Parliament. But until Ireland shall be rescued from the abomina tion of having constitutional powers exercised by those who turn them to the overthrow of the Const►tution, there will be for that country neither security nor peace. The measures of the Melbourne Government were framed to aggravate that evil, not to alleviate it ; and for such a merit it is that they call upon the people of England to support them. They have called in vain.— limes. The present elections exhibit two features unparal leled in depth of infamy by any former election. One is the extent to which bribery and corruption have been other is the shameless and profligate man ner in which calumny on private character has been employed by the Tories. Wherever honesty is found unassailable by bribes, there it is libelled and calum niated with audacious vituperation. The most odious reflections on domestic habits and transactions are made—all truth and decency are violated—and all the cesspools of Billingsgate abuse are emptied on tiv victim. Seats ate put up to sale, as in the days of Gatton—and reports are suppressed, or garbled, or coloured to force the objects of jobbing dictatorships down the throats of the public. With the cry of " Religion in danger !” all the foundations of religion and morality are shaken to their base by the faction who raise it. In short, if some ready be not found, the country bids fair to be rendered one vast quagmire of corruption. Lies of the must outrageous descrip tion have been propagated, with a wilful knowledge of their utter falsehood, against the Reform candidates, in the hope that they would stick for the time, and do their dirty work during the two days devoted to elections—although they may be ultimately refuted or indignantly repelled. Many of the elections have been carried against real friends of the people by this resort to the darling instruments of debased and de graded minds—vilification and detraction. Mr. Hume is only one example out of many of the revolting falsehood and outrageous indecency of the calumnies resorted to. Mr. Fearon (Mr. Hume's chairman) justly attributed much of the evil effect produced as regards the defeat of Reform and rejection of Re formers, to the ignorance of the constituent bodies of the inestimable value of the franchise, and of the rela- • tive condition of the representative and the constituent. This is quite true. Nor is there any remedy for the evil—but that combined remedy to which we have so often adverted, viz., to diffuse education among the people, and to protect them from the corrupt influ ences of wealth, or the intimidation of tyranny, by the ballot. A cry having been raised for the ballot, Mr. Enron replied, that " the remedy would not be found in the ballot, but in increased suffrage and education." But with this opinion we differ. Increased suffrage would require increased protection ; and if we have to wait till that distant period, when education has proved the social criminality and moral prostitution of selling a vote, where must we look meanwhile for protection for the uninstructed copyholder and purchasable f reeman ? There is n o t i me to lose. All men now look to the ballot as the only sheet-anchor of sinking freedom. That which we predicted on the subject of the latter remedy is already begin n i ng to be accomplished. The infamous arts of intimidation, calumny, and corruption, which have been so immeasurably employed in the pre sent election, have opened the dullest eyes and con vinced many of the opponents of ballot of the neces sity of finally resorting to it, Two eminent candidates, THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 1837. one a Member of the Government, Mr. Robert Steu art and Mr. Angerstein, have declared their conversion to the necessity of the ballot, although they had hitherto zealously opposed it. Sir Henry Parnell has also declared distinctly and decidedly in favour of it. It may be recollected that Lord Howick and some of the higher functionaries of Government stated, while giving their opposition to it, that an extreme case, proving the progress of corruption and bribery, might urge them unwillingly to the necessity of adopting it as the only protection of freedom of election. We have not certainly far to look ' for the establishment of such an extreme case. The only valid objection to the ballot, by these and other statesmen, is, in reality of the most unsub stantial description. They express their fear lest the characteristic manliness and sincerity of the English people should suffer by the employment of secret vot ing. We, on the contrary, think that the charac teristic of manly sincerity which the sticklers for things as they are assign to Englishmen, would benefit by the change. Is there anything open and sincere in a man being compelled to express an opinion at the hustings through fear or reward which lie does not really entertain? . There is nothing so desirable as to deserve preservation in the bludvon and brick-bat system recommended and enforced by the Tory myr midons against the Reform candidates—nor in the un paralleled amount of funds devoted by the Conserva tives to the purchase of the public liberties—nor in the audacious spirit of calumny and detraction to which we began by adverting. All this would be overthrown by the Ballot ; the various arts of corruption would be at once extinguished by being rendered useless ; they would be suffocated in the suppressed exhalations of their own mephitic atmosphere.—Morn. Advertiser. The most dis g raceful feature in the character of the Melbourne-O'Connell administration is the contempt ible shuffling and evasion which they constant practise in regard to their principles and opinions. With one class of people and on one occasion, they are mode rate Whigs—with another class, and on another occa sion, they are downright Radicals, and sometimes they think it expedient, as in the case of Mr. Spring Rice at Cambridge, to give utterance to sentiments which no good Conservative need be ashamed to avow. From all this we may collect that they have no principles of their own, at least none that they are not, at any time, ready to sacrifice for the retention of place. Un der such an administration, any honest, enlightened, steady course of policy at home or abroad, is entirely out of. the question. The vessel of the state is like a ship at sea without helm or compass, drifted at the mercy of wind and tide, and leaving it a pure matter of accident whether it arrive at any port or be engulphed in shoals and quicksands and shattered on the rocks. It is indeed a melancholy thing to reflect, that this great empire, the mightiest upon which the sun goes down, if it ever does go down upon the vast extent of its dominions—should, by the inscrutable will of Pro vidence, and the foolishness of the people themselves, be placed under the misrule of an administration which has no fixed principle of policy or con duct whatever, or at least none that it has the honesty or firmness to act upon, or that the most sagacious person can calculate it will act upon for seven consecutive days together ! But one of the basest things we have heard of the Mel bourne Ministry, next to the degrading compact with O'Connell at Lichfield House, is the underhand con spiracy with certain Radical leaders to deprive the great mass of the Liberals themselves of the enjoy ment of freedom of election which has lately been ex posed by the Radicals of Dunfermline. It appears that a secret compact has been entered into between Radical Members of the late Parliament and the Whig Ministers whom those;Radicals were eternally charging, with political dishonesty, to force a Whig or a Radi cal, as the case might be, on every Liberal constituency in the realm, without allowing the electors the op portunity of a choice. These be your Reformers, 0 England. Let us see what the Radical electors of Dunfermline say in reference to this disgraceful conspiracy. They speak thus—" By a secret and unexplained coalition and understanding between the Whig and Radical Members of the last House of Commons, entered into without the consent or know ledge of, and carefully concealed from the constituency of the empire, it appears that they bound theinsslves to offer no opposition to the return of candidates of either party who had served in the former Parliament, or who had contested the election with Tory nominees, and that this conspiracy against the freedom of the electors in their choice of representatives, has the direct effect of compelling the electors to accept of a Whig Member for a Radical constituency, and of a Radical Member for a Whig constituency, contrary to the spirit of representation, and to the uniform profes sions of political obligation of the parties to that very coalition." Such is the sentence of condemna tion for acts of the basest political duplicity passed upon the Whig Ministers, and such Radicals as Hume, Colonel Thompson, and others, by a sturdy Radical constituency that will not allow their electoral rights to be sacrificed to a set of political adventurers who barter them away to serve their own cupidity or ambition, with as little ceremony as if the franchises of the electors were their own " goods and chattels." But the game is nearly up. The hypocrites are un masked.—Morning Herald. The elections proceed with a success to the cause of the Queen and Constitution, which, if not wholly uninterrupted, is marked only by such impediments and reverses as merely suffice to impart variety, and animation, and interest to the glorious game which is in progress. The Jacobinical Administration, which for the present disgraces the name and injures the for tunes of Great Britain has up to this moment lost more than fourteen seats in the House of Commons. County elections, English county elections, are about to commence, or hare already begun, the result of which will infallibly be, to add six or eight more to its aggregate of loss. But, taking the loss of Minis ters by the returns from Great Britain at the lowest estimate which can possibly be made, say 20 seats, here will be a difference against them of 40 votes on any division involving a trial of party strength in the House of Commons, as compared with their force in the last Parliament. And how few of the nume rous divisions upon which they staked in the last Parliament their existence as a Ministry were won by a majority so large as forty ? It would be, however, greatly to underrate the effect of the present election upon the Constitution and character of the House of Commons if we were to limit our computation of the change which has been wrought to the numerical result of the returns. To say nothing of the numerous instances in which the returns in favour of Ministerial candidates have been obtained by discreditable and illegal trickery, and will unquestionably be reversed immediately that they are submitted to the revision of an Election Com mittee—to say nothing of this source of augmented strength, upon which the Conservativepartymay securely reckon, how much ought we to allow for the moral effect of the temper and principles manifested so generally by the people of England upon the votes of Members who are expected to support Ministers ? In deference to the sense of the country, plainly ex pressed as it is, will not many of these think fit to vote occasionally against the Administration, unless Ministers should elude adverse votes by assimilating their official conduct and their Parliamentary mea sures to the general feeling of the community, as it has been made manifest by the elections ? But the Ministerial faction solace themselves, or affect to do so, with the expectation that they will gain something at the elections in Ireland to counterbalance the deep and se rious losses they have sustained, and have yet to sustain, in Great Britain. There never was an instance of more egregious self-delusion, or of grosser misrepresenta tion, than this. Whatever the Conservative party may lose in Ireland, and we see no reason to fear that its losses will be severe, it is morally certain that the Ministry, so far from gaining a single vote in Ireland, will lose all or nearly all the independent strength, and truly it is not much, which they have hitherto drawn from that country. That Mr. O'Connell may gain at the Irish elections a few additional votes—that his tail mar be elongated by four or five supplementary joints —is not improbable ; although this is not yet by any means certain. In the last Parliament no doubt, though the partisans of the Administration have often denied it, the Ministry was Mr. O'Connell and Mr. O'Connell was the Ministry. But we now want to know whether this identity is to be equally maintained in the Parliament just springing into existence. Do the Ministerial speakers and writers, when they boast of the accession of strength which the Administration is to derive from the Irish elec tions—an accession of strength plainly and avow edly not their own, but that of Mr. 'O'Connell— mean to intimate that Mr. O'Connell and the Administration arc to stand in the same relation to wards each other during the existence of the next Parliament as that in which they stood during the ex istence of the last? To this question we scarcely ex pect at the present moment any very distinct or intel ligible answer. But it is a question which, neverthe less, cannot long remain unanswered. The current of affairs will not fail, in due season, to furnish a suffi ciently intelligible and distinct reply to this perplexing interrogatory, and it is enough to know that it can not for long be postponed or eluded. Whether it may be answered in the negative or the affirmative is a matter of the least imaginable importance, so far as the fate of the present Ministry is concerned. If Lord Melbourne's Ministry and Mr. O'Connell's faction are not to be one and the same thing iir the next Parliament, as they were in the last, in this case Ministers have no right, and will certainly have no reason, to boast the victories of Mr. O'Con nell in the Irish elections as victories of which they are to partake either the glory or the spoil. If, on the other hand, Lord Melbourne's Ministry and Mr. O'Connell's faction are to be still as heretofore identi cal in motive and object, in principle and feeling, then we must go back to the English and Scotch elections, and revise our own estimate of the effect they are cal culated to produce upon the spirit and conduct of the House of Commons. The people of England at the recent elections have manifested a repugnance to the existing alliance between the Ministry and the O'Con nell faction much more decisive than is indicated by the mere numerical strength which they have with drawn from the Parliamentary ranks of the Ad,ninis tration ; witness the expulsion at Middlesex and 4 elsewhere of the Ministerial candidates who sup ported the Melbourne Government on account of this alliance, and the retention of those who tole rated the Government in spite of it. Upon this subject the sense of the people of England has been manifested less by the substitution of Conservative for Ministerial Members of the House of Commons than by the preference everywhere shown to such of the latter as were supposed merely to have endured the Melbourne O'Connell alliance over such as were known to have approved and cemented it. And the sense of the people of England, decisively expressed as it has been, cannot be without its effect in the future pro ceedings of Parliament. Let then Mr. O'Connell's gains in Ireland b e a pp ro p r i a t e d by th e Administra tionin the only way in which they can be appro priated, and it will speedily be found that the increase of strength acquired by the constitutional party in the elections of Great Britain exceeds in the proportion of three to one the numerical estimate of the most san guine or the most Conservative calculator.—Morning Post. LAW INTELLIGENCE. TICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT, Aria. 5. BENNETT AND HIND V. THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY. This was an application for an injunction to restrain the defendants from continuing to make a road over certain lands in the county of Middlesex, adjoining to the Grand Junction Canal. The land had been ranted by the plain tiff, with an undertaking on their part to furnish a specified number of bricks every year, to be made from the earth of the field. A contract had been made with the Railway Company to empower them to continue their works over the field of the plaintiffs, but that plaintiffs should be at li berty to finish making bricks upon the field during the pre sent season, and that all necessary conveniences should be allowed them for that purpose. The Railway- Company have, however, commenced making their road, which will go through some of the chief works of the plaintiffs, and thereby put them to great expense, and at the same time prevent the possibility of a sufficient number of bricks being made to enable them to fulfil their agreement. The VICE-CHANCELLOR said it appeared to him the only question was whether the plaintiffs were to give notice. His Honour gave leave for notice of motion to be served on Monday next. PREROGATIVE COURT, Aua. 5. JUDGMENT..---BAKER V. HAREWOOD. This is a suit respecting the validity of the will of Mr. Thomas Edward Baker, who died on the 27th of March, 1833, being a widower, without children, and possessed of real property to the value of between 400/. and 500/. per annum, and a personalty amounting to 17,000/. or 18,0001. The next of kin of the deceased were two cousins, Maria Baker, one of the parties to the cause, and her sister, who are in indigent circumstances. There are some un executed papers of the deceased, bearing date 1831, by which it appears that he intended to leave a large pro. party to his wife, who had previously been his house keeper, and in whom, it is alleged, he had always placed the greatest confidence, and some legacies to his next of kin and most intimate friends. The will now propunded was, it is pleaded, prepared on the 27th of March, a few hours previous to the death of the deceased, he having given instructions to Mr. Knight, a solicitor, who had been sent for; but after the instructions .had been deli livered, the deceased fell into a stupor, from which he never recovered. The paper is, therefore, unexecuted. It bequeaths the whole property to his wife, " for her sole use and disposal, to do with it as she thinks proper ;" and appointed her sole executrix and universal legatee. Probate of the paper was taken out, and a caveat was entered on behalf of Mr. George Baker, whose interest was denied. Mrs. Baker subsequently married Mr. Harwood, the party propounding the will, and, dying, left him the whole of her property, as bequeathed to her by her first husband. The former will is now opposed on the ground that the testator was not of testamentary capacity. The Learned JUDGE gave his decision this day. The Court did not consider it necessary to go at any length into the minute facts of the case ; and thinking that there was not sufficient evidence to establish the validity of the will pronounced against it, and at the same time revoked the probate which had been issued. ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE. MIDLAND CIRCUIT.-IVARwicr, Aua. 3. The Commission of this count) was opened at a late hour on Thursday evening, and owing to the County Hill being required for the nomination of the candidates for the northern division of this county, the business of the Assizes did not commence before half-past one on Friday. On the Civil side there 26 causes for trial, and about the usual complement of prisoners for the Criminal Bar, none, how ever, charged with the commission of any very heinous offences. SATURDAY, AUG. 5.-FLUYER V. JEFFERY. This was an action brought for the recovery of 2,000/. upon bonds. A gentleman of the name of Foster, livinc , at Ayston, in Rutlandshire, of which parish he was the pastor, advanced to Mr. Jeffery, the defendant in the present action, and who is a brewer and wine merchant, living at Peterborough, in the county of Northampton, the sum of 2,0004, taking as a security for the same two bonds of 1,000/. each, and interest at the rate of five per cent. per annum. Mr. Jeffery being a relation, through his wife, of the family of Mr. Foster, shortly before the death of Mr. Foster, he being in his 90th year, he, in the presence of Jeffery, destroyed the bonds in question, reserving, how ever, to himself, by verbal agreement only, the interest during his life, intending, as was alleged by the defendant to destroy the bonds, and thereby giving a proof of his regard and affection for him ; and it was sworn by a Mrs. Chapman, who had lived in the family of the Fosters for some years, first as a better sort of servant, and then as a companion of Mrs. Foster, that the same were destroyed in her presence by means of a candle, Mr.. Jeffery at the time thanking Mr. Foster for his kind ness and liberality towards him. On the death of the old gentleman, Foster, Mr. Fludyer, the present plaintiff, his executor, made some inquiries respecting these bonds of Mrs. Chapman, and that lady having at different times g►iven different tales about them proceedings were taken for the recovery of the same, and the questions for the Jury to decide on the present occasion were, first, had the bonds been cancelled at all by Mr. .Foster ? And, secondly, even supposing they had, was he in a fit state of mind to do so at the time ? The Learned JUDGE having summed up, the Jury found a verdict in favour of the defendant. NORFOLK CIRCUIT.—NoRwmg, Ara. 4. WORTLeY V. POSTLE, CLERK, AND ANOTHER. This was an action instituted by the plaintiff, an attorney, for the purpose of enforcing payment of his -bill, amounting to 631. and a fraction, from the defendants, who are magis trates of the county ; and the defence raised by the pleas was virtually that the retainer on which the claim was founded had been obtained by the plaintiff from them by fraud and misrepresentation. In support of the defence raised by the plea of fraud and misrepresentation several most respectable witnesses were called who proved that the defendants had been asked by the plaintiff to sign the paper, which was drawn up by him self, as a "mere matter of form, and ministerially." Mr. KELLY having replied upon'this testimony, The Jury found a verdict for the plaintiff, the =cunt of whose bill of costs it was understood would be referred for taxation." . . . CROWN COURT.—Henry FOSiCT stood charged with the manslaughter of John Thorpe. The prisoner was a youth of the most humane and peace able disposition, and being on the diy in question at a pub lic house at Feltwell, the deceased came in and gave him a blow on the nose. On this the prisoner left the house, but the deceased, who, to use the words of a witness, " counted 'liaised the champion of Feltwell," followed him into the yard, knocked him down by a blow on the back of the head, and then fell upon him. A scuffle ensued, both parties kicking till they were separated, and taken to their respective homes by the bystanders. On reaching his home Thorpe was taken ill, and in the course of the night expired. The Jury, after the Learned Judge had explained to them the application of the law to the above facts, acquitted the prisoner. Jl'm. While, John While, Stephen Xensell, and three females claiming to be their respective wives, but charged as single women, were indicted for breaking into and steal ing, from the house of Robert Gurnliam, a shopkeeper at Ludham, in this county, a large quantity of goods, chiefly consisting of linen drapery, and ribbons, on the night of the 25th May last. Verdict of Guilty against all the men, with an acquittal of the three female prisoners, whereupon the former were severally transported for 14 years. In the city there is no civil business, and only one cri minal case, an assault arising out of the late election for the city, and as the defendants have traversed over to the next Assizes their Lordships may be congratulated on having ar rived at the close of their labours at an early period, and that, too, without having left a single person for execution. HOME CIRCUIT.-- 7 111.1 . ru.sroNE, duo. 5. The case of " Doe, on the demise of G. H. Neville and another v. Alsager and others," was tried before Mr. Jus tice Littled:kle and a special jury. It merely related to the right of possession of the Sussex Hotel at Tunbridge Wells, and some land attached to it. The jury found a verdict for the lessors of the plaintiffs—Damages Is. The case of Mills v. Thompson," which arose out of the same circumstances that gave rise to the trial of " Rogers v. Mills," was made a remane t un til th e nex t S pr i ng As sizes ; the Learned Judge observing that most probably by that time the present excitement would have passed away. BRENTFORD PETTY SESSIONS. THE ATTACK ON MR. HOME.—On Saturday at the above sessions, William Barnes was charged before Messrs. BAILLIE and ARMSTRONG, the sitting Magistrates, under the following circumstances :—Mr. James Montgomery, jun., of Brentford, while attending the hustings on Friday on the part of Mr. Hume, observed a good deal of mobbing. On Mr. Hume leaving the hustings to proceed to his Com mittee-room, the Hon. Gentleman was attacked by the po pulace, and on witness attempting to stop a man who had assaulted Mr. Hume, his prisoner was rescued from him by the mob, among whom was the defendant, who struck wit ness a violent blow in his side, the effects of which he still felt. Defendant instantly ran away, but witness followed him, and never lost sight of him until he had given him into custody. Mr. Dean, pawnbroker of New Brentford, who witnessed the transaction, corroborated his statement. The defendant was fined ss. William Stagg: was also charged with having assaulted Mr. Montgomery. He was likewise fined is. John Stanley was charged with having excited and infu riated the mob to assault Mr. Hume, and afterwards with rescuing the person who had assaulted him from the custody of the police. The charge having been proved by the evidence of Mr. Allen, the chairman, and Mr. Hammond, one of Messrs. Byng and Mr. Hume's Committee, the Bench fined the defendant l Os. The whole of th e fines were ,:fininediately paid by the prisoners' friends. POLICE INTELLIGENCE. G UILDHALL. A young man of respectable appearance, who gave the name of Thomas Stanley, was finally examined before Mr. Alderman WINCHESTER, charged with defrauding Mr. D. Pollock, the Barrister, of two shillings. Mr. Alderman WICHESTBR committed him for trial. Jane Rowe, an elderly female, was charged with steal ing a pair of scarlet silk stockings, which were once the pro perty of Queen Elizabeth. The complainant, Mrs. Robertson, of Middle-street, Fetter-lane, stated that the prisoner (a lodger of hers), had opened the drawers and stolen six lace veils, a spencer, and various other articles, including the above-mentioned silk stockings. Sir C. HUNTER asked the complainant how she came by them ? Mrs. Robertson explained that Queen Eliza beth's wardrobe ►vas, at her death, divided among her maids of honour, and these stockings had been handed down from one to another till they reached the hands of a Mr. Lash broke, who gave them to her. The pawnbroker produced the stocki gs, and identified the prisoner as the pawner. They were nearly seven-eighths of a yard in length, very strong and weighty, and had whit g clocks at the ankles. The prisoner was committed. BOW-STREET. William Joyce, a lad only seventeen years of age, was .barged with robbery. The prisoner, when called upon for his defence, impu dently said, " I know I stole the money, and I am ready to suffer for it." The Magistrate asked the father if he wished to prose cute, and he replied in the affirmative, as he believed it would be the only way of rescuing the prisoner from total ruin. The prisoner was then committed for trial. His mother was crying bitterly in the office during the whole of the ex amination, but the prisoner was quite unmoved. UNION-HALL. A middle aged man, supposed to be connected with a gang of swindlers in the City, was charged with obtaining goods on false ,pretences from William Leadbitter, chair maker, London-road. Th e complainant stated that about a month ago the prisoner called and gave him an order for three dozen of chairs, which were to be shipped for Boulogne. He said he was an agent to the East Lon don Gas and Coke Company, No. 33, Abchurch-lane, and gave a reference to a Mr. —, who, he said, was the Ma naging Director. The complainant called there, and seeing several persons who had the appgarance of clerks, sitting at desks with large account-books'll6fore them, he i n q u i re d f or the Managing Director, and was immediately introduced to a well-dressed man, who said that he was the person. The complainant having acquainted the person with the nature of his business he was immediately told that Mr. was one of the agests to the Company, and that his character was quite unexceptionable, the " Managing Director" add ing that Mr. was in every way honest and punctual in his dealings. The reference satisfied the complainant and he accordingly sent the prisoner three dozen chairs, which were to have been paid for at the expiration of a month ; but it was subsequently ascertained that the pri soner had decamped from his house—that he had sold the chairs for a third of their value in less than three hours after they had been in his possession ; and upon further inquiry it was found that the parties in Abebureh-lane were a gang of swindlers, with whom he was associated, and that he had contrived to obtain possesSion of a great quantity of property by the means he had employed on the occasion in question. Another sufferer, named Pugh, stated that the prisoner obtained three dozen of chairs from him under similar cir cumstances, but gave him at the time a promissory note for 181. as a collateral security, accepted by T. Camp. The prisoner bolted, however, soon after he got the chairs, and the bill was found not to be worth a straw. Mr. TRAIL regretted that such an offender should escape, but stated that it was extremelt doubtful whether, if the complainants indicted the prisoner at the sessions, a con viction would necessarily follow. The prisoner was then discharged. FIRES. Yesterday morning, between the hours of two or three, a fire of the most destructive nature broke out on the pre mises belonging to a Mr. Chantley , agr icultural machine manufacturer, No. 230, Oxford-street, a few doors from the Regent-circus. The fire was discovered by Mr. Mar tin, of No. 236, who, on retiring to rest at half-past twelve o'clock, suspected, from the strong smell of burning that a fire was on the eve of breaking out. He immediately g ave the alarm to the policeman on duty, and commenced search ing his own premises ; but not discovering any fire on them, and being convinced that his suspicion was not groundless, he determined to ascer tain the fact b efore he again -re tired to rest, but strange to state, the fire was not per ceived for nearly an hour and a half after theocdonrnrwoeuinisecened-, ment of the search, during which time they had the inmates of every house in the neiulth .e o urhod t on arriving at the premises in question, th found to be in flames. Such was the rapidity of the de vouring element, that the in ma t es on being interior was p e r obligedty econsumed u e m s canape istth heonlygreat. their night dress on. The v. p •e r r o e . The dwelling house and a portion of the workshops of M4 l Chantley are entirely de stroyed, and the contents neatly consumed. Last night, about half-past eleven °cc:lode ; thn habi tants residing in the eastern part of the metropolis were again thrown into a state of alarm and terror by a destruc tive fire breaking out in the warehouses belonging to Mr. Hickey, grocer, No. 2, Raymond-row, Artillery-place, Spi talfields. On the arrival of the first engine, the premises were from bottom to top in one mass of fire, and raged with the most frightful rapidity. By half-past twelve o'clock the fire gradually became exhausted, and by the unremitting' efforts of the firemen, it was entirely got under by one. The house of Mr. Hickey is entirely consumed, and the contents destroyed. Whether he ii insuced in Any of OW fire offices could net be escertainei. STATE O TPA-5Z (Prom the Leeds intellititoeto Saturday. ) TRADE or Lttris.- , ..We are glad to observe an improve• ment in the demand for goods in the Leeds Cloth Ha!IF, principsilly for the execution of orders, yet there has of late been but buyers of finished goods in the market either for foreign or home consumption. BRADFORD MARKET.—It is diffiCillt to &Seal; the character of the market on Thursday, as both merchants and manufacturers seemed to be absorbed in the business of the election, and very few transactions of any extent took place. We may, however, state that during the week there has been an improved demand for middling and inferior combing g wools, and fine long matching s an d super ho wools have met ready sale, or rather, we should say, hate been promptly disposed of under an impression that tke recent advance will not be permanently maintained, ROCHDALE FLANNEL MARKET, JULY 31.—. The d e . mand to-day has chiefly been for fine and mid‘tle qualities of flannels, and somewhat higher prices have been asked on account of the advance in the price of wool. Tn the weol market there has not been much doing, but the last week's prices have been maintained. YORK WOOL MARKET, AUG. 3.—The supply of wool to this day's market has been tolerably good, and has been attended by a very respectable number of spinners and ma nufacturers from the West Riding. Prices may be quoted nominal upon our former reports, viz.—Good bred Hog. 12d. to 12d. ; Half Hog and Ewe, 11d. to 12d. ; All Ewe, 9d. to hod. ; Locks (with Cots), 6d. to 7d. ; ditto (without Cots), .sd. to 6d. ; Moor Wool, 4d. to 4id. per lb. LIVERPOOL COTTON-MARKET, Auo. 5. There has been an active demand for cotton throughout. the week, and the market closes firmly with an advance of -id. per lb. in the current qualities of American. The low price cA Egyptian brings this description into more general demand, which is, however, very freely met without any improvement in prices. In Brazil, Bahia is not freely offered, and com mands full prices; the prices of Pernam and Maranham are also fully supported. Surat is in good demand at steady prices. Tho sales of tho week amount to 35,670 bales, in cluding 4,000 American, and 800 Egyptian on speculation, and 900 American, 330 Pernam, 50 Bengal, and 1,350 Surat for export. 1,800 American and 90 Bahia have been for warded into the country unsold during last month. d. d. 200 Sea Islands .... 13 to 24 d. 4. 10 Demerara, 6 to 0 Peruvians .. 0 0 390 Laguayras 64 7} 2,500 Surats . 3 5 120 Bengals . . 3 4 Carthagenas --,- Manilla 0 0 130 West India..., si 7 Ilarbadoes Smyrna 0 0 I, and the market decidedly arm, 20 Stained ditto 7i —lO ' 8,390 Uplands 4 6,600 Mobile, &e. 411— 7* 18,460 New Orleans 41 8 1,700 Egyptians 7i —l2 910 Pernams, &c 7 94 1 580 Bahias 1,260 Maranhams - Sawginned 6 ___ 7 The sales to-day are 3,500 bag with a hardening tendency. Bales. Taken on speculation this year Same in 1836 Forwarded to the country unsold this year Same in 1836 Increase of import this year compared with the same date last year Increase of stock Decrease of quantity taken for consumption 4,300 Decrease of quantity taken for export Comparative View of the Imports and Exports of Cotton into and from the whole Kingdom, from the let of January to the 29th July, and of the Imports and Exports for the same period last year : Into the Kingdom this year. Bags. ••... 676,802 81,306 ................. 3,692 99,829 19,418 American . South American West Indies, Demerara, &c. East Indies Egypt, &c. Total of all descriptions Same period last year. Bags. American .. 572,540 South American West Indies, Demerara, Sce. East Indies Egypt, &c. Increase of Imports as compared with same period last year Exports in 1837. American, 30,020 ; Brazil, 2,145 ; East India, 38,312 ; West India, —; Other kinds, —. Total in 1837 Same period last year Stock. 70,477 ................ 50,776 July 21, 1837 ... Same time, 183li 366,300 296,300 THE HOSPITAL AT MUNICH.—As we were pre paring to quit this abode of desolation, grief and bodily pain, lodged in handsom e a p ar t ments, l y i ng on soft, clean, and white beds, and attended by y oung an d many o f t h em angel i c look ing nurses in a monastic garb ; we passed one of these, who stood with her hands crossed on her swelling bosom, and had stopped to allow the physician and his pupils to go by. Her fine pale face and soft eyes were meekly lowered to the ground, like those in one of Carlo Dolce's Madonn a s, and she only raised them in acknowledgment . of a morning sa l utation from the Doctor, What an express i on them! What it V01L111.3 Of f e'- ings I read, in an ins' ant, in the quickpassing and again soon lost glances she directed towards us ! " E xce ll ente personae, " exclaimed with more of enthusiasm than I had yet perceived in Meinhcrr Von Ringseis, as we left her behind, " excellentes __angelique. C'est one sainte !raiment." I fastened my eyes upon her figure, as she turned to follow her sacred office, and quitted us.—Dr. Granvillt's Spas of Germany. MRS. GORE'S NEW NOVEL.—We are requisted to state that the new novel, by the authoress of " M r s. Ar mytage," " Mothers and Daughters," &e., entitled " Stokes hill Place, or the Man of Business," was published this day by Mr. Colburn, of Great Marlborough-street, and may now be had of all booksellers. QUEEN ELIZABETH.—Her Majesty was returning through London, after her coronation, amidst the enthusiastic acclamations of her subjects, when, a boy, personating Truth, presented her with a copy of th e Bibl e f rom one of the trium what arches erectedin honour of the occasion. She received the book in the most gracious manner, and placing it next her bosom, declared, that amidst all the costly testimonies that the city had that day given her of their attachment, this pre sent was by far the most precious and acceptable. Elizabeth possessed in the highest degree those arts which facilitate the acquisition of popularity, and though similarly brilliant and costly pageants have frequently been displayed upon such oc casions, perhaps there never was one where the warmest af fections of the heart were so fully reciprocated between the sovereign and the people. —James's Memoirs of Celebrated Women. John and George Steel, brothers, natives of Cheshire, and B.•n Webb, a native of StaffJrdshire, known to be part of a desperate gang of burglars awl thieves, have been appre hended and committed to Chcster Castle, charged with the wilful murder of Mr. Boswell Meredith, of W►staston, near Nant vrich.—Salopian Journal. The NEW FLAT GOLD WATCHES are offered in double-bottomed engine -turned eases, with ♦ertical movements, for Seven Guineas each, or, with highly-finished hori zontal movements, jewelled and warranted, at Nine Guineas *echo at T. COX SAVORY'S, Working Goldsmith, Silversmith, and Watchmaker, 47, Coruhill, London. N.B.—The horizontal construction is strongly recommended fec its superior accuracy. B Ili TR S. --- On the 3d inst., the lady of J. T. Berkley, Es q., Woodberry, Stoke oonn t N thhe e: s . i 6t n ht g hi t i o ,: i i i ti ,. :t o . f : n a i ndpaohurgi Dorset - terrace, eh:: Thomas Winstanley, Esq., of a son. square, the ee lady lady of f Thomas Gladstone, Esq., of a daughter. MA 11 1? I ED. On the 3d inst., at the Superintendent Registrar's offiee, St* Pancras, Augustus De Morga n , E sq., to Sophia Elizabeth, eldest d au ghter of William Freud, Esq. On the 3d inst., at Wellington, Somerset, Lamec Swift, Escil of Reek House, Milverton, to Elizabeth, youngest daughter e' William Bird, Esq., Westford House, Wellington. On the Ist inst., at Stamford-hill Chapel, S. H. Pulley, _Esq"' of Hornsey, to Su sanna h King, elder daughter of the late William Woodley, Esq., of Upper Clapton. On the Ist inst., at St. John' s Hackney, Mr. W r i g ht, o f Kit tisford-plac e , H ac k ney -road, to John's, youngest daughter of Robe" Jones, Esq., of Cambrid ge - On the I s t i nst. terrace, Hackney. , at St. Marylebone Church, H. W. liars; Esq., of th e R egent ' s Park, to Ann Henriette, only daughter of Hugh Boyd, Esq., of Ballycastle, county Antrim, Ireland. On the 3d inst., at St. Mary's, Islington, Mr. J. Ho rne , alb" bran, to H enr i etta, e l dest daughter of the late Mr. W. Gillwanr Bridgemaster. On the sth inst., at the New Chnrch, St. Pancras, Stedman, Esq., of Broad-street-buildings, London, to Sarah An Pruday, eldest daughter of the late J. Pruday, Esq. On the sth inst., at Christ Church, St. Marylebone, F. Kel l o l of Hunter- s t ree t, B runsw i c k- square, E sq., to Harriet, daughte r J. Richard, Esq., of Clarendon -place, Edgeware-road. DIED. On the 6th inst., in Stratton-street, Piccadilly, Harriot, Duche° of St. Alban's, On tho 4th Inst., at Holloway, Middlesex, J. Hunter, Esq.) g el 74, formerly of Bow Churchyard, London. On the 2d inst., in University-street, Mrs. Aldous, aged 78., p, On the 2:2d ult., at Winche s t er , M ary, w if e of E. Phillips, 1' of On the sth inst., at Wilton-crescent, Sarah, only daughter W. Watkins, Esq., aged 10. On the 4th inst., at Hastlngs, Elizabeth H aw t rey , relict o f the late Rev. E. Hawtrcy, Fellow of Eton College. ••••-••••••••1.11MIN, - o• Liiii4nt Printed and PubliAhed by MURDO YOUNG , 0 - 112, Strand, at The Sum Office, No. IL!, Strand, in the oth— of AliddleF ex,—Moliday, August 7, 1837. ~Y