The Sun. — London, England, 1837-11-20 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. Speeches from the Throne have for many years ceased to possess much interest ; but the Speech of Queen Victoria to her Arst Parliament is looked for ward to with an eager curiosity. We should suppose that the Speech to be delivered from the Throne this day will commence with an assurance of the anxiety felt by her Majesty to meet Parliament, and to co operate with the two Houses in such measures as may be deemed calculated to promote the welfare of her people. The Speech will naturally next advert to our relations with foreign powers. It will state, we should suppose, that her Majesty continues to receive assur ances of the friendly dispositions of all foreign Govern ments, and that she trusts she will be able to continue to preserve for the country its present state of peace. Among the other advantages of such a state of things, that of enabling the Legislature to bestow its undi vided attention on the melioration of our laws and in stitutions will probably not be forgotten. A com mercial treaty has just been concluded with the Re publics of Peru and Bolivia, and reference will natu rally be made to it. It is understood that the reason for so early an attendance of P ar li amen t was th e ne cessity for settling the Civil List. We expect, there fore, that the Speech will announce that the attention of Parliament will, with as little delay as possible, be directed to the consideration of the Civil List, in which a strict economy will be enjoined. It is understood that her Majesty intends to make over to the disposi tion of Parliament every branch of her hereditary reve nues, without any exception, and this important depar ture from the practice of her predecessors will no doubt also form a part of the Speech. Some of the more promi nent of the measures to be submitted by Ministers to Par liament will be particularly specified. And among these it may be supposed that Irish Poor-laws, Corporation Reform in Ireland, and the settlement of the Irish Tithe question on principles calculated to conciliate all classes of her Majesty's Irish subjects, will occupy a prominent part. It will also be announced, no doubt, that measures for the reform of our laws, and their better administration, will be brought under the consideration of Parliament. As the affairs of Canada occupied much of the attention of the last Parliament, and must demand the attention of the present, we must infer that this important subject will not be overlooked on the present occasion. The Speech will conclude with an expression of her Majesty's recommendation to Parliament - to treat all these and other subjects which may come before it with justice and impartiality, and with an assurance of her Majesty's reliance on the attachment of the people.—Morning Chronicle. The zeal and earnestness of those services, however humble, which we have tendered to the cause of Irish Protestantism and of civil liberty (for they are wholly inseparable) will not, we trust, be doubted. When the Roman Catholic nobility and gentry of Ireland were, as we thought wrongfully, because we thought needlessly, excluded from all share in those political privileges which their Protestant fellow-subjects en joyed, and when it seemed to us that justice, which is but another name for sound policy, required their re admission to the exercise of public trust and power, so far as an equal share in legislating and administering the law with the members of their own religious com munion was concerned, we should not scruple to call for the evidence of any Roman Catholic who has the least sense of truth or honour, in support of our asser tion, that no individual or body of men in die political world, and certainly no portion of the press in either country, surpassed the Times in the diligence, patience, and manly energy with which under many discourage ments, and, among the rest, under considerable public odium, this journal presented itself, from year to year, from week to week, from one meriting to another, as the advocate of what was then called " Catholic Emanci pation." Nor did ally, the most eager and interested Roman Catholic, rejoice, on selfish grounds, more ex ultingly than we did, on grounds which could have had no particle of selfishness or narrowness in them, at the passing of that. great constitutional measure, - which, as it not merely satisfied the demands of justice, but in their fullest amplitude the petitions of Lite sufflrers themselves, we, in common with others wiser and more experienced in practical statesmamliip, hoped would prove a final settlement of all adverse or dis puted claims between Roman Catholic and Protestant. That we were deceived was a misfortune, in which the wi-ole Monarchy participated. Irish exactions and ex tortions, which had neither right nor truth, nor good faith, nor integrit3—no, nor a reasonable regard for the public safety, to recomtnend them, grew upon the shoulders of that one concession, to which - the cha racter of " completeness" had been so solemnly, by (hose who prayed for it, and so confidently, but alas! so erroneously, by those who granted it, affixed. 'l".te perfection of religious and political tolerance in the . acts of the Protestant Legislature was met, in those of the Papist body, by an excess of intolerance, greedi tuss, treachery, and insolence, unexampled since the reign of James IL—The position of parties, and the corrupt profligacy of the Whigs, who forced Sir Robert Peel to relinquish office, and with office his pLana of enlarged and substantial reform, stimulated the cupidity of one class of Papists and the ambition of another, bartering the government of Ireland and its profits for the nominal direction of measures, and the real enjoyment of office here, and throwing in the prospective ruin of the heretic Irirn Church as a lure to the consciences of those Papists who might have qualms about the morality of other items in the com pact. Thus was a total change effected in the relations of the parties. Popery became the aggressor, Pro testantism the aggrieved. Sir Robert Peel and the Con servatives had avowed, and acted upon, the expediency of a commutation of Irish tithe, and of an internal im provement in the distribution of ecclesiastical revenues, English as well as Irish ; both which changes, taken together—viz.. first, in the collection of the property— second, in the distribution of it, embrace the entire of what, strictly speaking, deserves the name of " Church Reform," in so far as it constitutes a fitting subject to be regulated by act of Parliament. But this will not at present do for the factious Papists, nor have they so defined or limited their objects since the overthrow of Lord Grey's Administration. They began, about that period, openly to threaten and insist upon the absolute extinction of the Prostestant established church, and the diversion of its property to what they nicknamed " national," but which are in reality nothing more nor less than exclusively Popish--that is " anti national," purposes. For example, the O'Connell gang talk loudly upon " popular education," as being a grand " national" object in Ireland ; but when you come to cross-examine them a little, you find that, practically, this "national" education is to be education completely governed—that is, warped and distorted— by the priesthood, for the extension and consolidation of its own despotic power. This places the Legislature therefore in a cleft stick. Education is wanted to en lighten the people, and to liberate them from priestly thraldom. But the sort of education to be granted is one which deepens the ignorance of the Popish multitude into Egyptian darkness, and rivets and perpetuates their blind subjection to the priests. Again, the spirit in which the executive authority has been administered, the magistracy appointed, pa tronage prostituted, and justice crippled—the degree to which the advances of Popery towards supreme power have been encouraged, and peaceful and loyal subjects of the other creed discountenanced and put down, has still further tended to work out the entire transposition of the Popish interest and the Protestant, as compared with the relations which formerly existed between them, and have imposed it upon all men who wish to see the law once more in vigour and the empire itself secure, as a duty th e most pressing and indispen sable to uphold the Protestant, which is now the in jured and persecuted cause —which is, moreover,: at all times, in its abstract character, the cause of freedom and morality, as compared with that of the Papists, and to employ every constitutional means for the defeat and expulsion of a -Ministry which has sold itself and betrayed both Crown and people of England to the de clared enemy of both. It is as Protestants, therefore, primarily and especially, that we meditate this forth coming crisis. . It is as English Protestants that we am filled with disgust in retracing the progress of the • last. Parliament, and with anxiety in me ditating the general composition of that which is now at' the very outset of its portentous course. A correspondent of the Times, who knows what he treats of, has drawn a portrait of the majority the last House of Commons, and of the despicable Ministers kept in office that mean and base ma jority, which we shall not weaken by attempting to re touch ; nor can we do more than refer our readers to it, as a valuable momento of the wrongs and humilia tions which may be inflicted on a mighty state in the name and under the ascendancy of " popular govern. ment." But there are other proceedings, and in a very different quarter, which no well-wisher to the cause of " Protestant ascendancy," or to the reign of law and regular government, as contradistinguished from Popish tyranny and multitudinary violence, can look at other wise than with extreme concern. We allude now to an effort making at this moment while we write, to re incorporate, both in form and substance, that society which was lately and so laudably dissolved—viz., the Orange Lodge system of Ireland, although never con nected with the Irish Orangemen otherwise than by strong religious sympathies, and by a co-part nership, we hope and trust, in the same loyal and reverential affection for the British Monarchy, and for our ancient, free, noble, and Protestant institutions. We have profoundly admired the manly and martial bearing by which those brave enthusiasts in the defence of all that good and honest men hold dear have inva riably been distinguished. Our heart has been with them, even when our judgment was not. Nor have we ever failed to repel with the indignation which it merited the foul charge that Orangemen were bound together for any objects but these which the spirit of the Constitution recognized, though the letter of it might not perhaps recommend the mode adopted by the Orange Society for pursuing them. The steady love of British connexion, an unfeigned and ardent devotion to the ProteStant Church and State, and a rooted distrust of those dark purposes to which the vast mechanism of temporal Popery is throughout the whole earth, but in Ireland above every other spot on earth, framed to be subservient ;—these are and have been the attributes of Orangemen, and have been vindicated in the field with as little hesitation as they were avowed in word or writing. With such senti ments it is impossible that any loyal Protestant or true Englishman should fail to identify his own. Nor if a proved necessity should arise, like that in the year 1798, for re-organizing in all its outward and formal characteristics the Orange Institution of that dreadful era, when no other expedient could be had recourse to for enabling each Pro testant threatened with hourly massacre to know where he might find a brother and how he might be saved, we should be the last to say anything that could damp or paralyse such a spirit of well-regulated co-operation among loyal men, or that could dissuade from the instantaneous execution of the plan now re vived in Ireland. But we would respectfully beseech our fellow-Protestants to ask themselves, ill-used and misgoverned as they have been by Lord Mulgrave, whether a case of such extreme necessity has yet been made out for the satisfaction of the world as would justify a fresh recourse to those means which were so recently, and with an approbation from all reflecting lookers-on so cordial and so general, relinquished ? Violenccs there may be, housebreakings, robberies of arms, extensive plunder of ammunition, murders, dar ing and savage, by the roadside ; individual suffering there is, and will he, much. But there is not that open warfare carried on by regimented bodies of armed men, and for the professed aim of wholesale Protestant extermination, which rendered inevitable in 1798 a formal array of able-bodied Protestants for the defence of their lives and families. Who is now responsible for the protection of life and property in Ireland, and for the enforcement of the law against offenders ? We admit most freely that adequate protection is not afforded—that the law is not even decently enforced— but often and scandalously violated. But this cannot last for ever. Lord Mulgrave is now responsible. We have reason to believe that he has incurred severe penalties fur breach of his most solemn duties, and has rendered himself liable to legal punishments which will not fail to be inflicted. Very well. Do our Protestant brethren,- who have signed the report in favour of a resumption of the Orange system, wish to take the law into their own hands ?—assert the right to be their own protectors ? thus relieving the Anti-- Protestant Viceroy from that heavy responsibility under which lie now labours, and from the fear of that punishment which now infallibly awaits him ? Is that not a bounty on the Viceroy's guilt, and a shift ing of his actual responsibility from his shoulders to their own ? But further, what is the real, what the rapidly increasing strength of the posi tion now held by the Protestants of Ireland ? It is the fact of their being an injured, oppressed, and persecuted race of men—it is the cer tain!v that they will in the course of things have effectual redress for their injuries, and the satisfac tion at once of seeing their tyrants crushed, and their own future safety and welfare as a people placed on a secure foundation. Will they forfeit this ? But tchere, again, lies the strength of the Irish Protestant community ? Here, in England. The English peo ple arc now pervaded by one common sense of the cruel sufferings entailed upon their fellow Protestants in Ireland. The people of England are ready at the first call in Parliament to interpose, and save those who have no other protectors. They see, on the one hand, that the Protestants are loyal, peaceable, and oppressed ; on the other hand, that the agitating Papists are turbulent, fierce, and tyrannical. Is it possible that such a state of Opinion in this country should not promply root out the evil which has produced it? Can we suppose that the Conservatives in Parlia ment, or that the nation out of doors will suffer such a condition of things to endure ? Is it possible that Eng lishmen will long be passive spectators of the pros trate and pitiable downfall of whatever exists in Ire land with which they can claim kindred, or sympathy, or affection ? We say no. The day of reckoning comes, and sharp and formidable will be that reckoning, un less the party in favour of whom it is to be enforced shall create a revulsion of principle and feeling against themselves, and teach their English brethren to ex , claim, that "if Irish Protestants, instead of leaning upon us, will set up an unlawful standard of their own, to wage a war of violence upon their lawless enemies, we cannot conscientiously uphold them in such an ex periment, but are inclined to let the belligerents fight it out." If the Irish Protestants find that fearful long suffering brings no succour nor redress, it will then be time enough to call in the "ultimer ratio populi," and there will be none to blame them. But in the mean time let our injured fellow-subjects listen to their friends, and disappoint their enemies, who could do no otherwise than rejoice over the threatened act of indis cretion. Let them keep the Orange flag still furled, until they see the Royal standard itself torn from its flag-staff by the polluting gripe of O'Connell.— Times. The Queen having evinced, in the most decided manner, in her first speech to Parliament, the great and heartfelt interest which she takes in the mitigation of the criminal law, and public opinion having been pronounced, on various occasions of late years, une quivocally in favour of such a thorough reformation of our penal system of justice as may limit to murder alone the dreadful vengeance of an unsparing law, or get rid of the stain of judicial bloodshed altogether from a Christian land, the time seems to have arrived when neither Tory prejudices nor Whig treachery can any longer offer an effectual resistance to the demand of an enlightened people for the purification of the Statute Book from the errors and cruelties of barba rous legislation. It only requires that the public feel ing without doors should have an adequate voice within the Legislature to realise the wishes of the Queen and the hopes of the people in clearing out from the sanctuary of justice the implements of human sa crifice and the altar of revenge. We may take this opportunity of alluding to the notice taken of our humble efforts in the cause of enlightened legisla tion by the Glasgow branch of the Scottish Society for Procuring the Abolition of Capital Punishments. Next to the pleasure which it would give us to suc ceed in accomplishing the great object to which those efforts have been all along directed, is the gratifica tion of learning that our labours to place the laws affecting crime on a level with the advanced civilisa tion of the country. are not appreciated by well-in formed and influential classes of our countrymen. Per sonally unacquainted as we are with Colonel Sykes, or Colonel Campbell, or Mr. M'Farlane, or any one of the gentlemen who constitute the Glasgow branch of the Society in question, we :f ee l the more strongly the obligation which they have laid us under by the testi- THE SUN, LONDON, MONI;AY, NOVEMBER 20, 1837. mony which they have borne to our services in a cause which involves the life of man, and the Christian cha racter of the British nation. Every step which has been made in the progress of that cause, since we first resolved to lay formal siege to the system of extermi nating law, has only encouraged us to proceed, in the hope_of that efficient reform being finally achieved, which can only be considered complete when the prin ciple of legislative barbarism shall have been exorcised from the penal code, and the last fragment of its ensau guined tablets cast out of the temple of the Constitution. To preserve as many fragments as possible of the blood-stained code some of the organs of the Whig Ministry long and laboriously struggled. With them we have had to engage in many a controversy, either in vindication of the general principles of penal legis lation for which we contend, or to repel the attacks made upon us for demonstrating, in individual instances, the uselessness and cruelty of insisting upon human sacrifice, when experience proved that there were other means of repressing crime far more effectual than the brutalising exhibitions of the scaffold. In attempting to defend the principles, and sometimes the application of statutes of blood, those ministerial journals to which we' allude unconsciously rendered great service to the cause which, in common with some of the most enlightened men of various countries, we advocate. its foundations shakes a vicious system so effectually from foundations as the circnmstance of its supporters leaving the safer ground of prescription and established usage, to challenge, by injudicious praise, a searching investigation into its principles. And, surely, nothing but the long-continued practice of strangulation on the scaffold for a multitude of offences of different degrees of guilt could have reconciled the mind of one of the most civilized nations in the world to spec tacles, the familiar occurrence of which, until a very recent period, gave to almost every prison in the king dom the appearance of shambles, where, as invariably as certain market days came round, the work of hu man butchery went on, and only added a popular pastime to the ordinary business of the neighbourhood. Twenty years have scarcely elapsed since every ses sions at the Old Bailey used to contribute from twelve to a score of human victims to the Draconic law. How did soceity profit by those exhibitions ? The riot, dis sipation, and robbery committed under the gallows tell us how. Profit, indeed, some derived from such soul revolting scenes. The profit was to those persons who let out scats and windows in the houses opposite to the male and female amateurs of the hanging system, who could afford to pay for a convenient position to enjoy the " pleasant" excitement communicated by the first appearance of the trembling victims, the with drawing of the hangman's bolt, the shock of the pre cipitated sufferers, and the agonised struggles of ex piring nature ! Conservative, as we are, of the great principles of the Constitution, we arc not more anxious to preserve all that gives strength and stabi lity to our ancient system of free government than we - are to remove the abuses which have crept into our institutions, without regard to the length of time during which such abuses may have existed. Our ancient common law was mild and rreniful compared with the innovations for which we are indebted to subsequent law-makers, s o th a t, w hil e th e country was advancing in other respects towards civilisation, the Legislature was retrograding in the march of cri nunal jurisprudence. A greater disgrace to a free Con stitution cannot exist than cruelty in the laws which are intended-to punish crime and protect innocence. To purge the laws of such cruelty—a cruelty not more disgraceful to the national character than injurious to the public interests—has been our constant endeavour for nearly ten years past, during which we have availed ourselves of all fair opporetnities to enforce our prin ciples by argument, and to illustrate them by reference to facts occurring pet petually around us. Nor is it in the application of the laws only that the triumph cf clemency over the revengeful principle, when once achieved, will be felt. The abuse of power, in gene ral, to purposes of oppression, and the wanton exer cise of brute force to the injury of the weak, will be less frequent when the laws cease to familiarise the powerful with examples of blood, and to educate the people to cruelty. In pursuing the great object of a thorough reform of the criminal law, we have gone on in the way which we thought best for that purpose, without allowing ourselves to be turned to the right hand or to the left by any considcaation of party politics. We contended under a Tory Government for the same measure of improvement in our laws which we snuggle to attain under a Whig Ministry. The personal humanity of our ;Ito lamented Sovereign, William IV., greatly assisted the cause by keeping i n check the less merciful propensities of certain Members of the Whig Cabinet. That beneficent Prince has been succeeded by a Sovereign whose heart is true to the emotions of a good and kindly nature. We may well hope that this cats ;C Stijl prosper beneath the mild sway of Victoria, who, in her first great act of State, spoke as one who regarded the regal attribute of mercy as the most beautiful flower of her hereditary sceptre. —Morning Herald. In reference to the Speech to be delivered this day by her Majesty, as an introduction to the Parlia mentary business of the first Session of her reign, it would be hazardous for us to speak, and useless too, considering how few hours are to elapse before it will he presentrql in an anthentie shape to the general eye of the community. But we mar, nevertheless, ven ture to offer one or two negative propositions . with re spect to the forthcoming address, and to the conduct of the body in Parliament who are opposed to the Queen's present Government, which we think will not be contradicted by the Speech when it appears, or by the distinguished persons in either House of Parliament who are expected to give an opinion upon the topics it will embrace. We incline to be ' here that the Queen's Speech, to be delivered to-day to the two Houses of Parliament, will, tame, un meaning and insignificant as such productions gene rally are, be more insignificant, unmeaning, and tam e than any similar document within living memory. It will be surprising, no doubt, but yet we know that it is just possible, that her Majesty may have been advised to leave the state of Ireland and the intentions of her Government (if her Government have any intentions) with respect to that part of her dominions, either unnoticed altogether, or noticed so slightly as if merely to, make an apology for the ab sence of notice. This, we say, would be surprising, although it may be true. It would be enacting the play of Hamlet with the part of Hamlet omitted. Such an omission could not bring the Conservatives into action. They will be too satisfied to find that it is no part of the Ministerial plan of the session to make the House of Commons the focus of Irish incen diarism and sedition. Here would be a great gain, which it would by no means be the policy of Conser vatives to renounce. If Ministers can consent to re tract all they have ever said, and to neutralize all they have ever done, for sake of keeping a little longer in place, it is well. There is great good in all they have ever said being retracted, and all they have ever done being neutralised ; and we must accept the good thus offered us, however we may despise those who, not in patriotism or virtue, but in venal selfishness or guilty fear, make tender of the boon. It is a triumph, how ever of Conservative policy, and this the British peo ple will generally feel, that little, if any mention is to be made of Ireland in the first,and probably the last, Speech which the Melbourne-O'Connell Administration have or will have an opportunity of putting into the mouth of our most gracious Queen. Ministers sink Ireland in order to preserve unanimity. They will succeed. But they would not hare been contented to succeed thus had they not been lamentably conscious of weak ness. With respect to foreign policy, the Speech will be of the ordinary description. Perhaps it may adopt a more confident tone of Ministerial self approbation than usual, inasmuch as it is known that Lord Palmerston will not be in the House to attempt to sustain the language of the Speech. Here is a point of clear and unequivocal advantage, of which the author of the Speech may not have disdained to avail himself. With respect to the state of the finances, the Ministers, it i s plain, can not have any congratulations to o ff er . Th ey ma y express hopes, and upon this subject hopes are always listened to very attentively. We hope, however, that they will not, upon the sub ject of finance, have prepared a tub for the whale in the shape of a surrender by the Crown of the revenues of the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall. We do not enter into the question of the value of these rich appendages to the Crown, or of the eco nomical advantages which might or might not arise from 'amalgamating their revenues with the general revenues of the country. But we should decidedly object to any arrangement stripping the Crown of these gems, in circumstances like the present, when when we have a female Sovereign, but yesterday of age, and a Ministry, from the necessities of their position, eagerly catching at. every straw of popularity. Any bargain whatever, in . such circumstances, would be bad. There are no sufficient parties. Persons filling ostensibly the position of trustees lie under grievous suspicion of fraudulent collusion. There is great room for anxiety lest the permanent interests of the Crown would be sacri ficed to the Ministerial eagerness for momentary popu larity. We have already intimated that the secret has been well kept as to the precise terms of the Speech which Ministers have determined to place in the hands of their Sovereign. Its general character will, we have no doubt, be of the most negative, futile, milk-and-water description. It will be a Speech we apprehend saying nothing and meaning nothing ; con trived to favour the thimble-rig ; leaving the masters of this game to the unfettered nimbleness of their fingers without impediment or restraint. Such as we have described will, we believe, be the character of the Speech put by Ministers into the mouth of her Majesty. And the Conservative body in Parliament will concur in an unanimous Address to her Majesty in reply to this Speech, because it is desirable that the first Address in a new reign should be unanimous, and because the Ministers will have abstained from all topics on which Conservatives could not concur. The battle will have to be fought ; but this conflict of par ties will be better and more vigorously sustained upon occasions in which the name and presence of the So vereign are not involved. Unless, contrary to all ex pectation, the Speech of this day should contain matter clearly questionable, there will be no amend ment to the Address in either House of Parliament pro posed by any member of the Conservative party. We hear of amendments by the Radicals ; but of these we cannot be expected to know anything upon direct au thority.—Morning Post. The Duke of Sussex is to move, and Lord Portman is to second, the Address in the House of Lords to night. The selection of the Royal Duke for the delightful duty which he has been called on to per form, was tardy—hesitating—we hope we ought not to add, reluctant. The Duke of Roxburgh had been mentioned as the Nobleman to whom the agree able task was to have been entrusted. Why was the Duke of Sussex called on at the eleventh hour ? The Whigs, poor as they are in the House of Lords, are surely not so very poor that it could have become a matter of necessity to get the uncle of the Queen to move the first address her Majesty is to receive from the Parliamentary Nobles of this country. Yet the very tardy, and apparently reluctant, mention of the name of the Duke of Sussex upon this occa sion would seem to intimate that his Ministerial friends had regarded his Royal Highness as a pis tiller. If this be the right construction of the matter,we do not hesi tate to say that no son of George 111. ought to have been thus treated. We sincerely hope that this pre sentation of the Royal Duke to the country in a posi tion which persons less immediately connected with the Crown have generally filled is not preparatory to any unusual application to Parliament in relation to such merely vulgar matters as those of mezon and tlllllll. Our readers will readily enough excuse our misgivings in this matter ; for they must have perceived, as we have, that when Whig-Radicals, like the present Mi nisters of. the Crown, set precedent at defiance, their ultimate ain4 is very generally the pockets of the people. —Morning Post. Our Gracious Queen Victoria opens, this day, the first Parliament called in her name, and, we trust, un der those happy auspices and cheering anticipations which have ushered in her reign. That her Majesty will be received not only with that loyalty and respect which Englishmen have always been in the habit of paying to their lawful Sovereign, but with the strong est expression of affection and enthusiasm, there can not, from recent occurrences, be the slightest doubt. It is true that hitherto her Majesty has only had an op portunity of figuring in State ceremonies, and none at all of displaying the hearty goodwill which she enter tains for the welfare of her people ; but it is well known that she has received almost the best education which a person in her exalted station is at any time likely to he heir to, and, on the other, that every sentiment to which she has hitherto given utterance is in perfect accordance with the liberal views and the benevolent de sires which the acquisition of a well-directed knowledge is calculated to confer. In other words, we have no hesitation in affirming that she distinctly understands the tenure by which she holds the throne of these realms—the supreme will of the people—that her sentiments arc in perfect accordance with it—L.that she prizes her power still more highly because it springs from the people—and, finally, that she is, and is likely to be, an ardent supporter of the present Administra tion, while it continues to pursue measures which arc calculated to unite and promote the prosperity and welfare of the people. Those, however, who expect to find in the Royal Speech this day, any de cided expression of sentiment, will, in all proba bility, be greatly disappointed. We are not, of course, aware of its contents; but looking, on the one hand, to the few events of any importance which have occurred since the dissolution of the last Par liament—on the other, to the state of parties—and, finally, to the fact of this being the first Parliament assembled under her Majesty's auspices—it would, it seems to us, be somewhat out of place, to set down any thing in it which was calculated to produce such a difference of opinion as would lead to an attempted amendment of the address in either House of Parlia ment. There are certain points, of course, to which her Mljesty will, no doubt, refer in the course of her Speech—such as an expression of her sstisfaction at meeting her faithful Commons assembled in Parlia ment, and her hope that their labours may contribute to the benefit of her people—her pleasure in being enabled to state that she continues to cultivate the most amicable relations with all foreign powers, and that she entertains the most sanguine anticipation of being able to maintain them. Nothing, in fact, has occurred to disturb these relations, and, there fore, nothing beyond what we have mentioned can be specially said respecting them. With regard to Ireland, it has now become, in con sequence of the ardent wishes of the present Go vernment to promote its prosperity, and the excellent and impartial Administration of Lord Mulgrave, so completely an integral part of the British empire, that no special notice need be taken of it. It will, perhaps, Fie the first time in the course of the records of Royal Speeches, that all allusion to it will be omitted ; and, con ;idering the gratifying 'tranquillity which reigns throughout every part of it, it might afford a useless I;andre to a few factious Tories to disturb the unani m ty which is expected to prevail in voting the Ad dr( en to her Majesty, were the measures to be glanced at which it is the determination of her Majesty's Mi nisters to bring forward in the course of the Session. To these measures it is not likely that any specific reference will be made, inasmuch as this first part of the Session will, necessarily, be devoted to many mat ters of form, and also to the Civil Li►t—for the ad justment. of which Parliament was specially sum moned, and which will naturally occupy no inconsider able portion of its present preliminary sittings, as well as a notice in the Speech. It is not, however, to be inferred from this anticipation of what may be con tained in the Royal Speech, that it will be totally de void of political sentiment. On the contrary, there is just reason to believe that her Majesty will recommend her faithful Commons to proceed with all due expedi tion to the consideration of the measures, the perfec tioning of which was so prematurely interrupted by the demise of his late Majesty, King William the Fourth —a recommendation to which her Majesty's Ministers will specially attend, and which,. we trust, will produce a greater degree of unanimity among all parties than has hitherto existed, as well as lead to a greater pro cress in the furtherance of Church and Municipal im provement than has yet been achieved. It is needless, however, •to expatiate farther upon what the contents of the Royal Speech will be. A few hours have only to elapse before the public will be in full possession of its very words ; but we cannot conclude without ex pressing our high gratification in being enabled to in form our readers that that illustrious and excellent Prince, his Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, who is always foremost in the van of Liberalism, of scien tific pursuit, and of benevolence, is to move the address in the Lords. A better choice could not have been made, and we arc happy to add, according to what we deem to be well-founded report, that it has nut only met her Majesty's approbation, but that his Royal Highness was specially signalized by her as the most fit and proper person to move it.—Morn. Advertiser. LAW INTELLIGENCE. COURT OF CHANCERY—Nor. 18. MOULT V. CASSES. This was a motion to dissolve an caparte injunction opened yesterday by Mr. Wigram. The plaintiff is one of the Directors of the Northern and Central Bank of Eng land, and the defendant was the manager of the affairs at the bank in London. In this case, which was not concluded on Saturday when we went to press, the LORD CriANcELLott was decidedly of opinion that the defendant had failed to make out his case, and the injunction is, therefore, continued. BAIL COURT.—Nor. 18. On the sitting of the Court this morning Sir John Dod son, as her Majesty's Advocate-General ; Mr. R. Benson, as Recorder of Salisbury ; Mr. George Long, as Recorder of Coventry ; and Messrs. C. Temple and Creswell Cres well, as her Majesty's Counsel learned in the law, severally took the oaths of allegiance. OTMO, KING OF GREECE V. WRIGHT. Sir WILLIAM FOLLETT applied to the Court to make a rule absolute in this case, calling upon the plaintiff to give the defendant security for his costs. The ATTORNEY-GENET AL showed cause against the rule. He said that be had the honour of appearing as Counsel, though not as Attorney-General, for his Majesty Otho, King of Greece, to oppose a novel, unnecessary, and, in his opinion, very improper application for a rule, calling upon his Majesty to give security for the defendant's costs in this case before proceeding further in the action. It was stated in the affidavits on which the rule nisi had been ob tained, that the action was brought to recover damages for the breach of an agreement entered into between an agent of the plaintiff and the defendant for the establishment of a national bank in Greece, with mutual, commercial, and. other privileges and advantages, for the breach of which agreement the plaintiff laid his damages at 20,000/. Mr. Justice LITTLEDALE said he would postpone his de cision relative to the costs until he had had an opportunity of consulting with the other Judges upon the subject. SHERIFF'S COURT, Nor. 18. BREACII OF PROMISE OF MARRIAGE-DELVR6 V. HOBLER This was an action in which judgment was suffered by default, brought to recover compensation for a breach of promise of marriage. A. special jury, among whom were Sir W. Poland and several Middlesex Magistrates, was empannelled on the execution of the writ of inquiry for the assessment of damages, which were laid at 2,0001. The facts of the case, which occupied the Court from twelve to near eight o'clock, were briefly these :—The plaintiff, Mr. W. Delves, was the son of a gentleman of fortune residing near Tonbridge Wells, and the defendant, Miss Mary Ann Hobler, was the daughter of Mr. Francis Hobler, the clerk to the Lord Mayor. The parties met at church at Islington about three years ago, but did not be come attached until the present year, when the plaintiff re turned from Demerara. He visited at the house of Mr. Hob ler, in Queen's-row, Islington, and in September last arrange ments were made respecting the marriage. Miss Hobler was entitled to 2,5001. in the Three per Cents., and to 3001. on mortgage. The money the plaintiff wished to be laid out on freehold and leasehold property, but Mr. Hobler objected to its removal from the funds. Ile also objected to the plaintiff, knowing nothing of him. One of his friends waited on him, but could afford no satisfactory explanation. The match was broken off, and the defen dant, in a letter to the plaintiff, expressed her affection for him, and said she was sacredly Isis. She besought him to satisfy her parent of his respectability. The plaintiff had betrayed a violent temper, and designated Mr. Hobler, senior, as a " perfect brute." Two letters written by Miss Hoblet were read, in which she gave expression to her great attachment for the plaintiff. The witnesses called on the part of the plaintiff spoke of him as a very gentle manly man. about thirty-two years of age, and the defen dant not quite so old. The Witnesses examined on the part of the defendant proved that the plaintiff had taken the benefit of the Act in 1831, and had again petitioned in 1834 : that he was of a most violent temper, and had during his passage to Deme rara conducted himself in a strange manner. One of the sailors said he was " preaching all the day and drunk at night." He had a brother transported, and had quarrelled with his father. His brother-in-law, a Mr. Butler, de scribed the violence of his temper. . Mr. Sergeant BOP4PAB described the plaintiff as a mere adventurer—one who had followed a young lady from church, and importuned her, when he discovered she had a fortune. He concealed his affairs from Mr. Hobler, and, had he - married, would have disgraced the family. The jury, he was sure, would give the smallest possible amount of damages. Mr. ANDREWS, in reply, contended that a false case had been set up—that family circumstances bad been dragged forward ; but he appealed to the jury for fair compensation for the damage the plaintiff had sustained. The UNDER-SHERIFF informed the jury (who had stated that their minds were made up) that the defendint had admitted the breach of her promise, and their province was to assess the damages sustained. The jury, in a few mi nutes, assessectthe'datnages at one farthing. POLICE INTELLIGENCE. G UILDHALL. On Saturday Mr. John Alto, a medical gentleman, was brought before Sir Peter Laurie, charged with stealing a brooch and a gold pin, value about 31. 10s., the property of Mr. Hutchinson, a prisoner in the Fleet. Mr. Nixon, a solicitor, stated the case. The prisoner was called to attend Mrs. Hutchinson, who was lying dan gerously ill in the Fleet, and had taken an oppatunity to steal a pin and a brooch. The servant detected him at the time, but he walked away, and next morning when he was questioned about it he denied the imputation, and suggested that the servant herself was the thief. The pledging of the pin, however, had now been traced to him. It was pledged for 125., at Mr. Jones's; in the Circus by the Surrey Theatre. Margaret Gibson, the servant, deposed that on the 30th of October, while she was attending her sick mistress in the bed, she saw the prisoner rise from a table at which he was sitting, and go to a window where two brooches and a pin had been placed. She saw him take something, and, going over to the place soon afterwards, she missed the three articles. The prisoner looked confused when he saw her go to the pin-cushion. She went into the next room directly, and told Miss Hutchinson that the doctor had sto len the brooches, but when they went into the room the doctor had left, and one of them was replaced. Mr. Nixon said the pawnbroker had neglected to at tend with the property. Sir PETER LA.URIE asked the prisoner what he had to say to this serious charge ? He had never heard before of a medical gentleman being accused of stealing from a patient. Mr. Atto said he did not take the brooch. He was ra ther intoxicated on the day mentioned, and he did not know how the pin got into his possession. When he was ques tioned about the articles next morning he had not found the pin, and when he discovered it subsequently in his coat pocket he was ashamed to return it, as he was unable to explain the circumstance. Sir PETER LAURIE said he .apprehended there had been a felonious taking, and it would be his duty to commit. However, the evidence of the pawnbroker was necessary to complete the case, and he must for the present be re manded. The servant admitted the prisoner was rather tipsy at the time. The prisoner was remanded. Mr. Crawford, an umbrella-manufacturer in Cheapside, complained that a man, whom he had given into custody for attempting to pass a bad half-crown, had been liberated by the officer. It was explained that, when the prisoner had been locked up, the piece was found to be good. It was pronounced to be so by Mr. Bult , the silversmith and dealer in foreign coins in Cheapside, and the prisoner was of course liberated. Mr. Crawford said, even if it wer e good, he knew the man to be an offerer of base money, an d he ought to detained. He called Wm. Gough, who said he had been a worker o f s il ver 25 years, and he believed the piece to be bad. The stuff called German silver was brought to such perfecti on now that it was difficult to distinguish the genuine from the mock metal by the appearance. Sir PETER LAURIE remarked that the appearance of money was all that people ordinarily cou ld b e gu i ded by. Mr. Powell , of the Mint, said the only unerring test of good money was the weight, and this was true of gold as well as silver coins. A counterfeit, if of the size of the ge nuine coin, was scarcely half its weight. A pair of scales were procured, and the piece in dispute proved to be good. Mr. Powell said it had b een use d as a mo d e l f or a mou ld to cast spurious coin, and this gave it the doubtful appear ance it had ; but sometimes good money had been mistaken for bad. About the year 1825 a Scotch bank, which had hoarded a quantity of new shillings of the date of 1816, sent them abroad. From their brightness they were sus pected, and one was sent up to the Mint from Annan, with *~ -- 111:41r the ; • n ix an ;application for officers to be sen t thither, as th was inundated with such money. • o fficer P Sir PETER LAURIE SI:ld he would -- a;b 10 ed. as to his duty in such cases, and the subject was - . ar ° P P e cou ---_--- lIATTON GARDEN joseph FORGERIES ON THE BANK OF ENGLAN D.- --.‘ I o nce Smith was re-examined on a charg e of forgery'. :f at heir was again crowded by persons' who had been robbed,i t be money in giving change for what the y suppose`• , ,irg es Bank of England notes. The follo win g additional eu were taken : 1,,i0n James Welch, servant to Mrs. Pope, of the Red qd Inn, Kilburne, said that a month ago the prison! a'_,., another man took some refreshment at his mis tress's hotisitus and obtained gold for a 51. note, which subsequentlY lc paid to the brewers and pronounced a forgery; i s tbO Mr. BENNETT—Are you quite sure the positiver person who produced the note ? Witness; ---1 ai n of it. Mr. Joshua Freeman, a gentleman of the Bank Gf E t :,g; land, said that he received the note Iron the brewer wu..._ whom Mrs. Pope deals, and detected that it was tot gv" twine. le, Miss Sarah Sheppard stated that she lives with hcr uneb prisoner who keeps the Richmond Arms, Maida-hill, and that ; s e ' knew the prisoner as a master workman on the D irn/11 1; ham railroad. Four weeks ago that day he (the a ccus D ; paid the men under his superintendence t heir wages in e, uncle's house, when she gave him small cash fora o 6 1 * notes, one of which was then in Mr. Fre eman's ha. that it . Mr. Freeman here exhibited the note , and proved was forged. Mr. BENNETT was of opinion that it would be b e tter to the accused for another week. a bout 'I he prisoner was accordingly tang remanded. week. is 3 . 5 year s of age, and was dressed in a velve t shoo Jacket, with pearl buttons and cord breeches. ROBBERY THROUGH DISTRESS. Frederick Freeinail, Aged 18, whose looks bespoke that he was in a starvieg,c4B: dition, was charged with stealing from the shop.door er l'il: Cohen, ironmonger, &c., of A desbur '-q eet Clerkenwe a box containing a variety of ) )- r ' ,„. t .v and The • prisoner was seen to take up the propc, n d walk quietly off with it. He was immediately follov'eu 8- i n given into custody, when be expressed much satisfaei°na-i having a prospect of the protection from want I . ' lilt° w Itc, afforded. Mr. BENNETT asked the prisoner if he wished to sal anything ? Prisoner—l was perishin g atthe time Sir' the Mr. BENNETT—Was that the reason itted M you corm had 00 robbery ? Prisoner—lt was, I assure, Sir. home nd • , was ungry, and ll bt naked. Mr.- a I3ENNETT h -,All that will u be considered by the PI who try you. You are committed. he A youth, named MARYLEBONE James Hrt awell, was ch ar g ed s wittli having obtained a great quantity of meat from Mr notes, land, butcher, 69, Brewer-street, by mean s of forge d W ar p w purporting to have been ritten by Mr. a m._ J. " s of Hampstad-road. The prisoner denied having written the notes, a nd sta te(' that Mr. Carpenter's brother had sent him. On Mr. Carpenter again looking at the notes Ile h,o,P -0 peered much astonished to find that they had reallY written by his brother, who was, by the assistance of t tt , prisoner, discovered in West-street, Smithfield , to the office. He acknowledged his guilt, and expressed his willing' ness to make up the amount due to the prosecut or. Mr. SHUTT said he could not permit him to do Of - he had been guilty of both forgery and fraud. , The prisoner was then committed for trial, and tble Hartwell discharged. and brour. MARLBOROUGH-STREET. Mr. Woolley, of Brompton, applied to Mr. CoNANI'i. advice in the following matter :—Some time ago he ie furnished cottage to a person who t he his soon contrived to ge'he his debt 181. for rent. Ills tenant, intending to take benefit of the Insolvent Act, had gone into the Gu e d e t il e . Bench prison, without giving up possession of the halo The tenant had not only moved himself into pris°"' The had taken goods sufficient to furnish his room there. t he object of the present application was to ascertain lin' T - goods were to be recovei e 1) 0 Mr. CONANT asked th e d. applicant if he suspe ete-a he tenant of an intention to commit felony by stealing I goods. far rs The applicant replied that he would not go so f o• that ; though the tenant might assert he intende d to •ea place the goods, yet it was quite certain he had I.o°l them from the cottage without his (applicant's) leave. b Mr. CONANT said, as the law at present stood, it was a felony to remove goods from a furnished 081, yet it was no felony to remove them from a furnished bo° The only remedy he had was by a civil action. who The appli cant said it would be absurd to attempt bo cover his property by bringing an action against a man W ri t had already taken steps to pass through the insolYebr Debtors' Court. it appeared to him a very strange o°lo in the law, that he had no adequate means of protectiogoo property. Could he not go and take possession of his b° altbotig in a summary way ? ; v Mr. CoNANT said, as a Magistrate, he could g• no advice on that point. Tire matter betwixt hi', ll ,: o p his tenant was of the nature of a civil Contract, gnu " - ber ever hard the situation of the landlord, there was no e"0.3% than a civil remedy. The only advice he could giv e 0 for the applicant so make the best terms with his te:111 he could. Mr. Woolley thanked the Magistrate and retired. CHELTENHAM AND GREAT ERN UNION RAILWAY. The second half-yearly General Meeting of this "lye pany was held at the Masonic Hall, Cheltenham , 3d inst. William Henry Hyett, Esq., in the chair . tb°, The Report of the Directors stated that as 011 proprietors desired the operations of the Company be limited, in the first instance, to the c omplet i° 7,de some portion of the line which would yield "it quate . and certain return for the capital r•pended I,ed during the progress of the remainder, they ' . r ecettle' c i Ll- Ci. the construction of that part betwcea anu h i ee t rencester on the following grounds :—The main ( , ) ,, -j 'cit** of . the undertaking was to effect a Railway cong tl- A - ; tion between Gloucestershire, South Wales, and Pt that on the opening of the Great Western ' to S'l lt lvel and this line Lein , b completed to Cirencester, il ine* :tele continuous miles of that communication would be c a i at fished ; that as Cirencester is easily accessibe by e c- h -le rtif turnpike-roads from Stroud, Gloucester, and Clielteri,-B,at the portion of the line between Cirencester and the u r ' re , Western would carry all the London traffic while O l e bit mainder of the li ne was i n p rogress • and that' thougl i t tini part of the line would yi e ld a muc h' less i ne erne th an other, when th e w h o l e s h ou ld b e com pleted, it ss : t han nevertheless, in the mean ti me , yi e ld a g reaier Pr ofi `Orea t any other portion w hi c h was no t con ti nuo us with the Western. - That Mr. Bru ne l h av i ng b een d es i re d to revise hi e st-r tes ter mates, and report the cost of the line between Circ ° o ve nd Swindon, h a d re p or t e d th a t th e ca st, w ith all irO r- t ho • ments suggested by further experience adopted on 10 , Great Western Railway, and which he strongl.s: ret(job mends as productive of future economy, wo uld be ;" be That the Directors laid also causi.; ~ 1,49 t l-AC : tr 3lll° this ascertained on the-same portion of the lino , a nd thy; de would yield a net annual income of 25,00 a, aft°r ducting the costs of maintenance. That an arrangment b a d b e en under consideration ltil o ff e r, the Great Western Di rec to rs , which had lcd to a" i‘eet• sanctioned by their proprietors at a Special General cirew c i w D ei g isyie t fr o o ar r t e a n . it t 7e t ; 1 0 i n e r n line lo. t per % e i x 'h c e ea l completed e i ndniun ttehn eyel f ea r sr o ss m e e. Swin cl 0 0 t °, , 0 8 s wa intain )l4 A t hat That the Directors of this Company considere% od rent would involve a serious sacrifice of i n come o • r b tl i et c b t; secured the option to the Company of accepting log the offer till within six tnotitcts of the opening ° ,,i f ito b li a n b e i , e a t s ra it in n e t , ig t l o tt k h n e ow sa t ti h s a fi t tct t o h r e to distant'proprietors, ily might not be so well acquainted with the details of t he 7 P por cent. for their money 3 I P er f That calls to the extent of syot:eatyhinrgel)rn' aotr':etaltsato°:o;rt o• instalments, a t l w o tteare would be required for the completion of this P d to railway, the whole of which would not be req" 11 ,„ ; e asy ments, and that no further call would he fl 1p r years and a half, and would be called for c ' e J ess arl for some months. bigl l., i , The meeting was numerously attended by a : r Ull O speetablel class of shareholders, who testified the i r mous approbation and adoption of the report. osi nt r esi g i et t, s f t r Trafalgar -square, accommodation. Charing-cross have succeeded in procuring the u ° Lord e Right 11°Tsroods, B n n l , d f l erorSsLtn.otjf\-111:nhs'oesuitS11:folletnob:),Iiitiao'l iftle"Crseas°slftel( c cu o r; r uiDtF9isno:UrTsneao-csiii-lciat.-command , 0 • ners of , and the Hon. the uonionsio , is the public, aasdvaaeinizoorpoteltilnr,ofhoufrgahrteh,et?lieel:;:tlc untliresitrbietteof the r way or privilege of passage formerly tbroui;h r of t ionaricb of p t fr,l\p,‘ a orie r moece y eTppaworuritlitseilli(te.g,eesifte: o:s p Fitiwe r c.e c onil s n : ete e arrii m nos. sfe e r t ‘sii. t ia7 i l o ors t en l I s sfe t iuvl l n l oe. a eln t et erfi: C airt.ttit i oe)y 'f i,to9 l :: :r b n k e oon i r u oiaci d tilaxi:, been 1 1 7 , r fi s, tte th ei r i e b e a n n o k t e a r r s ie t s i: - rance, forty-one ex-l' rzetionar,. • flea la d e d masters, four literarY Men, five aarieu:turists;_id'oo soh', to r ; eighteen Deputies are members of the pilysiciaes, institute. tty-bsr:en wercnata, .rour 1