The Sun. — London, England, 1837-08-10 00:00:00

Sf'IRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. The Reformers have gained— In Cumberland (East) . Aglionby for Graham. and lost— In Huntingdon . . . . Rooper for Thornhill. In the Isle of Wight . . Simeon for Holmes. We must caution our readers against the pretended lists of gains to the Tories given by the Times and other Tory papers. They swarm with obvious errors for instance, in Carrickfergus the return is given to Kirk, a Tory, instead of to Rennie, a Reformer. A number of good Reformers are entered as Tories ; and, what is still more ludicrous, the same man is sometimes entered in one place as a loss to the Re formers, and in another as a gain to the Tories. Sir James Graham receives from the Standard the re ward he richly deserves. Having been a Whig and something more, a more than usual measure of degra dation is necessary in his case, in order to entitle him to Tory support. The Conservatives in East Cum berland must have " more distinctly remembered his injurious declaration on the hustings in 1835, that he had, and could have, no confidence in Sir Robert Peel's Government, than the many excellent votes and speeches by which his refusal of confidence has been shown to be rash and groundless." Bravo ! Besides, an apostate's conduct is always liable to be viewed with suspicion. The Duke of Wellington spoke warmly in favour of the new Poor-law Bill ; Sir Robert Peel spoke warmly in favour of it ; but Sir James is on his probation, and " we cannot shut our eyes to the fact," quoth the Standard, " that in the Right Hon. Baro net's rather violent support of the new Poor-law Bill he gave countenance to the suspicion that he is not yet free from the leaven of Whig arrogance and Whig inhumanity, while his former conduct as a Whig was so extreme as greatly to aid such a suspi cion, however arising." We squeeze the orange and throw away the skin, said Frederick of Prussia. The fate of Sir James Graham, treated with insolent con tempt by the: organs of the party he sought to pro pitiate by mean and malignant attacks of his former Colleagues, ought to be a warning to all men whom higher motives might not restrain from imitating Sir James Graham, to secure themselves from insult, by preserving a proper feeling of what is due to themselves. Sir James now finds that having lost the regard of his for mer friends, his former opponents have more at heart the insults they once received from him than the services he has since rendered to them. Having lowered himself in the general regard, he is treated as a man whose ' services may be received at whatever price the Tories may choose to put on one who is entirely at their mercy. By the by, whom does the Standard seek to mystify by its cock-and-bull-story of Lord Melbourne having declared that he would no longer hold office should there he a majority of English and Scotch Mem bers against him ? Such a declaration would have been so prudent on the eve of an election, in order to induce the Tories to empty their pockets and exert themselves in the other ways known to Sir Robert Peel to obtain a majority in England and Scotland. His Lordship must have applied to the Standard for a short-hand writer to enable it to give his speech so fully as it appears in its' columns. Of course the Standard expects that the whole Reformers of Great Britain and Ireland should be thrown into consterna tion at this revelation and we have no doubt in quiries were made by Horace Twiss at Downing-street whether preparations were making for the Ministers goilw_: out. This is rather too barefaced an attempt on Tory credulity. The Standard should keep within something like the line of probability.— Morning Urr)nicte. It is difficult to determine whether the disapproba tion which the electors of England, especially in the more intelligent chases, arc now in the progress of recording against the Cabinet of the present hour, be founded more upon the apprehension of what these Ministers are attempting, than upon the experience of what they have left unattempted. Looking hack to the sessions of Parliament which have glided fruit lessly away since the Reform Bill, the people see a doleful history of time misspent, of fair occasions lost, of promises broken, of bright hopes overcast. For the rake of this blank result, if that may be called a blank which in truth is rather a chaos, a. confusion of all the elements that should engender good into a mass of undistineuished crudities—for the sake of all this abortion it is, that the English nation has quar relled with her natural leaders, has withdrawn the sway of the land from its great sta!:eliolders, has displaced the accustomed powers of rank, and birth, and pro perty, and education, and substituted the strange energies of new and overweening men. For the tenant has f a ll en ou t w i t h his landlord, and he tradesman with his customer, and the work man with his employer. The people balance their account ; they realize their disappointment ; and it is no wooder that they make their just displeasure audible. With each Government of the elder time the guid ing principle was, to admit as little change as possible; to act rather the part of a trustee, whose whole duty is to keep' the estan: unimpaired, than of a steward who is emplo► ed to improve it. That principle o.as a tolerably safe one in times of (imputed succession or of foreign ..war, and it endured, thou4h with yearly in creasing relaxation, till the peace which succeeded the great day of Waterloo. But when the minds of men, relieved from the anxiety of foreign conflict, had time to coricentre theta ;elves anon home and homely sub jects—when the long and heavy score which the war hal run up Came in to be settled. and the difference began to be apparent between the temper in which men contract a debt and that in which they meet its payment, the people, chafed by pressure, and grow ing daily more and more uneasy as they found their numbers increasing without any proportionate in crease in their resources, began to require a different mode of administration from that which in easy circumstances or external excitements had con tented their fathers. The Whigs perceived and fos tered this new feeling in the mass of the nation. They helped to raise the discontent, that it might help to raise them. They taught the people that the crowing difficulties of each individual's family and fonds were owing to the profligacy, corruption, and idleness of public men ; and that a new, or, as it. was called, a reformed system of management by Minis ters would cure the evil and revive the country. But then they said it must be by other Ministers than those who had been misgoverning for half a century : it must be by Ministers of the Vt'ing, party. They alone, who had been so acute in detecting the disease, could ade quately apply the remedy. Discontent became stronger and stronger ; the people took them at their word, and lifted them into office. Now was to begin a new order of things. The representation of the people being once remodelled as a means to the great end in view, a career of improvement was instantly to open, as bound less as the genius and philanthropy of the patriots who developed it. lii Great Britain, in Ireland, in the co lonies, in Church and in State, in the army and in the navy, in law and in medicine, in agriculture, in com merce, and in finance, improvements under the one generic name of Reform were to spring and flourish. By a touch from the wand of the conjurors, our worn out decrepit institutions were to leap up into youth and vigour, and the English people had only to come forth, rejoicing, like the mighty man, to run their course. For a history of the works that were frought by the Whig autocrats in those two memo rable years of their ascendancy which followed the Reform Bill, we refer to the Parliamentary speeches of their present partial friends—the gentlemen by whose bounty they ha ve l a t e l y b een li v i ng , b ut w h om , .n 1833 and 1834 (then haply foreseeing no probable occasion for such ass i s t ance ), t h ey were wont to meet with a frown, a sneer, or a snort. We leave Mr. O'Connell and Mr. Hume to be the biographers of the Whig Ministry throughout those two palmy seasons of their new honour. But on the dissolution of the first reformed Parliament by William IV. the face of things and the manners of men became strangely altered. The Conservative party, who were supposed to be irrecoverably trodden down, had increased their force by 150 seats in the general election ; and the Whigs, unaided by the Radicals of Ireland, as well as of England, stood powerless, helpless, and effete. Now, therefore, in order to secure popular support, the promises of real reformation, which had been rusting for the. two preceding years, were brought again into use, and burnished to look as bright ever. Not only was England to have all she could need, but Ireland was to have a great deal which she did not need ; and the Whigs and the Ra dicals, like the two kings of Brentford, were once more to sit cheek by jowl and smell at one nosegay. And did the Whigs, then, on being thus again ex alted into place, address themselves in earnest to the improvement of the people's condition ? Not in the least. They did, indeed, prudently doff a little of the haughty hearing which had marked them in the flush of their first fortune ; they were obliged to keep an unmoved nostril when the tail was wagged " between the wind and their nobility ;" nay, more, to do them justice, they did faithfully drive onward those stipu lated projects of democratic aggrandizement which were the price of the daily support of the Parliamentary quota to be furnished to them by their savage auxi liaries. Party measures, devices for strengthening their own faction in future elections, contrivances for the diffusion of patronage, political and municipal, overt acts of spoliation, civil and ecclesiastical—these in stalments were not withheld from their craving and ever instant confederates. The victims demanded by the Evil Spirit, as the price of their prolonged existence, were duly betrayed and surrendered for sacrifice, !.and if, happily, at the last moment, a better power interposed for the rescue, the demon could fix them with no wilful breach of the bargain. But, meanwhile, there has been, and is, another party, quite unconnected with the compact (or, as Mr. Sheil prefers to have it called, the compact alliance) between Downing-street and Derry nave ; and that party is the people of England. That is the party we belong to, and for that party we speak. On their behalf we say to the Ministers, what have we to do with, or what have we to gain by, the multifarious projects with which you waste your own time and the time of our representatives, all of which is, or ought to be, our time? Your schemes, no doubt, have been very well devised for keeping yourselves a little the longer in office ; as you have felt the intelligence and property of the great mass of the people departing from you in disgust, you have addressed yourselves to spe cial interests, and tried to make particular classes your own, at the expense of the community at large. Wise in your generation, you have taken up, as matters of pa ramount importance, the gleanings of grievance which the Dissenters could contrive to rake together, after every serious cause of complaint had been confessedly removed from them by the repeal of the 'rest and Cor poration Acts. With a similar perspicacity you have found out that the Irish Catholics—who, by their own account as well as yours, had all they were entitled to ask in obtaining the great measure called Emancipation— have further rights to carry out, which you alone have the virtue to assert for them. These bounties of yours to certain sections of religionists who dissent from our established faith may be vastly useful in attaching to you those peculiar bodies, and so helping to support you.in the elections ; but what advantage does all this bring to the Protestant Churchmen, the mass of the people of England ? If your whole attention is to be engrossed with the means of keeping yourselves in your offices, instead of being occupied with those pub lic ends for which alone any office ought to exist—if you are to go on from year to year with objects which you know you cannot carry, and which, if you could carry them, would profit only yourselves and the restless few, to the loss of the quiet many—partial objects, " Which steal us from ourselves, and still delay " Life's instant bus'ness to a future day," be assured, that neither the recollection of Lord Grey, the pilot whom you slipped overboard, nor the hopes attaching to the young Queen, whose image you dis play so ostentatiously at your vessel's head, will save you from the disgrace and punishment due to the cap tain who, sailing under his Sovereign's commission, employs his ship in a contraband run, and gets her aground in the venture.—Times. Captain Erskine Wemyss has been returned for Fifeshire by a large majority. He is a thorough Re former, and the people have won a double victory by the return of the. triumphant candidate. Captain Wemyss is another convert to the necessity of ballot. In the speech which he made on his election he said : " I have changed my opinion on no subject but one since I last met you here ; and that is on the ballot. I am now a convert to the ballot, and, as I told you before, a reluctant one. But after what I have seen personally in this county—after witnessing the op pressions exercised by factors and writers, in herding the tenantry as they would drive a lot of cattle to Kinross-market—after seeing the manner in which shopkeepers and tradesmen have been threatened with loss of custom, I think there is nothing left to cure these evils but the ballot." Experience and deliberation have converted him to the ballot. This is the manner in which Lord Nugent (whose remarks on the invalidity of the objections to the ballot ap peared a few days since in the Advertiser) convinced himself of the same necessity, and became a convert to it seven years ago. It was by a similar process - that Lord Ebrinf , ton, about the same time, became also a convert ; and perpetual accessions have been made to this only reasonable mode of protecting the suffrage up to the present day. We apprehend, now, that few of the liberal opponents of the ballot will any longer make a stand against the convic:ion brought home to them by the present election—of the immediate and vital necessity- of that great remedial measure. We are satis fied that the Administra ion has lost from 50 to 100 votes b'• the want of its timely adoption. Unless it be adopted, freedom of election will be a mockery, and the shadow of a name. What is the use of talking of extending the suffrage, while the present unextended state of the suffrage is rendered useless by its unpro tected 'condition I' The extension would be an injury to the people. Even the gift of the suffrage is it bane to them, unless it can be freely used. There is no use in mincing truth, nor in using " holiday and lady terms." The fact is undeniable—that a more gigantic system of corruption and bribery has barked the free voice of public opinion, and perverted the freedom of election than even prevailed before the extinction of Gatton and Sarum, anti the consienment of the old rotten boroughs to schedule A. Truth is truth, and ought to be spoken. The Reform Bill, without the ballot, is a frustrated measure. Between corruption and corruption, each of the same shameless character, we want to know the substantial difference. ' What real distinction is there between a seat belong ing by purchase to an individual, and returning Mem bers at his dictation, or a borough put up to auction between two bidders, the most corrupt or long-pursed of whom beats his opponent, and purchases a seat in Parliament ? The people equally suffer, whether they are purchased by open auction, or whether they are purchased by private contract. We believe, however, that the souse of Reform is heallt-whole, notwithstand ing these flagitious proceedings. Whatever may be said about reaction, there is full evidence that the peo ple are as fixed as ever upon the progress of Reform, and upon the acquisition of cheap and good Govern ment. The anti-Reformers have triumphed only in constituencies so small as to render them liable to cor ruption, or where the leaven of the ancient corporate corruption, as in Liverpool, was permitted to remain; 50 boroughs, which have returned representatives on the Tory side, could be named, whose united constituencies are not equal to those of Manchester. The true test, whe ther there is reaction against Reform is to look to populous and commercial constituencies ; where there is no chance of bribing the electors, on account of their numbers and independence. There are now, beyond question, 38 Members returned on the popular side, for places which may be fairly said to represent five millions of people. Look to London and the metro politan districts ; to Nottingham and Leicester ; to Leeds, Manchester, and Salford ; to Birmingha m and Sheffield ; to Edinburgh, Dundee, and Aberdeen ; to Glasgow, Paisley, and Greenock 1 Here is a consti tuent body representing the commercial wealth of the country, and comprehending one fourth of the whole population of the United Kingdom, which has pro nounced in the most decided manner in favour of Reform. There is and can be no mistake in this deci sion. The Tories talk nevertheless of reaction. Let us define terms : for reaction against Reform, read want of protection for Reform. No ; there is no re action. The people are as determined in favour of Reform as ever • but public opinion has been partially suppressed by want of due protection : that protection must be granted to the people in the form of vote by ballot. The reverses which the good cause has sus tained will thus.be beneficial to it, and the perpetrators of corruption will enforce the application of a remedy which will preclude them from the exercise of the same guilty aggression in future. By the excess of their corruption, the Tories will eventually make a rod for their own backs.—Morning Advertiser. Of the many reasons which there are for coming to the opinion that the enemies of our Church and Con stitution really feel themselves to have received a sound drubbing in the late election contests, there is none more cogent than the general bitterness of their ground less complaints, that bribery, intimidation, and other unfair means have been resorted to by Conservative candidates. We believe, and we very much rejoice to have reason to believe it, that, putting the exercise of Government influence out of the question, there has been no general election of modern times which more fairly represented the deliberate judgment of the electors —there has been none in which coercion or corruption by bribery has been less resorted to. This statement applies, so far as the county elections are concerned, as well to the conduct of those opposed to existing insti tutions, as to the Conservatives, except that on the side of the former was that government influence which, on the present occasion, has undoubtedly been used to an extraordinary degree ; and on that side also, if we turn to Ireland, must the whole statement be reversed. The Irish elections are an utter disgrace to sense, honesty, and civilization. Brutal violence, and (if that be pos sible) yet more brutal superstition, have made the Irish elections on this occasion, as they have been on other occasions, not acts of deliberate and honest judgment on the part of reasonable beings, but acts of igno rance, passion, and hatred. It is not for the interest of the Romish priests in Ireland that calm reason and independent judgment should have any sway at all, therefore among the mass of the people they have no sway and hardly any existence. But looking to the results of the elections generally, we may infer the Conservative triumph which they indicate from the extravagant ill-humour with which the legal means of electing Representatives, as settled by the Reform Act, are regarded at present by the Whig-Radical party. Nor is their bitterness of spirit confined to ran corous censure of the law ; in almost every case where a Conservative candidate has succeeded in turning out an enemy of the established Constitution, every malici ous slander which vexed hearts and mean minds can imagine, is trumped up for the occasion by the defeated party. Men of honourable minds take even defeat with kindly equanimity, but the exasperated Whig- Radicals, after being beaten, seek the wretched comfort which virulent minds have the misfortune to take, in blackening, or endeavouring to blacken, the characters of the victors. This was particularly apparent in our own county. No sooner was Mr. Hoene beaten, than the mortified partisans of that candidate went about from place to place, telling the most extravagant tales not only of bribery and intimidation, but asserting such things of the successful Conservative candidate as, if they had been true, would have reduced him to a level with some of the favourite Radical candidates in the metropolitan districts. But there was not any truth, nor even colourable foundation for the stories told by these mortified, because beaten, partisans ; and a snore triumphant, honest, free, bold-hearted, and, to crown all, kindly vindication, was never pronounced any where, than that of the Conservative candidates at the declaration of the poll at Brantford. No man, whose heart and understanding are not entirely vitiated by bad principles, can read the speeches of Captain 'Wood and Mr. Pownall without feeling that, whatever other merits they may have, or may not have, they are honest, fair-dealing Englishmen in election affairs, who would scorn to use those mean devices for success which Radi cals, who rail against them never fail to use, if they be able. " My friends," said Captain Wood, in the face of the assembled electors, " I must declare, as far as the conduct of this election is concerned, that there never was a contest more fairly fought. There has been, at all events on our side, no attempt at intimi dation, at treating, or at bribery, and even the ex oense of the contest has been comparatively of the most moderate kind. I feel almost disposed to say, though it is far from my wieh to utter an uncivil ex pression, much less to give offence to any one ; hut I feel almost disposed to say that any man who would assert to the contrary would not speak the truth." We need scarcely ask, whether any man conscious of having used any undue means, could thus have spoken openly as he did before .the assembled county ; or that if such undue means had been used, he could have spoken in such terms without contradiction, and with out question. Indeed, the whole of Captain Wood's speech, and of Mr. Pownall's also, was animated by a spirit which serer yet visited the thoughts of men capable of dishonourable acts ; that free, firm, good natured spirit, which is characteristic of high-minded Englishmen, and which is the very opposite of the radical spirit of self-conceit, and rancorous hatred of old feelings and old habits. As to the aspersions which paltry malice had thrown upon the private cha racter and habits of Mr. Wood, we should be ashamed to allude to them, but for the lofty good humour with which he crushed them down, never to rise again. These poor calumnies scarcely lived even their hour. They are now dead, and the offensiveness of their corruption turns against their authors. From a coin prison of the Acts with what the mortified Radicals have said in Middlesex, we may come to an accurate estimate of the amount of truth which there is in their comnplainings generally.—Morning Herald. There are two points, one of a negative and the other of a positive character, upon which the friends of Minieters appear principally to rely for comfort under the somewhat untoward circumstances which have attended the general election in Great Britain. In the first place they proclaim that they have not been beaten in the towns of Great Britain, taking them as a whole ; and in the second they boast (though they ought rather to be ashamed) that the Irish re turns in their favour compensate fer the reverses which they have met with in England. Let us take these two points in their order, and consider how far they may merit that favourable consideration from the, public which the friends of Ministers are so willing to award them. With regard to the first, we hold it to be partly nonsensical and partly false. We do not see—nor did we ever meet withny one of truth, and honesty, and experience, - Who.ilOuld tee—that the oc cupiers of ten-pound houses--t'i'e crowded, sickly de nizens of nasty lanes in the nastiest parts of big towns —were better qualified to select good Members of Parliament than people who live in the country, and who must be freeholders, .or leaseholders, of some property, or who, if they be but tenants at will, must at least be in such a condition of life as to pay a rent of 50/. a-year. The mere statement of the matter, without any argument upon it, seems to be enough. If we take a squalid weaver from his loom, or a petty shopkeeper from behind his counter, and place either of them beside a jolly blunt farmer, who has been summoned from holding his plough, it would seem absurd to enter upon an argument as to which was the " better man" of the two. An ounce of observation in such a case is worth a pound of logic. We do not ask a particularly favourable spe cimen of the countryman, or a more than usually dingy representative of the 101. a year town consti tuency—we only desire a fair average specimen of each ; and we say that, as to manliness, there can be no comparison between the two creatures. The countryman has it hollow on the very first glance. Now, let us grant that the weaver, or greengrocer, or beer-shopkeeper (and of such persons is the Radical strength of the towns composed)—let us grant that they are not manufactured voters for the occasion— that they are neither bribed, nor coaxed, nor threatened, but bona . fide patriots, possessed of an average share of town magnanimity, and a dwelling for which they actually pay three shillings and tenpence three farthings per week. They are duly qualified to vote under the enlightened enactments of the Reform Bill, and they do vote for the candidate who promises to do his best to upset the British Constitution in Church and State. On the other hand, let us take the lowest sort of qua lification in the counties—the tenancies at will. Those who vote out of that qualification must be occupying tenants, and they must pay for their holdings 501. a year. the t 0 w ' u rhe tenants y d o at not will pay do, b but the i le fv they ek, a did so many idtbey of would pay, not within a fraction of four shillings, like the town patriot, but within a fraction of twenty shillings. It is a certain fact, that there is scarcely a man who votes out of an occupation of land worth 501. a year who is not possessed of a thousand po un d s ' worth of property of his own. He could not carry on his business with less. We should like to know how many of the Radical ten-pound roters in large towns are worth a thousand shillings? They are mostly needy men, to whom no change—no political revolu tion—could bring any harm as respects property, but might bring plunder. Hence they are Radicals. And shall it be said that it is more creditable to a Govern ment to be supported by the Members of Parliament whom these wretched beings elect than by the Mem bers whom the country people'electway with such nonsense ! But, besides the nonsenMlf the Ministers r e jo i ce we • are persuaded that it is false that being supported by the constituencies of towns ra ther than by those of counties. Much, indeed, is now salt' against the rural districts, and the manly Lord John Russell delights rather in Stroud, while honest, honest Lord Palmerston is too happy to be chosen by independent Tiverton. But how long has this been so ? How long have the country grapes been sour to the palates of these two mighty Lords ? Ever since they were beaten out of the counties, but not before-0 ! not at all before ! When the " Reform Ministry" boasted that all its principal Members in the House of Commons were represen tatives of counties, which was at one time true, they . did not say, as now their friends say for them, that " the returns in counties afford little indication of pub lic opinion." They were by no means of that opinion until it served their own purpose so to be. They did not hold out that falsehood as an excuse so long as it was profitable for them to assert exactly the contrary. So much for the negative point of Whig-Radical con solation. A few words now upon the positive, that is to say, the Irish returns, which are to compensate Ministers for their English disappointments. We yesterday expressed in — terms—not, we think, too strong for the occasion—what we think of those Irish seats over which Mr. O'Connell and the Irish priests possess an almost unlimited controul. We believe • them to be the receptacle of all that is most vile in a political era infamous for the vile ness of the men who have appeared under the ban ners of revolution upon the public scene. The po litical profligate, though he be so unbearably bad as to be driven from the places where such friends as political vice creates might be supposed most powerful _ . in his behalf, finds a congenial home in the Parliamen tary seats which, by a gross abuse of all that is con stitutional and decent, Mr. O'Connell holds at his disposal. We do not think that any number of suc cesses in such seats could compensate to a respectable British Administration for one overthrow in an English county, where the contest was fairly and honourably conducted. But we appeal to those who may think much more favourably of Irish returns than we pos sibly can. We put it to the common sense and honest judgment of every man, whatever his political bias may be, whether it is at all likely that popular deci sions in Ireland are more wise, more temperate, more honest, and more independent than those whiCh have been made in England ? The friends of Ministers admit reverses in England—especially in the counties —but they triumphantly exclaim that these reverses are balanced by returns favourable to them in Ireland. How can this he ? Unless we regard mere votes in the House of Commons as everything, and the cha racter of those who give the votes, and of those who chose them to be Members of Parliament, as nothing, how can we think that a return from the great O'Con nell borough is an equivalent for one from an English county ? Very much more might be said upon this point, but we forbear the argument, and we restrain the indignation which we might naturally pour forth on such an occasion, merely to put this point to the calm consideration of the public—have the selections of the Irish voters, such as they are, a right to be put by the Government in triumphant competition with the selections of the English electors, such as they are We leave it to every Englishman to reply as his judg ment dictates. If his reason (we say nothing of taste) lead him to prefer Irish Government to that which pro ceeds from his own countrymen he will of course reply in the manner most favourable to the present Admi nistration.—Morning Post. Mrs. Gore's new novel, " Stokeshill Place," may be considered the best work Mrs. Gore has hitherto pro duced. While retaining all the quaint but sparkling hu mour of her earlier novels, the story of her new work, like that of " Mrs. Armytage," exhibits higher purposes, and forms an exemplification of the noblest and purest morality. A happy sympathy with the best feelings and instincts of human nature predominates in the book ; and we lay it aside gratified for the valuable lessons we have unconsciously and laughingly imbibed. A :MEDITERRANEAN TWILIGHT.-Lovely IS a Mediterranean twilight in those balmy months that breathe the odorous incense of exulting nature in all its richest per fumes ; then is the hour for contemplation ! It is then the mind ranges over its best affections ; and hearts, though oceans divide them, hold a mysterious cummuning with each other. " Deeper, oh twilight, let thy shades increase, Till every feeling, every pulse, is peace." It is the poet alone that can describe its influences, for the art of the painter is baffled ; he cannot produce the deep ening tints as the web of darkness appears to be progres sively weaving over the face of the heavens.—Nights at Sea, in Bentley's Miscellany for An7ust. FUNERAL CERENIONIES.—WhiIe we were at Brass To•.vn I had an opportunity of witnessing a native funeral. An elderly man had died a few days before, and was laid out on the floor of his hut. He had four wives, who were crying and making a great noise over the corpse, as usual On these occasions, and apparently in great distress. The corpse was enveloped in upwards of 100 fathoms of calico -200 yards ! It had been rolled round the body very tightly, from the neck to the toes ; the Lead wns uncovered, and the whole corpse presented the appearance of a black man's head stuck upright in a bale of cotton. At the head of the corpse was a bottle of rum, a calabash of palm wine, two live fowls, and some bananas—all which were to he interred with it, to keep it from starving in another world ! On one side of the hut, which was not capable of containing more thasip4 dozen people, was a grave, about two feet deep and fourele, with water at the bottom of it ; being so near the 'tank of the river, it was impossible to dig deeper on account of the appearance of water. Several singing-men and women were outside of the hut, following their avocation, beating a broken piece of canoe with sticks, and making the most stunning noises ; on the other were some traders just ar rived from Bonny to buy palm oil, and who were serving out rum with an unsparing hand ; while at the back part of the house people were continually firing muskets, and two old honey combed four-pounders, in a barracoon or slave house, much to my terror, lest they should burst. I un derstood these ceremonies would be continued several days ; and on the last day one of his four wives, would be thrown into the river as a sacrifice, instead of being buried alive with the corpse, as is :the custom at Calebar.—Laird's Narrative of the last Expedition into Central Africa. M. Audi** the distinguished ornithologist, ar rived at Liilpool, by the New York packet England, on Saturday last, after a year's absence in America, where he has been engaged in collecting specimens for the comple tion of his magnificent work, " The Birds of America." A great part of the time .he was occupied in visiting the shores of the Gulph of Mexico, and we understand he has pro cured several species of birds hitherto unknown to natu ralists. -------- LIGHTING THE STREETS IN THE INTERIOR OH New HOLLAND.—On our return Mr. Muller asked us (this was about eleven o'clock in the morning) what we thought of the lighting of the streets. We answered, that we observed neither any lighting of them, nor need of it, as it was a bright sunshine. " And is not this," said he to the explorists, "as good a light as your gas ? We have not, added he, gone so far as you in the arts ; but we have the advantage of you in availing ourselves of the gifts of nature ; for,ae you must have observed, we are all alert, and about our busines at day-break, while you, by your own account, allow three or four hours of daylight in the spring and summer to be utterly wasted, while you are a-bed, and then go about yonr business at night, like owls and bats, but without their advantage of being able to see in the dark ; so that you are forced to light yourselves with gas." The adventurers endeavoured to explain the causes of late hours, but they were astounded when Mr. Muller made there compute the saving in oil, as gas, and tallow, which might be effeeted by a general resolution to use daylight as far as it would go.—Lady Mary Fox's Expedition into the Inte rior of New Holland. A night or two since Mrs. Raynor, laundress at Lincoln's Inn Chambers, was crossing from Carey-street to Gilbert's-passage, when she was h u stl e by some fellows, who succeeded in picking her pocket of a sovereign, and fifteen shillings in silver. We learn that a second individual has died in con sequence of the injuries he received at Wakefield, in the riot that occurred at the nomination for the West Riding. Saturday afternoon, a dog, evidently in a rabid state, was observed making his way through St. Margaret's Church yard ; the door of the lobby of the House of Lords being open, in consequence of repairs being in progress, .the (animal, very much to the astonishment of the workmen, entered the place, and it was with great difficulty that he was ejected. One of the workmen followed him into Palace-yard, and with a ham mer prevented him from doing any mischief. ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE. HOME ClRCUlT.—Cnorllox, dogs. 9. GEDGE V. YOULE. This action was brought by the plaintiff to recover corn- pensation in damages from the defendant for an assault. From the evidence of the maid-servant of the plaintiff it appeared that on the evening of the 3d of June last the defendant, who is a collector of church rates, called at her master's house. After he had been there some little time she heard violent words, and one say to the other, " Who are you ?" Her master then rung the bell, and directed 1 e ' rto 9pen the door, which she did. Her master then id the defendant several times to leave the house, but . refused. The plaintiff, after some time, placed his hand upon his shoulder to put him out, upon which the de fendant struck him a violent blow on the arm with a stick. The Jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, with forty shillings damages. CROWN COURT.—T. Chitty and Wm. Penfold, la bourers, were placed at the bar charged with a hizhway robbery on one James Grinstead, on the 23d of last July. On the part of the prisoner Chitty three witnesses were called to establish an alibi, and they proved that they ac companied him borne on that night, which they reached by twenty minutes to eleven o'clock. Some doubt also arose as to the prisoner's identity. The Jury gave them the benefit of the doubt, and re turnral a verdict of acquittal. John Phillips, aged 11, was charged with stealing a pair of boots belonging to Evan Vaughan. The prisoner pre viously to stealing the boots went into the prosecutor's shop and tried them on ; he then went out of the shop. The next day he stole the shoes. A policeman saw him take them, and apprehended him with one of the boots on his foot.—Verdict, Guilty. The prisoner, though young, had been before convicted. Sentence deferred. POLICE INTELLIGENCE. MANSION-HO USE. A boy, 13 years of age, named Henry Ilooper, was brought before the LORD MAYOR, charged with having at tempted to pick the pockets of several gentlemen. Two policemen stated that they had observed the boy, whom they knew to be a clever hand, try some pockets in quite a tradesman-like manner. At last they took him into custody to prevent mischief. The boy, who appeared to be up to Old Bailey practice, undertook his own defence with great spirit, and occasioned some surprise in the Justice-room. " You say," said he to one of the policemen, "that you know me ; I'm like other boys, au't I ? nothing extraordi nary about me." Policeman—l saw you distinctly try two or three pockets. Boy—Mind what you say ; there's somebody here knows that you are telling a whopper The LORD MAYOR—We'II have your witnesses pre sently. Boy--I don't mean sich witnesses as him, please your Worship. I mean the witness that won't be seen. The LORD MAYOR—Then, you mean to appeal to God ? Boy—And no mistake. I'd be glad to know what chance that policemen will have in the other world if he tells sich lies of a poor innocent boy ! Well, what did you see me do besides ? The second policeman said that he saw the prisoner ac tually put his hand down into the pockets of passers by. Boy—l'd be glad to know whether you have any idea of another world ? The LORD MAYOR—Why, you see you are known. Boy—Known ! Your Lordship won't believe what they 'ay of me, will you ? lam sure I would not believe what they say of you. A third policeman—l turned him out of Aldgate in the morning, my Lord. He was looking in at a shop, no doubt to ascertain whether he could not make a grab at something. . . Boy -6 dear, oh dear ! I just went to look in at a shop windy to see whether there was any notice up for an errand boy, when this man comes up ; but I walked away without a word from him, for I suppose I may use my legs at any rate. The LORD MAYOR—Certainly ; but these men say that you have a very awkward way of using your hands. Boy—They don't consider, my Lord, that there's some body up above as is listening to 'em this blessed minute. They never saw me in trouble in their lives. I'm a poor hard-working lad as ever was, and I never put a hand in any pocket but my own. The LORD MAYOR—Why did you not send for your friends if you ar• so good and so industrious ? Boy— There's no use in it. I've told these policeman a dozen times where to go, but they don't do anything without their whack. The officers said that the prisoner had given them half a-dozen wrong directions, and although he had been locked up for some days, there bad been no inquiry after him. A fourth officer, who had jest entered the Justice-room, said I know the prisoner, my Lord, to be a common pick pocket. He is not six months out of Bridewell. Boy—Make room there, and let me have a look at that 'ere man. Now, mind what you say, my good gentleman. Are you sure it's me you mean ? Policeman—No doubt of it. I have had you myself. By—Please you, my Lord, 3ou've got some shocking bad people about you. If ever I seed this individual afore I hope I may never go to Heaven, that's all. The LORD MAYOR— Why almost all the police know you. Depend upon it if you go on in this way you will be soon transported. Boy—They may poke me about in this world, my Lord ; but I'm blessed if somebody won't poke them about in the next. They've all come forad and swore agin me, and not one of them, I'll be on my oath, told a word that wan't a whopper. Some other policemen added their testimony to that already given as to the character of the prisoner, and said that he was an incorrigible rogue. The LORD MAYOR—You must go to Bridewell. You are a very clever fellow, and, of course, the more dangerous. Boy—Don't send me to Bridewell, please you, my Lord. The LORD MAYOR—Oh, you don't like Bridewell ? Boy—l don't like the name of it. The LORD MAYOR—But they know you there, and will know how to treat you. I made inquiry about you before you were brought up to-day, and I learn that you are one of tha worst boys about the City. lam sure you are. Boy—Please you, my Lord, if it wouldn't be too bold, where do you expect to go when you're past the doctor ? I'm sure there an't room in heaven for sich. The LORD MAYOR—You have had every opportunity to prove that you get your bread honestly, if such were the case ; but, on the contrary, every day produces fresh evi dence of your bad character. I am sorry to send 80,able a Counsel to prison. Boy—Mind what I say about somebody else as hears all on us—somebody above. God send us all a good deliverance. Committed. MARYLEBONE OFFICE. Yesterday John Saunders, an unwashed blacksmith, and Mary Oakes, were charged by the husband of the latter as follows : . . Mr. HosraNs (to complainant)—What are you P—Corn pLiinant—Vy I'm a thimble-sweeper and nightman, and vorks for most of the swells at this end of the town. Mr. HOSKINS—Where do you live ?—Complainant— I rents premises at No. 1, Devonshire-place, Lisson grove ; every von knows me as honest Tom, the clean little chummy. Mr. HOSKTNS—Now tell me what you've got to say against the prisoners. Complainant—l'm blest if I don't, and I'm sure I shall lectrify and astonish your Honour completely. Vell, you must know that. last night I vos called out to a little neces sary business, vich I performed particularly clean and tasty, and returned home about three o'clock this here morning ; so I yolks up stairs as usual to my vife's bed-room, but found the door fastened inside. Veil, thinks Ito myself, vot a prudent voman I've got, to fasten the door cos no unproper characters should get in ; and with that I gave a gentle tap, but as nobody answered I busted open the door, vich vos fastened with a fork ; and 0 dash my vig wot do you think I seed? Mr. HosuNs—How should I know ; go on. Complainant—Veil, strike me lucky if my vile, wot I had just been praisin, had'nt got another " nightman" in my place during my absence, the great big ugly prisoner at the bar. He vos fast asleep under the clothes, as snug as a duck in a ditch. So I lugs him out of bed in his shirt, yen I'm blest if he hadn't the himprence to show fight, telling me as how he had as much right there as myself. 0, have you, says I, ve'll try that ere pint in a minuet ; so I catches him a spank with my fist, and brought him to the ground ; he got up again, and seeing that he vos arter bolten, I catches him by the tail of his shirt, vich I tore completely off. Finding the shirt no use I seized him by the flesh, and in the struggle both on us fell, and rolled down the stairs into the street, much to the amusement of the crowd of persons collected, who sang out, "Go it snowball, two to one on the chummy." And so I did go it, and no mistake, right and left, and after a few rounds devil a bit of shirt had the prisoner on him, and that's the naked truth. So at last a policeman came up, and con veyed the naughty pair of them to the station-house to re pent of their sins. Lowcock, 134 D, the constable alluded to, said that he saw the complainant struggling with the prisoner, hisisone shirtr,who i w va lt s s as naked as he was born — not a vestige there to be seen. He allowed him to put withtonthhise weloomthaens: and m t r h . e H n o co s n K v iN ey s e ( d to him th t e o Station-hous e t w he ife)vvhy do you act in this way ? Wife—Cos he don't use me well, and keeps me on short allowance. Sweep-0 tricky, how can you say so, don't you have as much grub as you Call eat, besides hornamenting yourself with frills, ribands, and other things to make you loo.k fine? You might have been satisfied with hornamenting yourself, I think, without " hornamenting" me in this here ugly way. Mr. HOSKINS ordered the male prisoner to find bail, and. discharged the wife. IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM NAVIGATION. The following is furnished by a correspondent who war on board the Sirius on the occasion referred to :—The Sirius steam-packet, Roger Langlands, Royal Navy, Cm mender, fitted by Messrs. Thomas Wingate and Co., of Glasgow, with a pair of engines of 300 horse power, on the principal of Mr. Samuel Hall's patent, went on Thu, a day afternoon last, with a party of gentlemen, as far as the Curnbraes Light, for the purpose of proving her machinery. The distance from the Quay to the Clough Light was per formed in 29 minutes, and from the Clough Light to the Cumbraes Light (about 22.1 miles) in one hour and fifty minutes. On her return, meeting the Eagle proceeding to Liverpool, the Sirius put about and ran in company with her for about three quarters of an hour, during which time neither vessel could be said to gain upon the other. Consi dering the disadvantages always attending a first trial, and likewise the well known speed of the Eagle, the above re stilt may be considered highly creditable both to the builder and to the engineer. The main object of Mr. Hall's im provements is to prevent the rapid destruction to which the boilers of steam-packets are exposed, by the great de posit of hard matter which takes place when they are fed with salt water ; and this object he has completely attained by his apparatus for condensing the steam without injection, but merely by contact with cooling surfaces, and returning-back the water resulting from the condensatikon direct to the boiler, so that they are constantly fed with pure water, and thus no deposit can take place. A superior .vacuum is likewise obtained, and from the water in tlbe boilers never requiring to be blown out, there is a consider ble saving of fuel. During the trip, the water, as it was returning to the boiler, was repeatedly tasted by several c.f the company, and was found to be perfectly fresh. To re - place the loss of water arising from the escape of steam a t the safety valves, &c., there is attached to the boiler a very compact apparatus for obtaining fresh water from sea water by distillation in vacuo. We understand that two pairs et engines, one of 320, and another of 460 horse power, upon the above principle, are in preparation at Glasgow, as also. several others in London and Liverpool. The Sirius was built by Messrs. Menzies and Son, of Leith, for the St. George Steam Packet Company, and is the fourth large vessel which they have had from Scotland within the last eighteen months. She is upwards of 700 tons, and is con sidered a fine sailing model. The cabins, which were fitted up by Messrs. Black and Kerr, of this town, without being gorgeous, are spacious and handsome, and afford excellent. accommodation. She is, we believe, intended to ply on th e station between Cork and London.—Greenock Advertiser. HONOUR AMONG THIEVES►. An honest provincial, who lately visited Paris, has ad dressed a letter to the Editor of the Gazette des Tribuncrux, in which he details the particulars of an affair of honour in which he played the double part of hero and victim. On the day before that on which he intended to leave the capi tal he had been contemplating the beauties of the barri6-e de 1' Etoile, after which his evil stars tempted him to lounge towards the Bois de Boulogne. He bad strolled a little way into the wood, when suddenly he was accosted by three gentlemen whose manners and appearance were calculated to silence even the shade of a suspicion. One of the strangers, addressing our country gentleman, politely in formed him that he had received an unpardonable insult from one of his " friends," and that a fourth person was necessary to act as witness to the duel which was instantly to be fought. Our simple provincial wished to know the cause of their quarrel. A very plausible story was told him, and lie accompanied the party in hopes thnt his pre sence and remonstrances might serve to allay the excitement which seemed to have taken possession of the two princi pals. They had meanwhile arrived in a secluded part of the wood, adapted apparently to the execution of their despe rate design. Here they halted, and the pistols were pro duced, when the poor gentleman was not a little surprised to, see his principal turn the muzzle of his pistol, not on his adversary, but on his second. The rest of the story may easily be imagined. The provincial was soon made aware that he was expected to pay the recokning of the deferent that was to follow the bloodless duel, and though he pointed out to the strangers the iniquity and treachery of their con duct he was as little able to induce them to abandon their present honest design against himself as his arguments had before been unaviling when endeavouring- to prevail on them to renounce their " honourable" determination of doing justice upon one another. The gaping, wide-mouthed pistol, planted within an inch of his breast was the aro nrentuni ad hoininenz with which they met all his admirable illustrations of the beauty of honesty, and finding all oppo sition vain he at last very unwillingly consented to divest himself of his purse, his gold watch, a valuable gold ring, and a few other articles of minor value. He concludes his rueful epistle by saying that he took especial care to kee p the occurrence a profound secret from the police, for having fixed the following day for his departure he was fearful of being detained at Paris as a witness against his polite ac quaintance of the I3ois de Boulogne, in case of their not be ing able to elude the vigilance of the authorities. A native of the Emerald Isle was the other day asked how he could tell that a man was a drunkard. " Faith," answered Pat, " I'd never be after saying that a man was drunk without I saw him attempt to light his : pipe at a pump !" A numerous meeting of the subscribers to Lloyd's took place yesterday morning at eleven o'clock, at which s letter from Mr. Robinson was read, stating that in conse quence of his withdrawal from the representation of Wor cester in Parliament, he begged leave to tender his resigna tion of the office of Chairman of Lloyd's. Mr. Fenning then moved that the subscribers were duly sensible of the talent displayed on all occasions by Mr. Robinson in his office as Chairman of Lloyd's, and that the meeting did therefore request that he would withdraw his tender of re signation, and continue to officiate at the head of the esta blishment, This resolution was carried unanimously. The ordinary meeting of the Zoological Society for scientific business was held on Tuesday evening, Richard Owen, F.R.S., in the Chair. A letter was read from r%lr• Harvey, corresponding member of Tcignmouth, accom panying some preserved radiate and fish from the Devon shire coast, the former including a comagilla, tubularia in divisa, caryophilla, &c. Some curious notices in natural history were appended, one of which was the fact of seeing a carrion-crow kill a duck, after having first drawn it out of a pond, by trampling upon it, and another having seen a cuckoo fed by a wryraack, in whose nest it was supposed to have been hatched. Mr. Ogleby described two nest species of his new genus climes, which now includes four species, and Mr. Gould introduced several new varieties of birds from Mr. Darwin's collection, amongst which was a raven from California, named, from the beauty of its ap pearance and hue, corous splendens. A new ortyx, and another species of the deudroceta or wandering crow of authors, so called from its restless disposition, differing' more particularly from the magpie in more arboreal feet , shOrter tarsi, &c. , PRIZE CUP S.—New and Second-h a nd SILVER PRIZE CUPS are offered at very Reduced Prices, and selection may be made from a great variety, both of Sizes and Patterns , at T. COX SAVORY'S, Goldsmith, and Watchmaker, 47, Cornbill, London. A Sheet of Drawings of Cups will be forwarded by post, as a single letter, in answer to a post-paid application. Jam, BIRTHS. On the 7th inst., at Little Campden House, Kensington, tb s lady of Sir Henry Willock, of a daughter. On the 7th inst., at East Hall, Kent, the lady of Percyvall Har t Dyke, Esq., of a son. On the Bth inst., at Foxley Cottage, North Brixton, Mrs. A• Horne, of a daughter. On the 7th inst., at Haden, Barham Downs, the lady of Sir I Plaosknetth,eofBtah inst., son. at Hampstead-heath, the lady o f C apt. G r ibble' of a daughter. MARRIED. On the sth inst., at St. Mary's, Walthamstow, Lewis, Yo,,g e g t son of J. Berger, Esq., of Lower Cl apton, to Sarah Rodick, e'"e" daughter of A. Corbett. Esq., of Walthamstovr. On the 7th inst., at St. George's, Everton, Thomas Hare, E,!, (1 ":. of the Inner Temple, barrister-at-law, to Mary, youngest daughter of the late T. Samson, Esq., of Kingston Russel, Dorsetshire. On the Bth inst., a t th e Unitarian Chapel, Little Portland-str e . e e , Mr. S. Hickson, j un. , o f W elbeck-street, to Jane, daughter of h late Mr. David Grant, of the Strand. On the Bth i nst. at St. Mary's, Marylebone, Captain Br ow 57th Regim en t, Esq., of Sh ep h er d' s- b ush. to ' Jessy, second daughter of the late J. Thont D IE D. On th e 7 t h i ns t ., Vi ctor i a Louisa, the infant daughter of C' Archibald, Esq. Lately, at E xe t er , H es t er , on l y d aug ht er of the late E. Calanif' Esq., of Alphington, Devonshire. On the 26th ult., at St. Petersburgh, Alexander James Esq., aged 61. 8. Lately, at Tottenham, the Rev. John Sampson, 8.D., ag e d - i f, On the Bth inst., in Martin's-lane (City), Mrs. Sarah pre formerly of Mile-end Old-town, aged 96. ido o On the sth inst., at Croydon, aged 87, Mrs. Grantham , vr J. Grantham, of Newbury, Berkshire. Pe a ' On the 2d inst., Mr. Jeremiah Bowen, of South-crescen t, ford-square. ace, On the 6th. inst., James Coggan, Esq., of Gloucester- Pl at Po square. On John the 6th inst., Mary Anne, only surviving daughter o f Hoper, Esq., of Lewes. for' On the 7th inst., at Brighton, Captain Harry Bradburne, racily of the 2d Dragoon piC c" London : Printed and Published by MURDO YOUNG, ° f not 112, Strand, at The Sun Office, No. 112, strand, in th e of Bliddlesex.—Thursday, August 10, 1537.