The Sun. — London, England, 1837-10-20 00:00:00

'SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. The Tories admit that they were addicted to dis honest practices, and cheated the public in every pos sible way as long as they could ; but then this was 'lien they had the power to cheat ; but this power has been taken from them, and there is no use now in be ing dishonest any longer. This is the sort of apology put forward yesterday for the party by the Times, which seeks to reconcile their old practices with their new professions. A rogue is never more to be dreaded than when he tells you he will be honest now, because he finds it would be a vain attempt to be otherwise. When a knave endeavours to throw you off your guard by a compliment to your penetration, and tells you, that as there is no use in his attempting to put the change on you, he will be frank and candid, pre pare for some more than usually daring . attempt on your property. The candour of the Tories in admit ting their former fraudulent practices is of a piece with the impudence of their demands for confidence on the faith of such admission. Even Colonel Charteris, when his character would no longer allow him to cheat, pro fessed himself willing to give a large sum for a new one. But let us hear the Times :—" There was a time, it is true, when the Tories in their party cha racter were opposed to many a Reform in its own na ture quite fair and fit." Ay, ay, the votes of the House of Commons show little doubt as to that. The case noticed by a correspondent yesterday, in which, in the teeth of a Resolution of the Irish House of Commons, and a Report of a Parliamentary Com mittee of 1805, fixing twenty-five years as the period of service entitling officers in the revenue to superan nuation, the father of the Earl of Wicklow, after eight years' service, was allowed to retire on his full salary, his successor, the present Lord Fitzgerald, being a teller, along with that pure patriot, Mr. Croker, affords a specimen of the Tory notions re specting Reforms. " There were some of these To ries, who either by themselves or their connections, derived a profit from the abuses they maintained." This was, of course, a good Tory reason for resisting Reform. When Lord Cochrane, the late Mr. Cobbett, and Major Cartwright proposed themselves as Reformers to The free and independent electors of Honiton, they fell on the venerable apostle of Reform, exclaiming, " What ! you old ruffian, would - you take the bread and butter out of the mouths of our children !" These electors were genuine Tories. But some of the Tories even then had no disinclination themselves to Reform ; " but seeing the aversion of their own partisans to the in troduction of any thing like general alteration, con curred in or connived at the maintenance of certain evils for the sake of preventing a disunion, which they regarded as a greater evil still." A good and valid reason, no doubt, for supporting that of which they disapproved. If any man happens to be robbed by his servants, he will generally find on investigating into the matter that some of them disapproved of the robbery, but carefully kept the knowledge of it from him, in order that the peace and harmony of the hall might not be disturbed. But then, says the Times, " after various minor reforms came the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts ;" and then came the complete emancipation of the Catholics, which was " the deathblow to the old Tory league." The Bill for the Reform of Parliament completed the rege neration. Down to the regeneration, however, which was stoutly opposed by all the Tories as de structive of the Constitution, and fraught with all manner of evil, we have it admitted that the Tories were either dishonest or abettors of dishonesty —were opposed to the remedy of abuses, because they derived a profit from them—in short, were cor rupt in every sense of the word. They conceded no thing to the just demands of the people ; they yielded nothing to justice, but were beaten at every point ; and from first to last they predicted ruin to the coun try from the changes, every one of which, it is now admitted, has been found beneficial. As the Tories arc, by the admission of the Times, dishonest opponents of Reform, deriving profit from abuses, it may be urged they were insincere in their prediction of dangers from Reform. But why are we to place confidence in men whose character hithei to has been confessedly bad. Because, forsooth, the Reform Bill has rendered it necessary for them to appear in a new character. But have we not found them opposing all just reforms since the passing of the Reform Bill as well as before it ? We might fill volumes with extracts from the columns of the Times, the burden of which is vitupera tion of the Tories for their obstinate opposition to the most necessary refot ins. Did not Lord Lyndhurst and a la►ge party of the Tories seek to uphold all the abuses of corporations ; and with what reluctance v. as not the measure of their reform, impaired in several essential respects, ultimately conceded ? Were not local courts_refused on the most unsatisfactory grounds, at the instigation of Lord Lyndhurst ? Who believes that religion has anything to do with the opposition to the Irish Municipal Corporation Reform ? But why go through the long catalogue of Tory attempts to prevent the people of these kingdoms deriving any be nefit from the Reform Bill ? It must be admitted that the Tories are not so bitterly opposed to the Reform Bill as they were. In fact that measure has not pro duced the results which either Tories or Reformers expected from it. The Tories find that by means of the 50/. tenant-at-will franchise and fictitious qualifications they are the masters of most of t!•e counties, and that, though borouglimongering has been much weakened, it still exists in many of die smaller boroughs, and that in the large boroughs the independent voters may be swamped by the necessitous freemen and mercenary elec tors. What corruption fails to do intimi dation in some measure effects. In proportion as the Reform Bill belies the expectations of the Reformers when it was proposed, it grows into favour with the Tories. All that the Tories seek is a continuance of the abuses in Church and State, from which they so long profited. Their object is to escape from all re sponsibility to the people. A Tory Government is a Government conducted on the principle of promoting the interests of the aristocracy at the expense of the interests of the nation. Every man who wishes to live without laboar at the expense of the public—every aristocrat who wishes to quarter his sons on the public in good places at home or abroad, as soldiers or civilians, or pluralists in the Church, and to obtain placemen as husbands for his daughters—is naturally inclined to Toryism. Of this, however, they may rest assured : they may corrupt, and intimidate, and undermine the Reform Bill, and mould it to their purposes ; but they never will persuade the people of England that they are not the same dishonest politi cians that they were—not as much disposed as ever to gorge themselves with public plunder.—Morning Chronicle. A miserable mountebank exhibitition was made in yesterday's Times, which we are at a loss whether to regard as an instance of a party writing its own epi taph, or of one affecting to be dead, in order to get an opponent at a treacherous advantage. If viewed as an inscription for the tomb of Toryism, we confess the commentary of our Contemporary is more just than we could have anticipated from such a source, and less flattering than such compositions usually are. In re• ference to the Tories, reputed to be deceased, the Times, in its own peculiarly filthy phraseology, felici tously describes them to have been " animals of an unbounded stomach, absorbing all the life-blood of the realm ;" and then asks what could have been " expected from monsters of whom this is an au thentic portrait," observing, in conclusion—" We have no doubt that these megalotheria and ichthyo sauri of th e p o li t i ca l world, were very formidable creatures in their time ; but as the races are ut terly extinct, the rudder of the State can no longer be twisted off by the strokes of their tails." Thus we have the death of Toryism formally announced, and its Epitaph furnished by its " residuary legatee." But notwithstanding the apparent authenti city of the intelligence, we rather incline to the opinion, nay, there is in the epitaph itself convincing evidence, that the announcement is fallacious, and made solely with the intention of deluding the public, and facili tating imposture. Dates are dangerous things to those who wish to prove an event which has never taken P lace ) and here the Times breaks down in its testimony of the demise of Toryism, first asserting it. to have received " its death-blow on the Emancipation of the Catholics," and next that it is " some five and twenty, or rather five and fifty years ago" since the party whose portraits it pourtrays had ceased to exist. The suspicion excited by this discrepancy is confirmed by the subsequent part.of the article, for in its peroration Toryism rages as rabid and rampant as ever. Con sidering the evil ingenuity evinced by the Tories in other respects, it is surprising that they do not show more originality in their attempts on the public credu lity. Their deceptions are of the most common-place character, and have been again and again exposed in the persons of the meanest marauders on social in terests. How often have we heard of criminals circu lating reports of their own deaths, in order by lulling excitement either to escape the penalty of their offences, or to resume more successfully their depredations on the public. And what is the present announcement of the demise of Toryism but a bungling attempt at a similar imposture ? To carry on a deception success fully requires not only considerable skill, but constant vigilance. A moment's forgetfulness may betray the reality through the most elaborate and ingenious dis guise; and iniquity never can be so well exposed, as when through inadvertence or mistake the culprit con fesses his own duplicity, or openly exhibits his own de pravity. Such is the ease with the Times, when, after, stating Toryism to be defunct, it _betrays itself by asserting that, " As to conscience, indeed, there is nothing farther for Reform to do. Whatever stress there ever was upon the consciences of any of the people has been removed, in the instance of the Dissenters, by the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts ; and in the instance of the Roman Catholics, by tire Relief Bill ; so that all the sore consciences now left unhealed are of the pocket class, that groan at the hardship of paying the same tithes, church rates and taxes, as are required from the publicans and sinners of the Established Church." Now, we ask any impartial man if this sentence does not em brace in odious primitive perfection all the bigotry, falsehood, and insolence of ultra Toryism ? While, on account of its population being Catholic, Ireland is denied a reform of Corporations, which all parties condemn, and while Dissenters in England are taxed for the maintenance of a Church from which they re ceive no equivalent, it is impudently assumed that conscience is free, and that " all reforms connected with conscience are already accomplished." If Tory ism be defunct, this is surely a voice from the grave. The leaven of old Toryism again bursts forth, when, in defining the relative position of the Sovereign and the people, the Times expresses itself as follows : " Thus the Sovereign's authority, as on the one hand it is limited by a legislature, on the other forms a limit to the power of the people, who, being by the very hypothesis the governed and not the governors, are entitled to so much power as shall protect them against being governed amiss by their Monarch, but not so much as shall enable them to govern instead of him." Why, this " hypothesis" assumes the doctrine of divine right, which we really had supposed the most inveterate of" the Tories had abandoned. If the stupid verbiage have any meaning at all, it implies that the many are to be ruled for the benefit of one— that the Monarch is not so much the Executive as the individual promulgator of the laws—that, in fact, his power is despotic so long as he does not exercise it " amiss." So much for defunct Toryism, which death seems to have improved very much the wrong way. Next follows a description of Conservatism, which, save in name, exhibits no difference from the deceased. " The Conservatives, then," observes the Times, " are prepared to give all which comes pro perly within th e d enom i nat i on o f R e f orm ; a ll that will add to the freedom, the safety, the enjoyment of the people ; all that will secure them against tills ro!e, whether from Ministers or from mobs." This sounds fairly were it not for the sequel—" but they are not prepared to give an increase of political power to the many." Here is their condemnation— we need seek no further evidence of their guilt—but let them finish their pleadings, which thus conclude— " because they believe that to he governed, not . to govern, is the happy, as it is the Constitutional lot of the most numerous class under British polity." If this be not rank Toryism,.we know not what is. " To be governed, not to govern, is the happy lot of the many !" Down with liberty, then, and slavery for ever. Why give an increase of power to the many ? No, the " Conservatives are prepored to give'all that will add to the safety and enjoyment of the people," and therefore, by their " happy" " hypothesis," they will of course, if they can, curtail the power already vested in the people. This is at least consistent policy. Some writer has observed that there is no such thing as madness, what is usually called so being merely the fact of a person being in a minority. Now on this " hypothesis' the ravings of the Times may be explained, without supposing it to be demented -the Times is not mad, but merely in a minority, though perhaps the maudlin effusion we have been discussing derives no inconsiderable share of its inco herency from the exhalations of some of those bac chanalian orgies in which the " Conservatives," late Tories," are now regaling themselves.—Morning Advertiser. The bouhies in office and out of it, judging the Conservatives of the ewpire by themselves, and driven to despair by the progress of the Irish petition fund, ring the changes on " conspiracy," " illegality," and the rest of it, by way of trvin7, as a last and only chance " what virtue there is in stones," as the spelling book has it—i. e. what bullying will do for them. Alas ! it will do nothing for them, or worse than nothing. It provokes and stimulates the Con servatives to more vigorous exertions, in lieu of damp ing the spirit of the work, or suspending or relaxing its progress. We shall add no more, but that Parlia ment is to meet within less than four weeks from the present hour--that the House of Commons (if there be faith in Lord John Russell's circular) will pro ceed to business in five days afterwards—that the 'rst business which can lawfully be proceeded with is that of petitions against foul and false returns at the last election—that such petitions, righteous and patrio tic as is their object, cannot be entered upon, much less prosecuted, without a full command of money— that the fund to be contributed is not yet by any means complete—that the period for completing it is almost expired—that the Papist enemy regards its proba ble and speedy completion as an utter death-blow to him, his revolutionary schemes, and his political ex istence—that the urgency of the case therefore is most imminent, and that those who now withhold the required aid are in their hearts no straightforward Conservative Englishmen, but fast-and-loose amateurs of that game which involves in its results the fate of England— armed neutrals, waiting upon Providence, or rather upon fortune, for motives whereby to be resolved in their future support of the monarchy, or desertion from it. On the course and issue of the questions now de bated with respect to Ireland hangs, as we have often said, the security or downfall of Great Britain. Nor is it merely the passing or the rejection of certain measures which are not yet law that we deem of most immediate moment. The spirit in which the existing law is administered must always be deemed, in every country, but especially in one where faction watches without • ceasing to wrest the law to its own selfish purposes, a matter second only, if at all, to the principles on which the law is estab lished. But in Ireland, above every other country that we know of, and now beyond any era that has yet occurred, do the temper and tendencies of the Executive Government constitute a subject of the deepest anxiety to a reflecting statesman. When a power has arisen which is not that of law, but a power which derides the law, and sets it at defiance—a power which inculcates upon its numerous vassals disobe dience to the law and resistance of its authorities, as religious duties—when legislation, with its parchments, is sneeringly glanced at as a shadowy and nerveless form, and insurrection invests itself with the solid at tributes of efficient, practical, and successful force, there is not a single functionary appointed to carry on the daily, however minute transactions, without which even the semblance of political society must fall to pieces, who does not contribute according to his op portunities to help the magistrate in his warfare against sedition, or sedition in its league with treason. No man, therefore, can be blind to the importance of the question—.lst, How the laws are administered in Ireland ? 2d, How the patronage of the State is distributed —that is, whether the laws are to be ad ministered by friends of the State, or by her ene mies ? We have within these few weeks affirmed on good authority, that the police had, under the A London morning paper, which affects to have access to the most accurate information upon commer cial subjects, and to possess such an intimate know ledge of all mercantile connections and relations as ought to guarantee it against the danger of using mis chievously or injudiciously any information which may come into its hands, has, within the last few days been making a very melancholy exhibition of its informa tion, and its faculty of understanding it. This jour nal thought fit several weeks ago to intimate to the commercial world its grave and deliberate opinion that the merchants of the United States of America were no better than swindlers—that the debts which they had contracted with the merchants of Great Britain would never be paid—and that the mer cantile body of America would resort to voluntary and frudulent bankruptcy rather than pay what they owed. This was malicious : it was ignorant and stupid malice—there did not exist the least shadow of fact to justify or palliate the rancorous misrepre sentation. But, if justification or extenuation of this statement were utterly wanting, its motives were suffi ciently conspicuous. A systematic and determined hos tility to the Bank of En g land had long been a dis tinguishing characteristic of the journal to which we allude. And the Bank of England, for the wise and honest purpose of guarding the commercial interests of its own country from a sudden and most in jurious convulsion, had embarked its resources and its credit, at an extraordinary crisis, in aid of the commercial establishments in Great Britain most inti mately connected with the mercantile body of America. To depreciate the character and disparage the re- j sources of the merchants of America w ou ld t en d, I THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1837. new Constabulary Bill, been packed in manifold cases through the machinations of him who pos sesses a sinister and wholesale influence over the no minal Government of Lord Mulgrave. We did not say—we tell the Globe that it alleged a deliberate falsehood, when, in fabricating a charge of inconsis tency against the Times, it accused us of having de clared that the police establishment had been weeded of every Protestant and loyal member, and that it now contained " none but disaffected Papists." That is an impudent untruth. What we did say was, that the design and tendency of the Bill, and the conduct of those by whom its provisions were to be executed, and the patronage created by it to be dispensed, were such as would infallibly make the police a mere tool of Popish revolution. We said that the patronage of the upper classes of police-officers was not left to Colonel Shaw Kennedy, as Lord John Russell had promised, but that the new appointments, in breach of the Noble Lord's pledge, were seized upon by the occupants of the Castle of Dublin, and turned to the uses of their master. We repeat the charge—it will be repeated in Parliament—it will be proved in Parliament. It is, capable of abundant proof. So with the instructions — ay, the secret instructions—conveyed, as they some times have been, indirectly, and through hints, whereby the reports of the state of Irish crime have been garbled ; and to curry favour with a priest•ridden and O'Connell-kicked Government, more than half the offences really committed have been suppressed. We repeat our charge—it will be made openly in Parlia ment—it will be brought home in Parliament. The trick of dragging in the name of Colonel Shaw Ken nedy, as if he were a party to the vicious appoint ments made by Lord Mulgrave under the Police Bill, at the manifest dictation of Lord Mulgrave's master — that trick will not do. How can Colonel Shaw Ken nedy help himself? How can he oppose the Govern ment, assigning for such opposition a dispute about patronage? " But he might resign." Oh, that comes with a good grace from those whom O'Connell has been spitting and trampling on these three years, and who have set their subordinate officers so bright a lesson upon the duty and facility of official resigna tions I Nor will it do to distort into a reflection upon Colonel S. Kennedy the statement of our Irish corre spondents, concerning the negative falsehoods of the periodical reports sent up to Government from local officers of the constabulary. Colonel S. Kennedy does not sign any such reports. The rebel associators intrusted with the honourable office of preparing them receive no disgraceful inuendoes from him, nor consult him upon their confidential returns. The affair is managed less clumsily than that. Thq, whole, indeed, is an unprincipled fct►on, but one of which the osten sible and superior head of the constabulary force is altogether, innocent. The true state of Ireland, we maintain once more, is a subject which must be for mally and searchingly invest►gated soon after Parlia ment meets. The Irish Government must be put upon its trial, for its "good deliverance." We shall see.— Times. In resuming our remarks upon the evident disposi tion which exists to dispense in a great measure with teal by Jury, and to substitute for it the individual judgment of magistrates, we cannot but again advert to the rather extraordinary fact that the Committee, who appear so earnestly bent upon this subject, avoided altogether inquiring how this summary power has already been executed, and what have been its re sults. There is an old adage which speaks of " hang ing a man first and trying him afterwards," which the Committee's idea of effecting so important a change, without inquiring what its consequences are likely to be, not a little resembles. Our own columns rue in the habit of furnishing one not unimportant species of data upon the subject, in the monthly abstracts which we publish of the' result of the trials in the Central Criminal Court, at the Old Bailey. Now these tables prove that of the number of pri soners committed for trial to Newgate by the police magistrates, something more than one-fourth are acquitted, or the bills thrown out. Now that all such persons are innocent, we do not by any means affirm ; the contrary, no doubt, being the case with regard to many of them. But two things are clear ; the one, that they are innocent in the eye .of the law, having undergone the ordeal which it provides for them—the other, that they would all, or nearly all, have been pronounced guilty, and punished as such, had the judgment of the Magistrate been allowed to supersede in their cases the trial by jury. And from these facts it is not unfair to infer that of the persons who are punished under the summary jurisdiction al ready possessed by the Police Magistrates, a similar proportion would have been acquitted by Juries. Such being the case on the one hand, it can only, we apprehend, be answered and met by proof of some corresponding benefit on the other; which would prin cipally, if not wholly, consist in its being shown that crime has diminished or offenders been reformed under this system. Mr. Slaney, the Member for Shrews bury, read, at the late meeting at Liverpool, a statis tical paper, which may be taken as furnishing impor tant evidence upon this subject. After stating the rapid increase of population which had taken place of late years, he proceeded to read various returns as to the number of persons charged with offences, and com mitted in England and Wales at various periods, show ing that while the ppulation had increased at the rate of 18 or 19 per cent. in twelve years, crime had in creased in the proportion of 99 per cent., or five tines the rate of increase in the population—that in 1835 the number of persons charged with offences is Eng land and Wales, was one in 619 ; in Bristol one in 290 ; in Middlesex one in 336 ; in Lancashire one in 481; in Cheshire one in 492 ; in Anglesey one in 8,000. The proportion in Middlesex over the great bulk of the population of which the police magistrates preside, does not speak much in favour of the effect produced by their use of their summary jurisdiction. In fact, what this metropolis wants is a preventive police, not one whose boast and pride it is to swell its criminal returns. We want a system which will, for instance, check crime in the bud, as far as juvenile depredators are concerned, by removing them from scenes of idle ness and want to useful knowledge and occupation—a system which will not permit and connive at recepta cles for stolen goods to exist in every quarter of the town ; and whose summary convictions and punish ments shall not act merely as trainings to higher of fences, which upon inquiry would be found to be to a great degree the case at present. It is not the aboli tion of trial by jury that will effect this. On the con. • trary, it is evident from the growing state of crime in the metropolis; that the more the terrors of the judge and jury are withdrawn, the more casehardened and indifferent do offenders become, while the education they receive, under summary conviction in prisons, only prepares them for new and hardier exploits.— Morning' Herald. On Monday an inquest was held at the sign of the Warwick Arms, Kensington, on the body of Thomas Sim mends, aged 20. It appeared that the deceased had for some time been in the employ of Mr. Steel, the landlord of the Hand-and-Flower Tavern, Vale-place, Hammer smith. Latterly he had taken to drinking, and on Friday last he was out during the early part of the evening with a youn3 woman named Sophia Treeves, to whom he had for the last IS months paid his addresses. Deceased returned home to his employer's residence between 7 and 8 o'clock, and after having been out with his 8 o'clock delivery of beer, came hack intoxicated, and ask.d his mistress for his nightly allowance of beer. She refused to give it him, saying she thought he had had enough already ; when he said if it was not given him he would go and drown himself, and seemed much excited. His mistress again refused, when he left the house, and a few minutes afterwards a hat being ob served floating oa the water i❑ the Kensington canal basin, about 400 yards distant, the drags were procured, and after a search of nearly 45 minutes, the body of the deceased was got up, quite dead. • Verdict—" Temporary Derangement." . , During the whole of last -week- iminense, , hills.were stuck about the neighbourhood, Stating that airnker's shop would be opened in the Edgeware-road, on Saturday the 14th, at five o'clock in the afternoon, and that it was the intention of the proprietor to present the first person who should honour bim with his custom a loaf weighing 161 b. gratuitously ; to each of the next .five customers, a loaf weighing 81b. ; and to the next six a quartern each. At about half-past three, as might very naturally be ex pected, the door was thronged with Irishwomen, cunt mul tis aliis, eager to obtain admission. When the door was opened the shop was immediately filled, and such a scene of confusion followed, as may be more easily imagined than described. Whether or not the baker distributed the prizes we are unable to determine, but we judge it would be a difficult thing for him to discriminate the claims. In the neighbourhood of Bierley there is a tree which was a few years ago split with lightning. An iron chain which was fastened round it, in order to restore it to its pristine form, is now covered with bark, and the tree is in good condition. About a week ago, the wreck of a vessel was seen at a considerable distance off the west coast of the island of Barra. The people of the felt the greatest anxiety, fearing that an unfortunate crew must have been perishing, but the weather was so boisterous that none would venture to go out to it. At last Mr. Michael M'Eachan, a gentle man resident on the island, procured a boat and crew, whom he induced to accompany him, and on reaching the wreck found it to be a large brig, but deserted by its men, and in a most shattered state—dismasted, wanting the 'tween decks, her stern washed away, and having nothing entire save the hold, which contained a great quantity of fine American oak and pine. The name was obliterated, or the part where it ought to be was broken off. The wreck ap peared to have been a long time in this condition, driving to and fro on the ocean, and plundered by other vessels occasionally passing, for not a sail or vestige of a rope re mained about it. Mr. M'Eachan and his crew, with great difficulty and danger, towed it ashore and secured the tim ber, which is still lying, with the giant hull of the brig, on the shores of Barra.—Glasgow Courier. The Siam, a large new ship, sailed on Sunday last for Sydney, New South Wales, from the St. Katherine Dock, with a valuable cargo, and eleven cabin and forty steerage and midship passengers, who intend settling per manently in the colony. A majority of the steerage and midship passengers are tradesmen of small capital and agri culturists. The cabin passengers are persons of consider able property, and among them are a highly worthy young couple (Mr. and Mrs. Cobden), rehently married, who have an adventure worth at least 5,000/. on board. The Siam is commanded by Captain Boadle, a Quaker, whose wife accompanies him. There are several other Quakers among the of an entr.mr't Tbr has gone out on the temperance system, and, with the ex ception of grog, is well found with sea stores. therefore, in the peculiar circumstances of the times to show that the Directors of the Bank of England had, to say the least, been imprudent ; that they had leaned upon a broken reed ; and that for the dis asters which impended they were chiefly to blame. We have repeatedly said that the merchants of America would generally liquidate the debts due in this country. We have always contended also, that the Bank of England did right, in their dealings with British merchants, to allow to the latter a degree of credit limited and adjusted upon the supposition that the Americans would pay their debt. We have con stantly appealed to the copious influx of the precious metals into Great Britain from America as a proof that no juggle was intended by the merchants of the Union. We confidently appealed, moreover, to the continued importation of the precious metals from America as a circumstance which afforded the fullest proof that the merchants of that country intended to discharge their debts with England, and that they generally possessed the power of doing so. The Journal to which we have alluded says that " the only impor tant point is, in what manner the accounts between the ' merchants of New York and various great houses of London, as they existed previously to the late crisis, are winding up." The manlier of this, we should have thought, was sufficiently clear, inasmuch as American produce, as well as the precious metals, sent by Atnerican houses, have, for several weeks, and to a very conside rable amount, been flowing into this country. But with the manner of the operation we submit that neither we, nor our Contemporary, nor the public generally, have anything whatever to do. It is a mat ter which may ve r y sa f e l y b e l e f t t o th e merc h an t s , British and American, whose personal interests it af fects. For us, and for the British community, it is surely enough to know, that, notwithstanding the saga cious anticipation of our Contemporary, debts due by the merchants of America to those of Great Britain are fully recognised by the, former—that there is no general or systematic recourse to bankruptcy—that the American merchants are paying their debts as promptly and as fully as possible—and that, in conse quence of their resolution to do so, large remittances in the precious metals, and still larger consignments of produce, have arrived in Great Britain. Our Con temporary asserts, with his usual self-complacency— and,' he must allow us to say, with a degree of ignorance of which self-complacency, although it be the frequent, is not the suitable, ally—that, " No one who is acquainted with the subject and the general character of American dealings believes that any great progress has yet been made in the settlement of British claims ; were it only for this reason, that the liquidation of these accounts depends principally on the settlement of other accounts between the merchants and dealers of the southern and western States and those of New York, who are rendered literally unable to meet their engagements by the state of the internal exchanges." What a jumble of ignorance and incon sistency have we here I No one who is acquainted with the subject and the general character of Ame rican, or of any other dealings, can fail to perceive that the fact of the internal exchange between the southern and western States and New York being unfavourable to the former is precisely what proves the desire and the efforts of the merchants and dealers of those States to liquidate their balances with their correspondents at New York, and is the fair measure and exact index by which we may safely de termine the eagerness of this desire and the intensity of those efforts. The same remark applies to the mer chants of New York in their relations with their Bri tish correspondents. The course of trade between the two countries has recently been such (how occasioned i s wholly immaterial to our present purpose) that, upon the whole, they have had a balance to remit. Had they been either unable or unwilling to remit what they owed, bills upon England could never have been at the premium at which we have seen them ; nor would the losses have been submitted to by individuals which are always necessarily in volved in the transmission from one country to another of large amounts of the precious metals. It is not agreeable to be compelled to recur thus to the A B C of commerce, to transcribe pages from the primer of mercantile knowledge, and to set forth in print what even the boys who sweep out the counting-houses of the merchants of the city of London already thoroughly understand. But when those who pretend to enlighten the commercial com munity of England show how easily they can forget or di; regard the most obvious an d general principles relating to the commercial intercourse of nations, so often as it suits their purpose to degrade respectable classes of men in another country, or to stigmatise important and valuable interests in our own, it be comes a duty to recal to their recollection principles, however trite and simple, which, although, for spe cial purposes, they might have determined to disre gard them, they will yet not venture to dispute.— Morning Post. WAR OF EXTERMINATION IN LIMERICK. The reader, on perusing the following statement, will perceive that the letter of the " Limerick Exterminator," was neither a fiction nor an idle theory of Mr. Darby O'Grady. Before offering comment, we shall give our Correspondent's communication as we received it : " Early on Friday last, Mr. Darby O'Grady arrived in Galbally, from Mooresfort house, and after parading the village at the head of Lord Guillamore's tenantry, over whom he is agent, and who were previously summoned to meet him, he entered the Petty Sessions House at Gal bally, and drew from his pocket a draft of a petition against the County Members, which he called on them to sign. The substance of it was, that they had proceeded to Limerick at the election, to vote for Stafford O'Brien, but were unable to do so, from the riot and intimidation which prevailed. After reading this petition, he added, we could make it stronger if we pleased by stating, that many who went to vote were obliged to hide themselves in the turf boats on the Shannon. " When summoned to attend him the tenants were to tally ignorant of his intentions, otherwise, it is said, most of them would not lave attended. The first person he called was a man named Birrane, one of whose sons Darby had appointed as guager, and for which situation another son is an expectant, through the influence of this great 0 ! Notwithstanding these and other favours, on being apprized of the substance of the document, he refused to sign it, upon the grounds that it was untrue, as he believed that he could have voted if be were entitled to do so ; but he was not, in consequence of not having been registered. On his re fusing, the Exterminator deliberately walked over to him, and placed his hand on his head, declaring that lie never would allow the young man who was candidate to be ap pointed, and that if he possibly could, he would get the son in the revenue dismissed from the situation. Poor Birrane got so frightened at this threat, that after having seen others sign the document, be offered, even craved, to sign it, which Darby rejected, vowing vengeance and extermination against Birrane, who holds his ground on a very old lease. Many others also refused, whom he likewise threatened with imprecations to annihilate, by canting their stock on the Bth November, if they had not their rent to the day, and that as soon as their leases (which had all bad titles) would expire, he would take care they should never be re newed. One or two Protestants were among the number, and not having been at all in Limerick at the election, they naturally refused signing to the knowledge of the circum stances. Ye. Protestants, indeed ! said the Exterminator, h—g me, but ye are as great rebels as the worst papist of them all. He left them, after inducing about eight of them to sign his petition." . . . H—g me, but ye are as great rebels as the worst Pa pists of them all ! ! Here is language from a "justice of the peace"—sworn to adjudicate dispassionately between man and man, regardless of what religion or party they may be of. Can any thing be conceived more monstrous than that this individual should be permitted to proceed in his crusade of extermination against the social and political existence of the people of this country. We call upon Government, and upon our County Members, and upon the County Club, to throw the shield of their protection over the person of the honest but lowly peasant, who merely demands the free exercise of what the law of his country have vested in him. There is here a palpable and gross infringement on the liberty of the subject, which admits of most incontro vertible grounds for bringing the affair before the Imperial Legislature ; and we should blush for the name of Eng lishmen if measures were not immediately adopted to put a stop to such wanton and unconstitutional proceedings. On bringing to recollection the good old times! when Mr. Darby O'Grady was enabled with impunity, at the same moment that he gave orders to his groom and his coach man—to tender justice to his Majesty's subjects, from the sill of his parlour window—we confess that his present extraordinary course strikes us with much less astonish ment than we should feel did it emanate from one gene rally characterised from the propriety of his conduct. Nor can it be forgotten that some two years since when giving orders in the Sessions Court of his neighbourhood, this same Mr. Darby O'Grady, after reproving the police for their clemency in firing over the heads of the coun try people at riots, told each constable in that Chris, tianlike and most peculiar manner—which is all his own —to cover his man and shoot him dead ! ! But it occurs to us that those immediately connected with the gentle man—and who have not heretofore identified themselves with his political views—would do well to consider that public opinion more or less holds them responsible for not checking him in his present unwarrantable and unconsti tutional career. The more especially as it is known that the heir to the noble lord, whose tenantry have been, on this occasion, the subject of threats and intimidation, un hesitatingly tendered his interest to the Liberal candi dates at the late election. They are, we say, imperatively bound to use their authority and influence over him. But it is not upon individuals or upon families, however power ful, that the people should depend. It behoves them at once to sea that this dangerous conspiracy is crushed before it has taken root, and we, therefore confidently expect that many days will not elapse after the assembling of the new Parliament, when it will be made the subject of just ani madversion within its walls.—Lintetick Star. INGENUITY OF THE BEGGING LETTER LI POSTORS.—TIiose who are not in the secret, are at a loss to understand how the begging-letter writers manage to get acquainted with such circumstances, either in the cases of the persons whose names they assume, or in those of the parties they address, as could impose on the latter. The way in which the thing is managed is this :—They first of all ascertain who are the noblemen or gentlemen of the most benevolent disposition and ample means, and they then take care to learn what is the most probable way of pro curing a favourable hearing to their got-up tale of distress. This done, their ingenuity is put to the rack, with the view of trumping-up the most plausible possible case. An in stance or two will suffice to explain this more fully. Sup pose I take the cases of Sir Peter Durham and Admiral Curzon, as gentlemen whose names have been already men tioned. The begging letter-writers, having in the first place ascertained that these gentlemen are distinguished for their benevolence of disposition, and for their strong attachment to the naval service, they then apply themselves to the procuring of some particulars respecting particular ships they commanded, and the men who served under them. They succeed in this by going down to Greenwich, and entering, as if it i were by the merest accident, into conver sation with some of the pensioners there, who, over a pot of porter or a tumbler of grog, are remarkably communicative on all matters pertaining to the naval service. They at once mention the day and date of particular engagements, and particular occurrences. They also learn who were spe cial favourites with Sir Peter Durham, or Admiral Curzon, as the case may be ; and then pretending to be one of those persons, they refer, with an edifying minuteness, to a particular occurrence. The imposition is thus in most cases effectual, and the gentlemen addressed believing the trumped-up tale of woe, and sympathising with an old sailor who served under them, naturally put their hands in their pockets, and send the applicant either one or two sovereigns to ,administer to his exigencies.—Sketches in London, by the Author of " Random Recollections." AN ACCOMPLISHED IMPOSTOR.--Of all the begging-letter impostors of whom I have heard, Peter Hill was unequalled in the facility and success with which he could change his personal appearance. In the course of one day he could assume and sustain, with admirable effect, seven or eight different characters ; so that those who saw him, and were conversing with him, • at ten o'clock in the morning, might have been in his company at twelve, and never had the slightest suspicion of the fact. He had a pair of huge artificial whiskers, which he put on and off just as he pleased ; and he had also a pair of moveable mustachios, which a Spanish Don would have looked on with envious eye. Of wig's, too, he had an abundant sup ply, embracing every variety of colour ; while his wardrobe was so extensive, that you would have thought he had purchased the entire contents of some Jew clothesman's shop in Holy well-street. By these means, coupled with great natural cle verness, he was able to assume so many different characters, and to appear so very unlike himself, if there be not an Irishism in the expression, that, though the Mendicity So ciety had at one time no fewer than three hundred cases of begging letter importures against him ; and though its of ficers had repeatedly seen him in the police-offices, they passed him day after day in the public streets, without re cognising him. I may mention one fact, out of hundreds, illustrative of the singular adroitness with which he managed to disguise himself, and to assume different characters ; namely, that he applied personally one morning to the Earl of Harrowby, as an unbeneficed Clergyman of the Church of England, in great distress, when he received a sovereign, and in the evening in the character of an unfortunate por trait-painter, when he again received a sovereign from the hands of the Noble Earl, after having had a personal inter view with his Lordship on both occasions.—Sketches in London, by the Author of Random Recollections. The Allgemeine Zeitung of the 13th inst. confirms the opinion put ,forward by the foul nal des Debats that the French squadron stated to have appeared before Naples consisted only of the French ships of war return ing from Tunis. An English sloop of war and a French Government steamer had likewise been in the Bay of Na ples, but had both left it again. The steam-boat supposed to have been sent to Sicily proves to have been despatched against a pirate who infested the waters of Otranto, where he had committed numerous acts of violence along the coast. In proof of the extraordinary mildness of the sea son, we may state. that Mr. Lucas, of the King's-road, ex berries, cherries, raspberries, currants, and vtoicts, ad grown I in the open air and from the open ground.--Brighton Paper. I SCOTTISH COURSING MATCH• himself was the staunchest of anglers , M r. Rose ; but n The only guest who had chalked out ot her sport .foer too, was there on his "shelty," armed with his salmon -ton and landing net, and attended by his humourous squtre Hinves, and Charlie Purdie, a brother of Tom, Th? days the most celebrated fisherman of the district. little group of Waltonians, bound for Lord Somerville preserve, remained lounging about to witness the start w as the main cavalcade. Sir Walter, mounted on Sibyl, marshalling the order of procession with a huge maidens,huriting whip, and among a dozen frolicsome youths and ~ who seemed disposed to laugh at all discipline , c a t each on horseback, each as eager as the youngest sp men in the troop, Sir Humphry Davy, Dr. Wollastan, a nd in thos.e the patriarch of Scottish belies-letter, Henry Mackenzie. The Man of Feeling, however, was persuaded with sobrnue. difficulty to resign his steed for the negro follower, and to join lady Scott in the sociable, u l o t Laidlay.v, we should reach the ground of our " battue." a long-tailed wiry Highlander, ycleyt " Hod din 6 1 :01, which carried him nimbly and stoutly, although his feet a l " most touched the ground as he sat, was the adjutant. P", p: went to his fait De! the most picturesque figure was the illustrious inventor of the safety-lamp. He had come for his favourite sport of angling, and had been practising it successfully with ly n e ; his travelling companion, for two or t hree days r ece e ft this, but he had not prepared for coursing fields, or had ,_ Charlie Purdic's troop for Sir W a lter's on a hate thought, and his fisherman's costume — a brown hat flexible brims, surrounded with line upon line of ca tgut, In ch innumerable fly-hooks—jack-boots worthy of a D o d u of smuggler, and a fustain surtout dabbled w ith the blovi bite_ salmon, made a fine contrast with the smart jackets, less cord breeches, and well polished jockey-bootg of the is distinguished cavaliers about him. Dr. Wollaston was black, and with his noble serene dignity of countenane:" might have passed for a sporting archbishop. zie, at this time in the 76th year of his age, with a . hat turned up with green, green spectacles, green jacket,' and long brown leathern gaiters buttoned upon his netheil;, anatomy, wore a dog-whistle round his neck, an d had all over the air of as absolute a devotee as the gay capta in ° Mr. Mack . to Huntly Burn. Toni Purdie and his subalterns had Preelea ded us by a few hours with all the greyhounds that eou t he collected at Abbotsford, Darnick, and Melrose ; b u c i the giant Maida had remained as his master's orderly, jibe now gambolled about Sibyl Grey, barking for rner e jo C Y n ; a spaniel puppy. . . . On reaching Newark astle, era, we found Lady Scott, her eldest daughter, and the ve ble Mackenzie, all busily employed in unpacking a 1315k,hen that had been placed in their carriage, and arranging luncheon it contained among the mossy rocks overhangi* the bed of Yarrow. When such of the company as elinse had partaken of this refection, the Man of Feeling re had his poney, and all ascended the mountain , duly Mar shalled at proper distances, so as to beat in a broad line over the heather, Sir Walter directing the movem ent fr o m oill the right wing towards Blackandro. Davy, next t i ke al3 b i t I chanced to be riding, laid his whip about the fern •, experienced hand, but cracked many a joke, too , u p on own jack-boots, and surveying the long eager battalion 0' bush-rangers, exclaimed. "Good heavens is it thus tt I visit the scenery of the Lay of the Last Minst rel ?" ( 4 : then kept muttering to himself, as his g lowing ey e finest and brightest that I ever saw) ran over the la nd " scape, some of those beautiful lines from the " Co nclusion of the Lay— --But still, When summer smiled on sweet Bowhill, And July's eve, with balmy breath, Waved the blue-bells on Newark heath, When throstles sung in Hareheadshaw, And corn was green on Carterhaugh, And flourished, broad, Blackandro's oak, The aged harper's soul awoke, &c Mackenzie, spectacled though he was, saw . the first sitting hare, gave the word to slip the dogs, and spurred afte,r them like a boy. All the seniors, indeed, did wel l as theloo as the course was upwards, but when puss took down ; declivity, they halted and breathed themselves upon woo knoll—cheering gaily, however, the young people, dashed at full speed past and below them. Coursing °"-f such a mountain is not like the same sport over a sell, fine English pastures. There were gulfs to be aviuue,k and bogs enough to be threaded—many a stiff nag se the a bold rider measured his length among tbe peat-hags—and another stranger to the ground besidel Davy plunged neck deep into a treacherous well-hes"' which, till they were floundered in it, had born all H um . sir pearance of a piece of delicate green turf. When r phrey emerged from his involuntary bath, his habilim ents garnished with mud, slime, and mangled water-tresses, Shir Walter received him with a triumphant encore ! But .° philosopher had his revenge, for joining soon after wards a brisk gallop, Scott put Sibyl Grey to a leap beyond her prowess, and lay humbled in the ditch, while DAvY,,wll° was better mounted, cleared, it and him at a bound. riar,,r; pily there was little damage done, but no one was sorry that the sociable had been detained at the foot of the b""' —Lockliart's Life of Scott, vol. 5. • Lord Ponsonby, according to the :411genzeine fun", had been to pay his visit of congratulation to the l'e° Turkish Minister, Akim Effendi. Lord Ponsonby, it ' e° pears, was the last of the corps diplumatique who co m p with this customary formality. Considerable alterations and improvements a re fl° k w in progress at the Royal Observatory, Greenw ich Pa" which was built in 1675. , On Saturday the splendid new steam-ship M e i : r pool, which for a length of time past has been building ° Sir John Tobin, at Humble and Milcrest's yard, Trentb3°s: street, was launched under the most favourable ausPiic,en.. As a specimen of naval architecture, this is the ralstbuilt did we ever saw in the port of Liverpool. She was by Messrs. Humble and Milcrest, and, with one exceP s t' i l ii ; is the longest in the keel of any ship laid down. T he her measures 240 feet in length from her figure-head t° taffrail, and .5'7 feet over her paddle-boxes. She 15 1 , 1 '500 tons by adineasuremeL : but will carry a cargo ofd ''sho tons ; her depth of hold is 20 feet. When conapleteiders will cost at least 45,0001. She occupied the b ° 60 4 60 twelve months in building. Her two e2e:ines are „ bY, horse power, and are now in progress of co2structio"wilt Messrs. Forrester and Co., of Vauxhall foundry, P, nd yee not be completed fbr some months. The model of tilt! t ; sel is exceedingly elegant, and has been greatly os ll° , i is her figure-head is the full-length figure of a man• ta ti expected to be the fastest vessel afloat ; which expec may not be unfounded, from her appearance. Her ' b ° 100 0 when seen in the water was immense, her paddlefiver looking as big as two good sized cottages. One of tbe n" steamers made up to her to tow her into the Graving Dock' and we remarked that her paddle-boxes were higher t the steamer's chimney. Her destination is not Ws". Liverpool Standard. T. COX SAVORY, G o ld sm ith, Sze., 47, G rr ° ,,- rl 4 ll- ' 1 London, informs the Publi c , that he offers ILVER on the celebrated PATENT LEVER CONSTRUCIA"i 'VeO E most Ac atic,cujiattheaolln thewh i l c a h te a st w i a m tch be made)f r SIX ment, jewelled in four holes,capped, hand to mark the s e „lo p enamelled dial, and maintaining • g while power to continue going ing, _up. a-han a r o c r a e n m en theo detaebeoL,eehaarP_ a N.B.—lf in Hunting Cases, 10s. 6d. extra.—Sec°P Watches purchased in exchange. On the 19th inst., at Sto ß ke lll N T ew il ington, Mrs. Lewis J3urni"--" of a daughter. ..• On the 17th inst., at Islington, Mrs. Thomas Ba ird, of a sell. MARRIED. „ c. v., of On the 11th inst., at Liverpool, John Hughes, Esq. , .. rio net that town, and of Llwyn-y-Brain, Carnarvonshire. to ' etford, daughter of the late Rev. A. Youle,M.A , Rector of WesAtlß and of Grove, Nottinghamshire. . John Al os ea' On the 18th inst., at St. Margaret's, Westminster , err- ' sure, Esq., barrister-at-law, Lincoln's Inn, to Charlotte de, sm ith, youngest daughter of the late Major-General Sir Sigismilo° K.C. H., of Austey House, Hants. OW, On the 16th inst., at St. Peter's, in the Tower, John e ldest Esq., M.D., of Steward-street, Bishopsgate , t o Mary Jane ' daughter of Lieut.-Colonel A. S. King. of M r ' On the 18th inst., at Abingdon, Berks, Hen r y Hicks, oll's°.noli_r„,,eodt Depufy Hicks, to Emma, eldest daughter of A ir. J. C of Abingdon. h, of t he On the I ith inst., Captain Henry Rowland Brand. r b e rdt Royal Engineers, to Mary Elizabeth, daughter of H. J. Esq., and - Lady Mary Shepherd. Ghir of On the 10th inst., at Spilsb Lincolnshire, Mr. S. - e V, Grove-street, Hackney, to Mary, ' only daughter of Wu'' Esq., of Pelham's Lands, in the same county. ri, les S errig' On the 19th inst. at St. Pancras New Church, Char ch t udiu o eldest son of E. A. ' Wilde, Esq ,of College-hill, to ErailY Thomasine, only daughter of Mi.. Sergeant Wilde, ALP. DIED. , Tho o On the 17th inst., at Bri hton Eliza Ann, widow 01 Goddard Mackintosh, Esq. g ' os. Jons.' On the 11th inst., at Stapleton, Gloucestershire, .1“ Esq., aged 90. r the n el. • e 0 , - g. On the 13th inst. at Dedham-lodge, Barbara, wit. Rec tor of Lao,. J. T. Hurlock, D.D ' . Prebendary of Sarum, and Rei 3 ' euitis , in I." - ham, Essex, sister of ' Sir T. B. Lennard, Bart., of ofilf same county. so on O o n f t A he . s 2s la t t h er u , lt E ., sq a . t , Geneva, aged 19, Thomas On the 18th inst., in Gower-street, Thomas 1N a on, ysq., On the 17th inst., Elizabeth, relict of John Jacks of the Great Pulteney-street. • bed], wife On the 18th inst., in Heston-square, Eliza ifs A Rev. W. Wilkinson, aged 82. Eleanor ....este „ D ., On the 16th inst., at North end, Fulhaqi,,o ~ N or th-. of F. Stevens, Esq., of Sidmouth, and St. John s-r asi .-- of t b. Fulham, aged 53. daught er .....41 1 ! T Son- ~,, R ife of Mr. J . Whi, On the 12th inst., at Uxbridge, Maria, wi h lateO n E. th G e rla4sstehtt,inEst;q,.at Cheltenham, Sarah, fifth --- ____-- I:tliancaElissq._tert of and eldest daughter of the late Mr. Stephen Horse, in that town. - -- .. t ti,;' , .AP t oy i - II'AIY-' '" Me ° ,_ ,:, • • .i.*: &kr-A at. i 1 vbi..,:. t. , --,-, ' _d, igi pt M e Strand, at The Sun O ffi ce, O. 112, Strati of Mbldlesoic,...—Fricloy, ("gobs( 20, 1537. Tre ern,___of the to.