The Sun. — London, England, 1837-08-29 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. Lord Palmerston in his address to the electors of the borough of Tiverton, which we have transferred to our columns from a provincial paper, makes some observa tions on the result of the general election which, as af _ . _ _. . fording a view of the opinions of a Cabinet Minister as to the course which the Government intend to pursue, will probably be deemed better authority than Tory newspapers, or journals playing into Tory hands. His Lordship states what cannot be now contested, that " the result of the general election has been to g ive to the Reformers a decided and sure majority in the House of Commons, fully sufficient to secure the ascendancy of those principles of government which the Reformers profess, and according to which they desire to see the affairs of the country administered." But then it is equally certain " that it will be ne cessary for the Reformers to remain united ; for by union among themselves, by perseverance against dif ficulties, and by patience under temporary delays, the Reformers of the three united kingdoms will ensure the steady progress of Legislative improvement." His Lordship in a manly manner meets the ob jection to the disproportion between the returns from Ireland and from England and Scotland. " Ireland is the part of the empire where the greatest abuses prevail, and where remedies are most urgently required for existing evils ; and the people of Ireland have un equivocally demonstrated, by their present choice of re presentatives, what their opinion is of the relative merits of the two opposite systems of Government upon which opposing candidates have recently taken their stand." But, then, says the Times of yester day, " the band of between twenty and thirty Irish Members, relied on by Ministers as their majority, and drawn up in that character to arbitrate the desti nies of this empire in the House of Commons, are the nominees of one man, and that man Mr. O'Connell." Everything depends on the meaning attached to a word. The nominees of Mr. O'Connell ! Nominee is a very offensive word to Englishmen, because they asso ciate with it the idea of borough-mongering, the agency of a fraudulent usurpation of a right of property in the people themselves, an usurpation the most offensive, be cause it wore the guise of liberty. But say that Mr. O'Connell possesses influence with several of the con stituencies of Ireland, what is there in common be- tween the deference which is paid to the man to whose extraordinary exertions and consummate talents the great body of the people of that country owe, under the favour of Providence, their emancipation from a worse than Egyptian bondage, and a restoration to all the privileges of Englishmen ? When the con . mere feeler. The Grunticle, the organ of Govern- test is between those who wished to retain the Irish people in fetters, who opposed to the last their eman cipation, and - .vho, regretting that great healing measure, cling with obstinacy to every fragment of the old pe nal system which still remains to keep alive the me mory of what ought to be now buried in oblivion, end Mr. O'Connell, who stood by them through good and through bad report for the third of a cenntry, and those gentlemen who, satisfied with equal laws, op pose themselves to the absurd claims of a formerly dominant faction, is there anything wonderful in the people of Ireland preferring as their Representatives their tried friends to their bitter enemies ? No eforin Act can destroy the influence of a repu- Cation founded on continued benefit,l ; and were the Irizrh people to pay no more attention to the ad meat, put forth on Friday last the complete, mature, scheme of its purity in broad, bold, direct words. I would have a Reform Union established," says the writer, " in every city and borough in the United Kingdom, admitting non-electors as well as electors. Let them hare the poll-book published after each . . election, and let one of their leading features be the especial support of those shopkeepers, mechanics, and others, who have voted in their favour." So far we have but little to say. We incline, indeed, to think that the encouragement of workmen and tradespeople by their co-partisans should be rather the private care of individuals than the official business of a society. But we pass over this, that we may come to the other branch of the scheme propounded by this leader of liberality. "Or I would have a resolution eren more severe than this, which should be to the effect of pledging each individual member not to ex pend a shilling with any one who had recorded his vote against the cause advocated by the union !" We have here a clue to the motives of all the well vice of Mr. O'Connell than to the dictates of their old opponents the Orangemen, this would furnish the Tories with a better argument for oppressing them than any they have yet urged. Were they so ungrateful and so stupid as to be unable to distinguish between their friends and their enemies, they would thereby prove themselves so sunk and degraded that even the hopes of raising them in the social scale most be renounced. If the influence employed by Mr. O'Connell in procuring the returns of Members partook of the nature of that which was possessed by many individuals prior to the Reform Act, the reason ing in the article in the Times might be worth some thing ; but there is really not the slightest similarity between the means by which those individuals nomi nated the Members of their choice to the abolished boroughs, and the means employed by Mr. O'Con nell, whatever its amount tiny be. The objection in the former case was, that the power of nomination was i:ot derived fr um popular influence, whether w e ll or ill deserved, but was an incident of property, and transferable with the property by descent or sale from one holder to another. Now no one can doubt for a moment that Mr. O'Connell's influence is wholly popular, whatever its amount or however ob tained ; and if any ultra-Tory shall, by the mere force of his personal popularity, become enabled success fully to propose candidates to a considerable number of constituencies, we will venture to say that the adoption of those candidates will never be referred to by any Whig or Radical as evidence that the object of the Reform Bill was frustrated. The attempt to confound popular influence with a power incident to property, such as existed in the nomination boroughs under the old state of the representation, could only have been made by a very weak or a very dishonest writer. Having dismissed the charge of nomination, we may make short work of the rest of the article. The Times excepts to the presence of Catholics in the Legisla ture, an exception somewhat out of date, we concei ,. e. " We do say," quoth our morning contemporary, " that vrth the opinions which the Protestants entertain of the views of t.ie Catholics upon our Chtuch and its endow ments, we have a right to challenge such jurors as they are, not because we hold them incapable of forming an ho nest judgment, but because we feel that on these premises their honest judgment is, and must be, against the Protestant Constitution of our Crown, country, and Church. If after pairing off the 317 Ministerial against the 317 Conserva tive Members, the 24 who remain are Catholics, or even Protestants who go all lengths rith Catholics, the result to this Protestant nation is practically very much the same as it would be if the 317 on each side had never been elected at all, and the whole House of Commons consisted of the 24." The Tories have no right to challenge any one Member of the House of Commons, whether English, Scotch, or Irish—whether Episcopalian, Presby terian, Dissenter, or Catholic—from taking a part in and voting on all questions that come before the Legis lature. If the English were to protest against the Irish taking part in one class of questions, the Scotch in another, the Irish and Scotch and the Dissenters would in their turn be for debarring the English Episcopalians from taking part in another. The towns would object to the Members for counties deciding on commercial subjects, and the coun tias would object to the Members for boroughs inter fering with country affairs. In short, were the excep tions of the Times to be followed out, the Parliament of the United Kingdom would become something like a Polish Diet, in which nothing could be concluded on account of the claims of opposing . sections to a liberurn veto. But the whole assumption is a tissue of absurdity. What right have the Tories to claim for the 317 Conservatives a stronger regard for the in terests of the Establishment and the Protestant reli gion than the Ministerial Members entertain ? Who supposes that if Ministers entertained any designs hostile to this country, or injurious to the Protestant religion, their numerous adherents would not fall off and swell the 317 Conservatives ? Union can only be maintained in the Ministerial ranks by the wisdom, the justice, and the moderation of the course pursued by in the It i s o b v i ous to us t h at thi s writer the "'plies could himself have had no faith in his own arguments. B u t b e t h at as i t may, i t i s hi g hl y gratifying to find that the Tories are fairly puzzled for arguments against Ministers, when their journalists are forced to have recourse t o suc h twa ddl e . Th e Tories have spent their money very liberally ; but they might as well have kept it in their pu rses , f or Minis ters have a sufficient majority to conduct the Govern ment in spite of them.—Morning Chronicle. A paper in the interest of the present Mi n i s t ers h as the following notice, which its confederate journals have been careful to copy, as a caution to Conserva tives how they vote hereafter for their honest opini ons : -" So great is the popular indignation in Ireland against Messrs. Guinness, the Dublin brewers, for having voted at the late election for the Orange candi dates, that no carman dare carry their porter through the country." On this extensive conspiracy against Messrs. Guinness, if indeed it exist at all, not one word of reprobation or regret is bestowed by the Libe rals. But this is only a preparatory movement—a • _ precise steps your wholesome rigour will conduct yoi to the desired consummation. He proceeds thus :—" I contrived indignation poured forth in the case of the Chelsea greengrocer upon one or two ladies and gen tlemen who paid off and quitted that Destructive cab bage-dealer, deeming (and as we humbly conceive with great reason), that however fit and fair it be for a tradesman to vote according to his own opinions rather than those of his customers, yet it is not quite so fair or fit, that having promised his vote on one side, e.g., for Sir George Murray, he should poll it on the other, e.g., for Mr. Leader. Promise as you will, but poll as you promise. However, it was made a great crime in two or three customers of that versatile cauli-florist, that they took this view of the subject ; and they were singled out for some of the choicest abuse of that week in which they began to buy their parsley at anothar shop. The object of all that invective is now apparent—it was to vamp an ex cuse for doing something on the Radical side, under the pretext of self-defence, which should go twenty times further than any Conservative ever went, or than any Conservative, we hope and believe, would ever condescend to go. For the suggestion now propounded is not merely that a customer may and ought to with draw his favours from a dishonest, promise-breaking neighbuur—it is not merely that a customer may with - - out impropriety decline to deal with a tradesman who opposes his political views—but it is a distinct, dlicct proposal, for organizing a conspiracy among the whole or a great body of that tradesman's customers to be enrolled in an association, and pledged by a resolution for the purpose of ruining him, unless he bow to their combined dictation. The, thought was worthy of the men who now aspire to lead the liberties of their country. The loss of a single customer, or of three or four, act ing on separate feelings of dissatisfaction, was too light a punishment for voting against the Liberal cause ; to make a lash that should cut deep enough, the thongs should be spliced and twisted into knots, and therefore all liberal men must band together, and pledge themselves (with some solemn adjuration, by all means) to exterminate the wretch who has dared to exercise his franchise according to a conscience of his own. The law, indeed, in its present imperfect toms "forced upon them by foreign intervention, and not growing out of the gradual and natural progress of the human mind and advancement of society, is the liberty of obeying the commands or being butchered bY the bayonets of military factions, whose chiefs, like the feudal brigands of the middle ages, keep society in a state of perpetual alarm and disturbance by their selfish and incessant struggles for power and plunder. But in some countries in Europe in the middle ages the oppressed mass of the nation had a resource and protection against feudal tyranny. The power of the crown was a check upon the rapacity and violence of the chiefs of castellated banditti. From the dangerous vicinity of the embattled towers and donjon keep, which threw their gloomy shadows over their fields, the peaceful and industrious population could appeal to the beneficent protection of the kingly power, and " fly from petty tyrants to the throne." But it is not so in Spain and Portugal in the nineteenth century. There the royal power has been beaten down and enslaved by each succeeding faction. There the throne has been rendered powerless, and the regal office only retained to adorn the triumph of those who trample on its authority, and grace with the symbols of legitimate power the acts of successful rebellion. This is what native liberalism and foreign intervention have done for Spain and Por tugal. Unfortunate royalty, which has for its protec tors our own liberal ministers ! Held captive amidst the bayonets of military " reformers," the Queens of Spain and Portugal look in vain for the promised deli verance which was expected to come. from foreign in tervention. Every step which Lord Palmerston takes to extricate his ill-fated pair of Queens from their awk ward and disagreeable position only plunges them in fresh difficulties, and covers them with new humilie- tion. It is only about a twelvemonth ago that the military revolution of La Granja was accomplished, the principal object of which seems to have been to restore to power the especial protege of our Foreign Secretzry, the too well-known Mendizabal, who had made himself hated and despised by the Spanish people, when he was formerly the Queen's Minister, by his boastful promises and miserable performances, and his incapacity for everything but financial juggles and political intrigue. The democratic Constitution of 1812 was made the pretext for that military revolution; but it is clear that it was only a pretext, seeing that the men who obtained power under a pretended vene ration for that Constitution, which they swore to keep inviolate, no sooner thought themselves securely fixed in office than they began to cut, carve, and mutilate it n such a manner that its own parents would not know it. The Regent Queen was compelled to accdpt that Constitution, under threats of death, by the armed ruffians who broke with fixed bayonets into her state, may possibly subject the associated patriots to an indictment for a conspiracy ; but the good times arc fast approaching when public virtue may defy the law, or, better still, may brandish it. Therefore, com bine, withcut fear or remorse, and crush the caitiff who presumes to he Conservative. Do you dou!.)t the efficacy of your efforts ? Only listen to the same in• structor, and he will show you practically by ,Yha is pretty well known that the extension of creel: generally taken by those aristocratic families presum• ing such dictation is such as to prevent any man o business from undertaking their favours unless backer by great capital, or having what is called a good ready-money trade, which is almost entirely derived from the middling and productive classes of society, of which, including non electors, nineteen-twentieths are Reformers. Deprive him of his ready-money trade, and his aristocratic patron is obliged to hawk his favours to some other market. This acted upon, my humble o:)inion is, you would find the Tory electors joining us in petitioning for the Ballot." "In all large towns, particularly in the manufacturing dis tricts, the Tories would soon cease to exist."—Q. E. D. It is superfluous to recommend these sentiments to the execration of every honest man.— Times. For some time the Tories have been endeavouring to persuade the public not only of their willingness, but their anxiety, to promote all necessary reforms-- and have made occasional allusions to the nature of the changes which, in their opinion, are essential to the improvement of our institutions. Amongst these propositions there is one lately put forward by the great organ of the corruptionists, which, from its being peculiarly illustrative of the tactics of the faction, from its affording astriking specimen of the kind of reform they would propose, and of the specious manner in which they would keep the promise to the car and break it to the sense, is deserving of a passing com mentary. The proposition referred to is nothing less than the extension of the suffrage. " What !" our readers will no doubt exclaim, " the Tories propose to extend the suffrage ?" Yes, they are most desirous for its extension ; for, strange as it may at first appear, the extension of the suffrage which they contemplate would afford the most certain means of nullifying the Reform Act. It is to property, and not to persons, that they propose to extend the elective franchise. The proposition is to inerease the number of votes in proportion to the amount of pro perty possessed by the individual : that is, if 51. con stitutes the qualification for one vote, 101. should en title the possessor to two votes, 151. to three, and so on in arithmetical progression. We do not suppose that the Tories would have the daring to attempt, nor would it be. necessary for their purpose to carry out the principle to its utmost extent ; but even if adopted in a limited degree, it would vest the representation more thoroughly and completely in the hands of the Aris tocracy. than it was under the old borough nomination system. A few extensive landed or other proprietors would be sufficient to carry any election against the opinion of the whole individual constituents. There were not many contests in the last election wherein a few electors possessing each some fifty or hundred votes on the franchise extension system proposed by the Tories, might not have decided the victory as they pleased. And all this would have been defended on the pretext of giving what is called property its due influ ence. To hear these sticklers for the rights of property propound their nostrums, one might be led to suppose that the rights of persons were to be held utterly in significant as compared with those of worldly posses sions. It would seem as if the man who lived by his daily labour had no stake in the welfare of the coun try, that they whose industry most contributes to the national wealth and prosperity should be rejected from a voice in the election of its representatives, and that the whole legislative power should be vested in those who seemed destined to enjoy the fruits of the earth without in any manner contributing to their produc tion, to revel in the good things of life without mak ing any return to the society from whence they are derived. It must be obvious that it is the industrial classes who stand most in need of legislative protection. The lords of the soil are in the very nature of their pos sessions comparatively protected from any danger of their property ; but in all the several relations of society the individual living by his industry is exposed to ag gressions unless protected by the laws ; and these are the persons whom the Tories would place at the mercy of their hereditary persecutors. Such is one specimen of Tory Reform I—Morning Advertiser. The revolution which overthrew the Ministry of Isturiz and set up that of Calatrava in Spain was a mi litary one. The revolution which has overthrown the Ministry of Calatrava and set up that of Espartero, is also a military one. By a military revolution a former ministry in Portugal was turned out, and along with it the " charter of Don Pedro," which it has cost much English blood and gold to establish. In that country another military revolution is now in progress to put down the present ministry of the Queen, and restore the Pedroite Charter and Administration. Thus in the two kingdoms of the Spanish peninsula, the only liberty which the great mass of the inhabit ants have obtained through the instrumentality of " charters," " constitutions, and " representative sys. THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1837• chamber. Since then she has been held in a state o the most abject thraldom by the Ministers, whom an other military revolution has by a stroke of retributive justice overthrown. In this revolution, which Espar tero has just achieved, the influence of France has succeeded, and the scale in which English interven tion is placed kicks the beam. Those two Powers, un der the treacherous disguise of a seeming alliance, are perpetually struggling for the mastery at Madrid, and, by their revolutionary intrigues, unconsciously promo ting the success of the cause of Don Carlos, whom they had ostensibly united to crush. In the mean time the state of the Queen of Portugal is thus described by the Pedroite Chief, the Marquis Saldanha The palace of the daughter of our liberator has became her dungeon—thus placed in a state of coer cien, she can only weep over the insults by which her sacred and inviolable person are hourly reviled. Her august husband is attacked by a foreign assassin," &c. This has all happened since Lord Palmerston and his Whig colleagues took the unfortunate heiress of the house of Braganza under their protection. The same party have made it a point to surround the youthful Queen of England with their own exclusive circle, male and female, Du avertite omen ! Nothing but the power of an overruling Providence, the hereditary spirit of the house of Brunswick, and the constitutional loyalty of the British people, can save the dignity of the British crown from the unhappy consequences of such fatal protection.—Morning Herald. We still think—notwithstanding the sundry exqui site reasons which our keen Contemporaries on the Ministerial side of the question have advanced—that there will be no inconsiderable embarrassment in carry ing on the Government with an exclusively Irish, and very small, majority in the House of Commons, and with no majority at all in the House of Lords. We suspect, moreover, that Lord Melbourne is rather more inclined to agree with our opinion in this matter than with that expressed by our singularly subtile Contem poraries. His Lordship doubtless feels, and his Col leagues doubtless feel, even much more strongly than he, that it would be a highly inconvenient thing for them (and, after all they have said, rather ridiculous into the bargain) to have to give up office just at the time when the whole personal power of the Monarch has been " placed unreservedly in their hands :" but, strongly as they may feel this, and anxious as they may be to avoid doing anything so unpleasant as the resignation of the Government would be, yet they cannot shut out from th.sir consideration the excessive difficulty of going on. Their majority, be it again remarked, is in one House very, very small, and very, very Irish ; and, in another House, there is no majority at all, except that which is directly against them. Their majority in the House of Commons is an O'Connell majority, and "no mis take." The majority against them in the House of Lords comprises the first men in England for cha racter, intelligence, rank, and wealth. We perceive that some of the Ministerial journals sympathise so keenly with the conclusions which we draw from the fact of the majority being exclusively Irish that they make a desperate plunge, and endeavour to dive under the difficulty, by denying the fact itself. This is very bold, and it might perhaps have some effect but that they enter into the why and wherefore, and endeavour to explain how it is that the majority is not exclusively Irish. Here they undo themselves. By attempting too much they fail to do anything, and after expend ing a vast quantity of cleverness they leave the matter just where they found it, namely, that the majority— that is, the persons by whose votes the Government is to prevail over the votes of its opponents—are exclu sively Irish representatives. The marvellously astute and somewhat positive gentleman who upholds the Ministerial banner in the Globe— " Who is in logic a great critic, Profoundly skilled in analytic"— says it is "absurd" to talk of the majority of Minis ters as exclusively Irish. We beg the gentleman's pardon. We think it is not absurd ; but, if it be, it is an absurdity which all the refined reasoning he is master of will not erase from the minds of the British public. He might as well try to raise herrings from hot-beds, or fish cucumbers from the depths of the sea, as to persuade the public that, though the returns of English Members give a majority of 22 against the Government, and the returns of Members from the whole of Great Britain give a majority of seven against the Government, and though it requires the addition of the Irish Members to save the Government from being beaten on the very first day of their appearance in the new House of Commons, yet the majority is not exclusively Irish. If the majority be not exclusively Irish, then take away the Irish, and there would still be some majority. But it is not so. Take away the Irish Members, and the present Administration, called (but not rightly called) " British," would have no majority at all—the majority would be against them. But it would be a pity not to look for a moment at the clever, candid reasoning by which the erudite Ministerialist proves the absurdity of calling th• Government majority " exclusively Irish." We must " talk a word with this same learned Theban." The majority, he says, does not consist of the thirty or forty by which the Liberal Members would out number their Tory opponents, but of the whole body by whom Ministers arc supported. This is the ex quisite reason—the sole argument—upon which the charge against the O'Connell Ministry of being sup ported by an exclusively O'Connell majority is termed "absurd." It is not worth our while to maintain a dispute upon the meaning of the phrase " Parliamen tary majority." Whether in strictness it should signify the whole body which is the greater in a division, or that part of the whole body by which it exceeds the lesser, may be a very interesting point for philologers to discuss, but we don t care a rush about it. To attempt to meet an important political fact by a little trumpery verbal distinction like this is highly worthy of that cleverness in which Whig- Radicals rejoice ; but such quirks are, for all that, very contemptible. We know very well—everybody knows—that the term " majority" is constantly ap plied to that number of persons by which the greater exceeds the less. For instance, in the last great divi sion which took place in the last Parliament the Op position votes came within ,five of the number of Mi nisterial votes, and then it was in everybody's mouth that Ministers had a majority of five—" only five l" There is nothing said almost to which verbal objec tions might not be made of equal cogency with that which we have quoted. Suppose we were to remark that the citizens of London had chosen three of the dullest and one of the most conceited blockheads in their community to represent them in Parliament, some one might answer, " Not so ; these three dull block heads, and one conceited ditto, were not chosen by the citizens of London, but by that part of them who (if their own account of the matter may be trusted) are the most liberal, the most enlightened, and the most intelligent." Now this would be very true; but, after all, what would it come to but that we had used the com mon mode of expression, instead of the literally exact mode ? And this is the very utmost that the Whig- Radical journalist can claim to have made out by his logic. We may address him as Hamlet does the Gravedigger, " How absolute the knave is :—we must speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us." But, to come back to the real point at issue, the incon trovertible fact is this, that taking the whole body of the Representatives of Great Britain, we find that, upon a division of that body into Ministerialists and Oppositionists, the Ministers are in a minority. If they outnumber their opponents it must be by the aid of Members returned from Ireland, in virtue of Mr. O'Connell's conge d'elire. We therefore say again, that the Ministerial majority is " exclusively Irish." The Ministers may pray the Lord to deliver them from such explainers of their position as the logical worthy whose nice distinctions we have noticed— " How haughtily he cocks his nose To tell what every schoolboy hnows, And with his finger and his thumb Explaining, strikes opposers dumb." To be struck dumb, however, is one thing, and to be convinced is another. It would be worth something to the Ministry—certainly worth several quarters' sa lary—if they could only find some one to convince the public that the Ministerial majority in the new Parlia ment is not an exclusively Irish majority.—Morn.Post ANICDOTE OP NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA.— We passed the Briars, a small white house, with out-build ings and fields, in a valley ; several hundred feet above the sea. Here it will be remembered that Napoleon so- journed for soma time, until Longrrood was prepared for his reception ; and here he lived on friendly terms with the family of Mr. Balcembe, the late proprietor. Miss Balcombe was a great favourite with the Emperor : she was very young ; and Napoleon used to condescend to romp with her. However, one day she drew his sword, and got him up in a corner ; lungeing at him and prevent ing his escape. " Now," said she with glee, " I have the greatest man in the world at my mercy." The emperor, it is said, was so annoyed at this sally, that he never spoke to her after wards.—Alexander's Colonies of Western Africa. A few days ago a labouring man, belonging to the Hotel Dieu, took it into his head to go down to the banks of the river near the bridge of the Archeveche, Paris, for the purpose of washing a portion of his clothes. He had no sooner taken them off than, by some accident, he lost his balance, fell into the water, and was carried down by the stream. his cries for help brought several boatmen to the aid of the sinking man, and they were just about to seize him after lie had risen to the surface, when he again disappeared. The :calls for help of the persons who wit nessed the perilous situation of the peor fellow caused a number of persons to assemble on the bridge of St. Charles, which connects the two portions of the Hotel Dieu, and amongst them was an aged man, who had only a few days before arrived at the hospital, suffering from a cerebral fever. The treatment of his case had, however, been so successful that he had already become convalescent. As he stood there anxiously awaiting the fate of the other, a fellow made some cold-blooded remark about his having got a good bath, upon which the old man said, " he shall not bathe alone, at all events," and immediately plunged into the water to his assistance. The boatmen took up the poor fellow out of the water with very little delay, but he was already dead: The labouring man was meantime got out, taken back to the hospital, and restored to life.—Trench Paper. CURRAN.—When a boy, I was one morning play ing at marbles in the village ball-alley, with a light heart and lighter pocket. The gibe and the jest went gaily round, when, suddenly, amongst appeared us a stranger, of a very remarkable and very cheerful aspect ; his intrusion was not the least restraint upon our merry little assemblage. He was a benevolent creature, and the days of infancy (after all, the happiest we shall ever sec), perhaps rose upon his memory. God bless him ! I see his fine form, at the dis tance of half a century, just as he stood before me in the little ball-alley in the days of my childhood. His name was Boyse ; he was the Rector of Newmarket. To me he took a particular fancy. I was winning, and fell of waggery ; thinking everything that was eccentric, and by no means a miser of my eccentricities ; every one was welcome to share of them, and I had plenty to spare after having freighted the company. Some sweetmeats easily bribed me home with him. I learned from poor Boyse my alphabet and my grammar, and the rudiments of the classics. He taught me all he could, and then he sent me to school at Midle ton. In short he made a man of me. I recollect it was about five-and-thirty years afterwards, when I bad risen to some eminence at the bar, and when I had a seat in Parliament, on my return one day from Court, I found an old gentle man seated alone in my drawing-room ; his feet familiarly placed on each side of the Italian marble chimney-piece, and his whole air bespeaking the consciousness of one quite at home. He turned round—it was my friend of the ball alley. I rushed instinctively into his arms, and burst into tears. Words cannot describe the scene which followed : " You are right, Sir ; you are right. The chimney-piece is yours—the pictures are yours—the house is yours. You gave me all I have—my friend—my father—my benefactor !" He dined with me : and in the evening I caught the tear glistening in his fine blue eye, when he saw poor little Jack, the creature of his bounty, rising in the House of Commons to reply to a Right Honourable. Poor Boyse ! He is now gone ; and no suitor had a larger deposit of practical bene volence in the Court above. This is his wine—let us drink to his memory ! On one of the members of a corporation being in formed that the system of exclusive dealing was abating in its virulence, he immediately exclaimed, " Then another public meeting shall be called to revive it." COUNTY VOTERS.—From what we have recently heard, we imagine that the Tories in this neighbourhood have been serving objections, almost indiscriminately, upon county electors who voted for Stanley and Towneley at the late election. Several cases have been mentioned to us, where, if the facts were correctly stated by the parties, there was no good ground of objection whatever ; and the only motive for giving the notices appears to have been a desire to harass the parties, by compelling them to attend before the revising barrister to prove their qualifications, or to strike them off the register for non-attendance. As some of our readers may have received these notices (which, we believe, are all signed " James Barratt, junior,") and may not know what steps they ought to take in con sequence, we beg to inform them, that, if they will carry them to the office of the Reform Association, No. 18, Brown-street, they will receive all the information which may be necessary to enable them to defend their franchise, and to defeat the vexatious objections of the Tories. We hope the next Session of Parliament will not be allowed to pass over without the enactment of a law, by which per sons making unfounded objections will be compelled to pay the expenses to which the parties objected to may be put indefending their rights.—Manchester Guardian. Shortly after seven o'clock last evening, consi derable excitement was occasioned at the West-end of the town by the appearance of a balloon of considerable mag nitude at an altitude of about 1,500 feet, proceeding with great speed from South West to North East. When over St. James's Park it was suddenly seen to collapse, and to descend with frightful velocity. The car being distinctly visible, with a flag flying at each end, great fears were en tertained that it contained some intrepid mronaut, whose life was in jeopardy : thousands of persons ran from all directions towards Trafalgar-square, where it was supposed the fall took place. The strong current of air which pre vailed at that moment, however, blew the machine beyond that spot, and in the direction of Covent-garden, whither the multitude followed, but passing over this, and catching the chimneys of the houses, it crossed Great Russell and Bow-streets, and finally descended in the burial-ground in Drury-lane. The gates were immediately scaled by hun: shreds, when it was found that the car was untenanted. The greatest excitement prevailed till a late hour ; and as the balloon had apparently burst, anxious enquiries were made as to whom it belonged, from whence it ascended; &c. Eventually it turned out to be no more than a machine of tissue paper, set afloat by some young amateurs, who, doubtless, are at present highly entertained at their suc cessful experiment in " creating a sensation." A very fine old woodcock was killed in Melkin thorpe Wood, on the 11th inst., by one of the gamekeepers of the Earl of Lonsdale, POLICE INTELLIGENCE. MANSION-HO USE. A young woman, named Holdforth, the wife of a pic ture-frame maker, was brought before Sir Peter Laurie, who sat as locum tenens for the Lord Mayor, for having got drunk and acted in an obstreperous manner in the workhouse of Aldgate. The parish officer said that the parish had been in the habit of keeping the family of the man and woman for years, although they were both sturdy, and could with care and industry maintain the children, every one of whom was born in the workhouse. They were in fact an incorrigible pair. The woman said that the officer told lies about her and her family. She was as industrious a woman and her hus band was as industrious a man as ever lived, but they could not help misfortunes. Sir PETER LAURIE—And your misfortunes have been brought on by drink, I am told. Mr. Holdforth—No such thing ; I nerer drink. Overseer—She gets drunk frequently, and comes home to the workhouse determined to abuse everybody. Mrs. Holdforth—What a rascally lie ! I came in quite sober, and you began to whop me, and I can't submit to that. . Overseer—We were obliged to put a strait waistcoat upon her, she was so violent and so strong. Sir PETER LAURIE—Why don't you bring her husband here ? Overseer—He is here. Holdforth —I can't maintain my family. Overseer—He might have work now if he pleased, but le is lazy and idle, and given to strong liquors as well as his We can't get rid of them. The woman regularly comes into the workhouse to be brought to bed, and they consider us bound to support all the family for life. Sir PETER LAURIE—Let them be detained in the Compter for a week, and be kept on bread and water, and then we shall see whether they will not make way for the real objects, whom it is base under any circumstances or laws to refuse. The parish officers were evidently pleased at this formi dable way of disposing of this inveterate couple of parochial appendages, but repeated to Sir Peter the assurance that they never so frightfully violated Christian charity as to deny assistance to the aged poor. wife. HATTON-GARDEN. LAWRENCE, THE SWlNDLER.—Yesterday numerous ap plications were made at this Office by respectable trades men, &c., to have a view of Joseph Lawrence, who stands committed until Wednesday next on various charges of swindling, to ascertain whether he was the individual who had duped them out of their property. Mr. Stewart, a master tailor, of No. 58, St. Paul's Church-yard, stated that about three weeks ago an elderly man, of respectable appearance, entered his shop, and, pre senting his card of address, No. 19, Jewin-street, ordered a suit of clothes for his son to be forwarded to his resi dence. The foreman took with him a coat, and, on his ar rival, he was ushered into the parlour, which was respect. ably furnished, but the son was not at home, and the el derly person who ordered the clothes, on examining the coat, said he had no doubt it would fit, and suggested that if any alteration was required it could be performed. The foreman left the coat, and, on the following Saturday, a trowsers and waistcoat were taken home, which were left, and he was told by a female that her master would not be home until twelve o'clock, as be was at Hampton Court. On the Menday morning the apprentice was sent for the money, but he was told by a young man, of dirty and rag ged appearance, to call on the Tuesday morning, and he should be paid. On calling, however, he found that the parties had removed the whole of their goods, and they had absconded. On making inquiries it was ascertained that they had only occupied the house one fortnight, during which period they had swindled most of the tradespeople about the neighbourhood. Mr. Gaze, shoemaker ; Mr. Swaine, a poulterer ; Mr. Williams, fishmonger ; and va rious other tradespeople in Cheapside, St. Paul's Church yard, &c. were extensively taken in by the same party. The officers have traced various other swindling trans actions to the prisoner, and the applicants were advised to attend the examination on Wednesday next, when they would have an opportunity of identifying the prisoner. Bryan, a notorious vagrant, was charged with having committed a daring and aggravated assault upon Mrs. Marks, of Tottenham-court-road. The prisoner de nied the Charge, hut she was convicted in the penalty of 5/., or two months' imprisonment. QUEEN- S Q UA RE. Thomas Brooks, a drayman in the employ of Messrs. Broadwood, and William Brooks, his brother, were yester day placed at the bar, charged by Mr. Charles Tipper, re siding in Sloane-street, Chelsea, with having committed a desperate assault upon his sister on Saturday last. On Mr. GREGORY, the presiding Magistrate, calling on them for their defence, they entered into a rambling story as to cer tain reports which were prevalent in the complainant's neighbourhood, but which Mr. GREGORIZ declined enter ing into, and the complainant pressing the charge they were held to bail. WORSHIP-STREET. Yesterday James Prior, aged 7 years, Lydia Prior, aged 1 years, Hannah Prior•, aged 9 years, and James Daniels, aged 9 years, were placed at the bar before Mr. BROUGH TON, charged with entering the dwelling-house of Elizabeth Bloxham, Harmony Cottage, Willington-row, Bethnal green, and stealing a quantity of wearing apparel, consist ing of twelve shirts, two aprons, twelve towels, &c. The prisoners, with the exception of James, were then remanded till Saturday next. James was allowed to go with his father. While the mother was leaving the office she was heard to utter a threat against her son James, which was made known to the Magistrate. Mr. BROUGHTON warned her against such a course. He called her attention to the situation in which, from her neglect, she had placed her infant family, which was the effect of her dissolute habits. He pictured to her the fate that appeared to impend over their future lives, and urged her to reform her course. The worthy Magistrate then directed that a summons should be issued for the appearance of the pawnbroker. UNION-BALL. Yesterday Sarah Griffith and Mary Ann Cadwallader were brought before Mr. 'FRAM, and Mr. JEREMY, charged with stealing a great quantity of cutlery and other articles, the property of Mr. Holmes, an ironmonger, in Union street, Southwark. The prisoners, who declined saying anything in their de fence, were committed. THAMES POLICE. Yesterday Robert Bailey, the master of the collier brig Francis, appeared before Mr. BALLANTINE to answer an information preferred by the City authorities for having on the Ist of August illegally taken his ship higher up the river than Limehouse, while the collier detension flag was flying at Greenwich, without permission of the Harbour Master, by which he had incurred a penalty of 101. After hearing evidence, Mr. BALLANTINE said that after the captain had com mitted the first offence he did all he could to prevent fur ther inconvenience ; and under those circumstances he should mitigate the penalty to 41., and 20s. costs ; but he must not repeat the offence, or he should inflict the full penalty. Lieutenant Mayott—The colliers give us a great deal of trouble, Sir. We can scarcely enforce the port regulations. Mr. BALLANTINE—We all have trouble in our respec• tive vocations. I have trouble in enforcing the law some times. A Soiree was held in the Town-hall at Dunse on Wednesday, by the members of the Dunse Temperance Society and others friendly to the cause. Upwards of 100 persons of both sexes were present, and the evening was spent in the most delightful and social manner.—Kelso Chronicle. AIRDREE, AUG. 19.—THE VOTER COOPER.— Sheriff Alison held his Court for the registration of elec tors at Airdrie, on Saturday. When he came to the close of the names of the county voters, he stated to the agent appointed for the Liberal interest, that there was a man of the name of Cooper, whose name he had erased on a former occasion, by mistake from the roll, and asked if it was his wish that the name should be enrolled anew. The answer was No. We hold he stands at present on the roll. Both the question and the answer were full of meaning.—Cor respondent of Glasgow Argus. Two yolin , Parisians who had been d inin g to g ether 0 were returning home about eight o'clock in the evening, when, at the extremity of the Pont Louis Philippe, they perceived a poor devil whose feeble minstrelsy had suc ceeded in d r awing around him a little circle of idlers that was dissipated in an instant when at the end of his song he advanced to make his modest collection. One of the youths who happened to have a fine voice, was affected ley the ap parent misery of the old man, and the hardness of heart manifested by the audience. He had, perhaps, heard of tl a anecdote of Garat and Ellevion, or had perhaps seen a few days before the fat ce at the Pantheon, in which two students array themselves in the attire of Bobeche and Galimaufre, in order to perform a generous action. Be this as it may, he assumed without hesitation the place of the luckless singer, and a few verses were enough to assemble a nume rous auditory. At the end of the aria an abundant collec tion was made by his friend, and they were just on the point of delivering it over to the object of their patronage when some agents of the police came up, and ordered them to show their license for singing in the streets. All at tempts at explanation were useless. The professional men dicant and the two amateurs were all locked up for the Inight, and it was only on Ow f,llowing n,;)rnin, , ,•, after they had been conducted to the prefecture of police, that they succeeded in obtaining their liberation, WILLS ACT. We understand that the following have been extensively circulated by the Secretary of State for the Homo Depart ment : _ . Directions for making a will or codicil, required by stat. 1 Victoria, c. 26, sec. 9. To be observed after the end of the year 1837 :- 1. The will or codicil must be signed at the foot or end thereof by the testator. 2. If he does not sign, it must be signed by some other person in his presence, and by his direction. 3. The signature must be made, or acknowledged, by the testator, in the presence of two or more witnesses present at the same time. 4. The witnesses must attest and subscribe the will or codicil in the presence of the testator. The principal regulations contained in the recent Act (1 Victoria, c. 26) for amending the laws with respect to wills, which will take effect on the Ist day of 1838, are— No will made by LIN) , person under the age of 21 years will be valid.—Sect. 7. The new statute does not alter the law as to the wills of married women.—Sect. 8. The regulations to be observed in making a will or codi cil are as follows :- 1. The will or codicil must be signed at the foot or end thereof by the testator. 2. If he does not sign, it must be signed by some other person in his presence, and by his direction. 3. The signature must be made or acknowledged, by the testator, in the presence of two or more witnesses present at the same time. 4. The witnesses must attest and subscribe the will or codicil in the presence of the testator.—Sect. 2. Appointments by will, under a power, are made subject to the above-mentioned regulations.—Sect. 10. The testator's marriage is a revocation of this will (ex cepting in certain cases of exercise of powers).—Sect. 18. The revocation of a will or codicil may be by any one of the following means :- 1. By a will or codicil executed in the manner above men tioned. _ _ 2. By a writing, declaring the intent to revoke, and exe cuted as a will. 3. By burning, tearing, or destroying of the will ; by the testator, with intent to revoke, or by some person in his presence and by his direction.—Sect. 20. Alterations made in wills must be executed in like man ner as wills. N.B.—The signature of the testator and subscription of witnesses may be made in the margin, or opposite, or near to, the alteration, or at the end of a memorandum, on the will, or referring to the alteration.—Sect. 21. Residuary devises in wills will include (unless a contrary intention appear in the will) estates comprised in lapsed or void devises.—Sect. 25. PHENOMENA IN LOUGH FOYLE. In the course of the season, but during the last week particularly, certain tribes of fish, as if acted upon by new influences—whether atmospherical or not we do not pretend to decide—have engaged in movements which, so far as man's memory serves, are quite unprecedented. In de tachments they have left their accustomed haunts, and re paired to places which they were never known to have pre viously visited. Sprats of the very finest quality have mad* their appearance at the mouth of the Foyle ; and below , Greencastle they have been actually driven on shore by the. rock or crag herrings, of which they are the natural prey- These herrings are to be found in great shoals, and in the impetuosity of their pursuit occasionally get stranded ; and, indifferent as they are as an article of food, they are of ex cellent service to the farmer as a manure. But what may be deemed more strange is, that pilchards in considerable numbers have been taken in the herring nets, and brought to the Derry market. It was long thought that the only parts of the British seas which these fish frequented were the coasts of Cornwall and Kinsale ; but certainly until this season they were never known to approach the coast of Ulster. Though the great body of herrings still continue to linger upon the Scotch coast, the few shoals which have appeared in the Foyle have been very attractive to the bottle-nosea t whale or grampus, several individuals of which have been seen in the lough—to which, indeed, unlike the sprat and the pilchard, they are not entire strangers. About eight; days ago one, not of a great size, got so entangled in 0- herring-net that he was secured and brought on shore by the fishermen. It had destroyed nearly a half of the net, but we believe that the value of its blubber will fully repair the damage. On Tuesday two whales came up the lough in succession, and the uncouth gambols of one of their' vvo had the pleasure of observing. As he rose to blow, be realized, as it were, the poetic idea of a sea-god driving his finny flocks before him ; for, in advance, was a shoal of fish, whose presence was indicated by dense flocks of sea fowl, of almost every variety, whose dis cordant screaming might have been heard at the dis tance of miles. Twenty dog-kennels, in a state of rebellion,. could not have set forth a wilder clamour. Above all, the voice of the osprey, like the rattling of far off thunder, was distinctly audible, and seemed to impose momentary silence upon the inferior birds. After it had got opposite to Movilep the whale commenced his descent, while the fowl pursued. their course up the river. Most of the boats happened to be out on pleasure excursions, otherwise, we presume, an attack would have been made on the strange monster. Another phenomenon, in regard to the Foyle fisheries, is the very superior quality of the salmon which have been caught this season. Their abundance does not surprise us, for months ago we foretold it, our prediction being founded upon the continuous floods of last spring, which enabled the fry to descend in safety to the ocean. But whence the im provement in the quality ? It cannot be, we suppose, that , the late fine weather has had any sensible influence upon the temperature of the ocean on our coast, and, in that waY multiplied the food upon which the salmon subsist.—Def y '! Journal. On Wednesday last the foundation stone of Bishop . Ryder's Church was laid at Birmingham by the Bishop of Worcester, assisted by the most influential body of the clergy, gentry, &c., of the neighbourhood. The reports of the existence of the cholera at Genoa turn out to be without foundation, although there had been some cases of suspicion there, according to letters received from Leghorn of the 25th ult. The American packet-ship Ville de Lyon put into Plymouth on Wednesday night, having been struck by lightning. The following is an extract of the log :--" At ten, p.m., Barfleur Light bearing S.S.W., distant about 15 miles, they experienced a heavy squall from W.S.W. with rain. Whilst in the act of taking in sail the ship WO struck by lightning. The electric fluid descended by the main-topsail sheets, passed through the bolt into the pas sage way leading to the cabin, thence ran along the bell wires in the steward's pantry, melting those connected with the larboard state-rooms, and passed through the side into the water, starting several of the trecnails, and ripping the copper. Two men engaged in hauling taut the main-top sail sheet were instantly killed, and two others were hurt. Within a minute after another shock still more severe struck the ship in the same manner as the first, and escaped in the same direction. A passenger who was in the steward's pantry examining the effects of the first stroke, was slightly injured in the head by the second. Notwithstanding the appalling scene, perfect order was observed. Captain Stod dard immediately sounded the pumps and examined the vessel in every part. The appearance of the lightning Was most remarkable. When the fluid struck the s hip the explosion resembled that of a bomb. The ves sel, both above and below deck, appeared to be filled with fire. At twelve, P.m., the wind moderated? The Ville de Lyon is a new vessel of 800 tons burthen, and has on board a large number of cabin and steerage passengers. —West Briton. Sheep-stealing has become of late the most preva lent crime in the county of Lincoln, and who were the thieves, or their manner of disposing of the stolen property, had long remained undiscovered. Lately suspicion seemed to rest on a person wh o h a d cons id era bl e pro p er ty, name Ellis, and held a farm near Moulton Weston. Mr. Hardy, a grazier, of Potland, lost ten sheep last week, which well proved to have been s o ld b y Elli s , fi ve at P eter b o rough a n d five at Spalding markets. A warrant was in consequen ce executed on Ellis, who has been remanded that other cas es of robbery of sheep may be brought against him. The Pri soner has been extremely well brought up, and lately came into possession of 2,oool.—Lincoln Gazette. HORIZONTAL FLAT WATCHF 4S , I with accurately finished jewelled movements, warranted, are offer.e in Silver cases, price Five G u i neas eac h ; or in Gold cases , PZ. Nine Guineas each, at T. COX SAVORY'S, Watchnaaker , Je^ ler, and Silversmith, 47, Cornhill, London. N.B.—Second-hand Watches purchased in BIRTHS. On the 26th inst., at Champion-hill, the wife of T. H. B°tbagt ley, Esq., of a son. On the 10th inst., at Valetta, the lady of Captain J i l a nners, o f the 5 t he gm inst. ent of a son. On t26th ,at Hastings Lodge, the lady of Fred. North, Esq., of a daughter. MARRIED. o f Cain' On the 20th inst., at Camberwell, Geo. Fenner, Esq., berwell-grove, to Miss Caroline Osborne, of Friday-street. DIED. On the 2 2 d inst. , at Se y ne, near Lancaster, Mrs. Bradley, the q mo ther of 11. G. Bradley, Esq. , and aunt of T . Greene, Es'' M. P. for Lancaster. On the 2kith inst., in llighbury Park, Eloise, the lady of 1L Masterson, Esq lkif 0' London : Printed and Published by MURDO YOUNG , °- 112, Strand, at The Sun Office, No. 112, Strand, in the Nu' of Middlesex.. -Tuesday, August 29, 1537.