The Sun. — London, England, 1841-02-19 00:00:00

MORNING EDITION. SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS FROM THE DAILY PAPERS OF YEsTZIDAY. (From the Morning .Herald.) The question of 'the " claims of British subjects for lasses sustained by reason of confiscations of their property under the direction of the Government of Denmark," came on again for discussion on Tuesday night. Two or three Sessions ago, the whole history of the transactions out of which these claims arose was very tersely and accu rately given by Mr. Warburton; and in the following year still further illustrated by the lucid address of Mr. Cresswell, who brought forward the motion. As it seems to us that her Majesty's Government are acting, in reference to this question (the fate of which will be found recorded in our summary of the proceed ings of the Commons)—a very equivocal part ; and not the less so as they are treading in the footsteps of Mr. Spring Rice's track over this debatable ground :—we are anxious to direct public attention to a brief outline of the merits of the case. For this purpose we have refe red to the Parliamentary debates of 1807, of 1837, 1839, and 1840. It appears that in 1807 Mr. Canning being at that time Foreign Secretary, a state paper wasissurd on the part of the King of Great Britain, in which were set forth the grounds of the very abrupt but signal hostilities commenced by this country against Denmark, in the bombardment of her capital and the seizure of her fleet. It has been the fate of few aggressive operations undertaken by our Go vei nnaent within the last century to be the subject of more crirnination and question than that expedition against Co p: nhagsn. But on high authority, from that tune to the present, it has been sometimes defended and jusefied ; at others more apologetically excused, by an admitted fait, which has long since become matter of history—viz., that the Imperial Government of France had termed a well laid scheme for the seizure of the fine fleet of the King of Denmark, with a view to employing it against our own naval power which the victory of Trafalgar had rendered so furmidable to the enemy, whose maritime Erength it had, for a season, completely demolished. Under Lord Gambier and Earl Cathcart the übj cts of our conjoint expedition were accomplis hed with entire euccese, and the Danish men-of-war were partly in corporeted into eur navy, partly broken up. It is also certain that the important intelligence which we hae so opportunely received, and so promptly acted upen, turned out to be absolutely correct. " Acting, howevei," (as Sir Charles Grey observed, in the debate of Tuesday night), " under these very natural, however they might be hasty, feelings caused by this seizure, and Lot aeaie that the intelligence the English Government had received with respect to the intention of her enemy was thus correct, Denmark declared war against this country ; and these circurn:teacc.s might have justified the Chown in appropriating to the uses of the revenue the re n:ey de ived from toe seizure of the fleet." Such, at least, wee the cause, in rabic% the scizse es aed coefiecariens of Bri tish property, on shore and afleat, and of bm,k-d,bie , due to British sujects, we re made by the Danien Govei-n -ment. It is not requisite, in this place, to go into the grounds upon which it was afterwards ruled that the Denieh Government were not justified in the pro teediugs thus adopted by them The fact that this was the dual determination is, the matter by the com petent tribunals, is the 20.0 fact to be noticed, as found ing the entire case set up by each class of the " Bri tish claiaiants" whose various demands have teem time to time been debated in the Legislature. For on three EC. veral occasions, at least, they have formed the subject of earnest discussion in the House of Commons. Now, there were three classes of claimants—first, those for debts dud from Danish to British subjects appearing on the books of the termer and co: rated by the Government of Denmark ; the second, British subjects who had property. on shore, in various parts of the Danish dominions at the time, which was also confiscated; and the third, British subjects who had property afloat, consisting of vessels, and of merchandise on board of them, which were seized and confiscated by the same Government in the like manner. As Mr. Cresswell stated to the House on opening the case, the first of these classes of claims bad been speedily, and with little d fficulty, settled. Toe second had been likewise sealed, after a longer delay, and much more trouble. The third had been repudiated by every Chancellor of the Exchequer who had held office since the date of these transactions. We would ask—why ? Certainly no one, on Tuesday, at tempted to assign any sort of legal principle, or any con siderations of political expediency, for this very cspricious as well as very cruel distinction. Merchant ships afloat, and the cargoes they carry, are of all other descriptions of property those which have the strongest claims upon the protection of the State, in cases of confiscation by a foreign power not having a valid right so to confiscate. The severest injury which that confiscation could inflict on a slag, violated by its acts, would necessarily be accomplished through the seizure of that species of property which has the capacity of concentrating all other descriptions, either in a positive or a representative state. Book debts are a class of property less tangible, and it might be thought more difficult to make the subject of claim and compensa tion. If, however, they have been successfully propounded as such, and if the British Parliament has voted compen sation on account of them, what possible ground can be as signed for refusing to grant compensation for vessels and goods afloat ? The argument of Lord John Russell and the Chancellor of the Exchequer was puerile as well as dishonest ; for a mere dishonest defence to a just claim never was offered by a ahufflMg Government. The Chancellor dwelt on the fact, Ono the whole pro ceeds of the seizure of the Danish fleet had been exhausted, and that there remained no fund to pay this class of claims." Then why was any fund at all appro priated to satisfy the two other classes? What is it to the claimants " for vessels and goods afloat," to be told that you—the Government—had proceeds in your hands, of prizes, which you have devoted to the liquidation of classes A and B of " Danish claims ;" that therefore you have no. thing to say to class C ? Why, what law, or logic, or equity, or honesty is this? Either these claims now urged are valid or invalid. If you bold them invalid, prove them to be so. If they be invalid, so, also, must have been the claims for " book debts," and " property on shore." If they be valid, treat them as you treated those other two classes of claims, and satisfy them in part or in full. But to talk, as Mr. Baring talked, was a wretched plagiarism from Shakspeare's Brutus—defi cient, only, in the stern virtue and inflexible honesty and truth of the original. " Not that I loved class C less," quoth the Right Hon. Member, " but that I loved" classes A and B " more." We must again draw on the plain good sense of Sir Charles Grey's argument :—" If those claims had been made before the money in question had been spent, he apprehended there could be no pos sible objection to allow them." No doubt of it. But here is the rub. An Administration which took power for the sake of its influence and patronage, and their solid, though sordid benefits, never condescended to inquire be fore band what might be the legitimate outstanding de mands on the " concern" to which they were so willing to take. But if they bad—what chance, with them, would the mere " equity "of the case of British claimants for losses by Danish confiscations have had? The whole of the special plea of the Chancellor of the Exchequer is a disgraceful curiosity in the polemics of British legislation. Lord John Russell's speech in support of it, and his flip pant notions about the views which English merchants are bound to form on the nice contingencies that determine what elements shall constitute a " cases Belli," or a "status pacis" (on which some heads, harder and better than his own, have condescended to busy themselves very earnestly, during the last two centuries)—were absur dities, we must protese, unworthy of a civilian's clerk. But, Mr. Baring, who must have been bred in a better, because a more practical school, where neither patrician petting, nor hereditary humours, nor "luck at legislation," can have had much chance of turning his brains by family fondling, or the freaks of fortune, should have felt that something was due to the mercantile reputation of his house, and especially of his noble relative, in the necessity for preserving a tone of consistency and good sense in any arguments he might undertake to submit to Parliament on a mercantile question. He ventured to say, however, that this motion of Mr. Cresswell's (excellently supported as it really was by Mr. Hawes, Sir Charles Grey, Sir W. James, Mr. Alderman Thompson, Mr. Ingham, and let us add—by Mr. O'Connell)—was brought before the House as a question (ad captandum)" between British merchants and a Minister of the Crown." He knew better. Mr. Baring may be very vain of his posi tion ; in which it truly is surprising to see him ; but we , who care much more for the immutable principles of ' ias tice than for Chancellors of the Exchequer - or Dan ish merchants either, beg to tell him that it is a question be twesn private rights and Government necessities. And what is the objection which the principal Finance Minister of Great Britain put in the van of his plea —we cannot, again, call is by courtesy, argument—against this class of Danish claims. That, if satisfaction were made for them by the British Government (admitted on all hands to be the sole responsible or liable party), 55,0001. of the amount would go to " the share of insurance offices and underwriters, who had already been amply in demnified by the premiums which they bad exacted in the shape of war risks on the preperty destroyed or seized." Hear this, gentlemen of Lloyd's and Liverpool ! If there be Whigs and Whig-Radicals among you, we give you joy of your Whig Chancellor of the Exchequer ! We will not insult the common sense of our readers by one word to show that " risks," in the maritime insurance, command (from the inevitable process of underwriting com petition) no greater premiums than they are really worth. But, to regret that a certain share of a just debt should fall to private institutions, to which, perhaps, above all others, this country is indebted for its gigantic advances in commercial enterprise and prosperity—to talk of these fair profits in legitimate trade as " exactions," and to forget how much the noblest naval marine that any country ever possessed, and bow much more still the most vast and suc ccsful mercantile marine the world ever saw, and, by conse quence, how much the welfare and the grandeur cf the , 1 empire at large have been indebted to the more than princely spirit and munificence of these " insurance offi cers and underwriters" in times of imminent peril, as well as in seasons of prosperity—pending the protracted hor rors of war, as well as in the continued calms of peace—is a height of obliviousness and ingratitude inexplicable in 011 C of a race of British merchants, unpardonable in a AI !usher of a House of British statesmen, and, in a Bri tish Chancellor of the Exchequer, even beyond "b ear i ng. " [The Chancellor stated that the proceeds cf the Danish fleet had been exhausted, Bec. Tho money did not ari s e from the sale of the fleet which was captured at Copenhagen, but from the merchant-ships and goads embargoed in the Thames and other ports in England, and sold. There was no captor to be paid, the seizures having been made by the simple fiat of the Govern. ment, and the balance paid into the Exchequer from that source was 1,200,0001. It was not made droits of Ad miralty, but reserved, as Mr. Pcrccval stated, for the ex press purpsse of making this compensation, which is now refused. The protectien spoken of was taken away, inas much as Lord Gambier took the greater part of his fleet out of the Baltic, and the remainder, under Commodore Fraser, soon followed, without even leaving a gun-brig to warn the ship s t h en on their voyages from Russia and other parts of the Baltic that hostilities had recommenced. The Admiralty acknowledged that Captain Fraser had prema turely left his post. The Chancellor first stated that it was not a question be- tween himself and the claimants, as had been represented ; and then proved that it was so, by tleclaring that he would take no steps to carry out the wishes of the House if they should vote for the Committee. (From the Times.) The slight and superficial way in which some of our Contemporaries appear disposed to treat the recent disap pointment of the public demand for justice in the case of Lord Cardigan, will but inflame the feelings which that event is calculated to produce in the minds of thinking men. Expressions such as those of the Morning Post, which speaks of " the public business having been sus pended, that their Lordships might he employed judicially, for the amusement of the wiseacres of Wandsworth, in the trial of the Earl of Cardigan," and of the Standard, which " thinks that, whether the blunder" (on the part of the proSecution) " was or was not intentional, it ought not to be regretted," and that " the House of Lords has hap pily escaped a great difficulty," can only tend to direct in dignation against the House of Lords, and to foster the belief that the judicial proceedings of Tuesday were a mere solemn farce, and that none but wiseacre.; could have given their Lordships credit for a disposition to exe cute criminal justice upon one of their own order. Others may do what they will; but we will never play so far into the hands of Chartism as to disseminate so foul a libel upon that illustrious bode. That the offerce of which Lord Cardigan was accused was a felony within the mean ing of the statute 1 Victoria, cap. 85, no man who has the slightest knowledge of the law can possibly doubt. That, in committing him to take his trial for that o:- fence, the Wandsworth Mag istrates discharged a plain and inevitable duty, must be a dmitted by all but those who think " such divinity cloth hedge an. Earl," as to give him a prescriptive right to defy the laser. That a convic tion must have ensued but for a deficiency of evidence upon a point of form, our Contemporary of the Morning Post believes (we are sure) quite as firmly as we do. The Peers are not responsible either for the way in which the evidence for the prosecution was got up, or for the legal quibble to which they were compelled, judicially, to submit their reason. Precedents, both ancient and modern, have settled the point, and left them no alter native. It is not long since a soldier was tried on the Western Circuit for the murder of his comrade. Tnat a murder had taken place, and that the prisoner was the murderer, was fully proved; but the evidence produced was not enough to satisfy the supererogetory curiosity of the law, tie to the Christian name of the murdered is' ; and so the prisoner was acquitted. The ground en which Lord Cardigan was acquitted was precisely the same. But that any man should think the escape of a criminal from justice, upon grounds like these, matter of congratulation to the country, especially when that criminal is a inan of rank and mark, and when it has been all along suspected (must we rather nay foreseen ?) that one or more of those convenience loophopes, which English juris prudence furnishes in such plenty, would be left open pur , uosely for his benefit, does, we must confess, astonish IV. If the law which makes a given action criminal, is unjust or inexpedient, let it be repealed ; if the contrary, let it be enforced ; but to leave it upon the statute book without the wish to enforce it, and to felicitate ourselves up )n get ting rid of its effect by a side-wind of negligence or cul pable connivance on the part of the public prosecutor, is to pursue a cowardly, hypocritical, vicious, and dishonest course. We are tired of hearing it said, that to punish Lend Cardigan (if convicted), under the statute of I Vic toria, cap. 85, would have been to take an individual by surprise, to " begin to repress a custom sanctioned by the usage of centuries," " by the sacrifice of a victim, caught up, as it were, by accident, and without notice of his danger ;" as if duelling had been made a felony for the first time by this statute, or as if nobody had ever been taught to expect, or had ever suffered, punish ment for that offence. To kill in a deliberate duel has been murder in England from time immemo rial • to attempt life in such a duel, though without fatal consequences, bas been a capital felony ever since the time of George I ; and the recent Act, though it may have somewhat increased the penalty in cases where, if death had ensued, the crime would not have been mur der, ;et, with respect to such duels es that of Lord Car digan with Captain Tuckett, has mitigated rather than augmeneed the sLverity of the previous law. The notion of a distinction between shooting with intent to kill at a consenting party, who takes his shot in return, and doing the settle act with the same intent under any other tit-. cumstanccs, has never yet been recognised, and it is to be hoped, it never will. But we shall be told, though such has been the law, still it has not been executed ; it has slept, and become obsolete, and ought not now to be suddenly enforced. We admit that it has not been executed so stringently as it ought to have been; proper vigilance has not been used either to suppress duels, or to punish duellists ; and we think the argument a valid one against the infliction of the extreme penalty for this offence without previous notice. But if pushed further than this, the argument fails, as resting upon a false and exaggerated statement of facts. Why does every man who is concerned in a fatal duel fly front the pursuit of justice, if the law is suffered so entirely, to go to sleep ? The Standard says, that if Lord Cardi gan had been convicted, the House of Lords must have sentenced him to " a long imprisonment" (the Attorney- General, by the way, was so benevolent as to suggest one hour), " for an offence, for the commission of which, under like circumstances, no man was ever before imprisoned or even questioned." Has the Standard never heard of a certain duel, in which a linen-draper named Mirfin fell? And does not our Contemporary know that for acting as seconds in that duel, only three years since, two gentlemen (not quite so exalted in rank as Lord Cardigan) were both " questioned," and imprisoned too; ay, and obliged to sub mit to strict prison discipline, cropped heads, the tread mill, oatmeal diet, and all ? The only difference of " cir cumstances" was in the act of God, by which, with out any greater fault of Elliot in the one ease, or merit of Lord Cardigan in the other, it happened that Mirfin died of his wound, while Captain Tuckett reco vered. The alleged want of notice is nothing, unless it can be supposed to have influenced a man's conduct. When Lord Cardigan discharged his pistol at Captain Tuckett, he was as fully aware, as if a Queen's proclama tien had been then sounding in his ears, that the act in which he was engaged was felonious, and that its conse quences might place him in a worse position thin that of the seconds of Elliot and Mirfin. But the Standard has discovered not only that " the House of Lords has hap pily escaped a great difficulty," in tieing saved from the necessity of treating one of its members as an inheritor of the same flesh and blood, and a debtor to the same law, with the ignoble seconds of a linendraper, but that we must not even suppose the proceedings in Lord Cardigan's case " to be altogether useless ;" since " they have practically established the fact, previously admitted only in theory, that the fighting of a duel, even though neither death nor wound ensue, constitutes a felony." And this position our Contemporary labours to demonstrate by some grave buffoonery about pleas, cognizance, and demurrers, which raust be mightily amusing to the junior students of West minster•hall, but which it is really not worth ink and paper to refute. Those proceedings have established:nothing, except the difficulty of proving the plainest and most no torious facts when a Peer is in the case. The proposition which the Standard alleges to have been established is not even true in the extent in which the Standard states it (for there may be duels, as when a party fires into the air, in which there is no felony at all); and so far as it is true, it has received no new light whatever from Lord Car digan's trial. The only proceedings which can be said to have done anything towards " practically establish ing the fact," are those of Mr. Dann, the miller, who took the Noble Lord into custody ; the Wandsworth Ma gistrates, who committed him for trial ; and the Middle sex Grand Jury, which found a true bill upon the indict ment. Altogether, we deeply lament the whole of this affair. We lament it, because it will be difficult to persuade the people (as, indeed, it is difficult to believe) that due diligence has been used to procure a conviction. We lament it, because it must inevitably give a great en couragement to the practice of duelling among those aris tocratical and military circles to which Lord Cardigan be longs; and must as certainly discourage Magistrates from exerting themselves to prevent or suppress duels for the future. We lament it especially, because an opinion, most dangerous to the aristocracy, prevails, that in Eng land there is one law for the rich and another for the Poor • and the license which bas been conceded of late years to certain juvenile scions of nobility, who seem to have resolved upon trying the experiment whether there exists among us any law too strong for a coronet and gold, has greatly strengthened that unfortunate delusion. A cir cumstance happened only last week, unhappily too corro borative of such a view. The Earl of Waldegrave and Captain Duff were committed in June last, upon a charge of assaniting a policeman at Hampton. The defendants procured their case to be removed by certiorari into the Court of Queen's Bench, and (having pleaded " not guilty") contrived to get the trial put off till Saturday last. On that day they requested permission, by their counsel, to withdraw their original pleas, and plead " guilty," which (as a matter of course) was assented to. The fol lowing conversation is then reported to have taken place " Sir Frederick Pollock" (Lord Waldegrave's counsel) " said, there was every desire on the part of the defendants to mark their sense of the impropriety of their conduct. " " Lord Denman said, he hoped this might be a case of such a nature as to admit of a private reparation being made " " Sir F. Pollock said, he felt deeply indebted to his Lord ship for the suggestion." We take it for granted, that Lord Denman, who is an upright man, did not know the history of this case : he could not have known that these Noble defendants had attacked the policeman in the exe cution of his duty, and beaten him so savagely, as to place his life in danger. But whether he knew this or not, a painful conviction forces itself into our minds, that if these persons had not belonged to the Corinthian order, it would never have been suggested from the seat of jus tice that such an outrage could possibly be a fit subject for pecuniary compromise. We know not whether such a way of dealing with cases in which the Nobility is con cerned is to be accounted for on the principle that they have privilege of Peerage, and that it is useless to convict where it would be impossible to punish. It may seem at first sight, that for Lord Cardigan to have been convicted, and to have escaped punishment by pleading his Peerage (assuming the validity of such a plea), would have been even more unsatisfactory than the actual termination of his trial. We think otherwise ; for if such a privilege still exists, it is high time that it should be drugged from its lurking place, and once for all abolished. That it did exist so late as 1825 when Mr. Justice Coleridge, in his annotations en Blackslone's Commentaries, penned the following very pertinent remarks, is only too certain : —" This is one of the very few cases of privilege," said that Learned Judge, " retained in the English law ; and of all privileges, that of impunity in the commission of crime is the most dis graceful to those who enjoy it, and the most odious to those who are debarred from it. By this law a Peer may at this day rob on the highway, steal horses once, break a house, or rob a church (crimes capital in a commoner), and is li able to no personal punishment whatever." (From the Morning Chronicle.) ve do not su pp ose t h at our rea d ers wou ld thank us for endeavouring to show how the guilt of the Earl of Cardi. gan could have been established. Before tbo solemn farce of this trial was n entered conjecture was often busied a f w l o e r i o t h o u t n ; e h b e m u w o t a m t y h e a n i t n t .h sewhich uu Could o t n, n t e i ca acquittal ew u o . a o fs u n l p d ee ev b er e ra gd brought been claimed, odious as the distinction is, it would have THE SUN. LONDON, FRIDAN, FEBRUARY 19, 184 t. left the law answerable for the escape OPthe Noble Earl; whereas his acquittal, for want of the evidence which might easily have been obtained, revolts the common sense of the country, and cannot fail to lower the character of its highest tribunal in the general estimation. We can easily understand that it must have beim exceedingly painful to Noble Lords, many of whom have themselves given , and received challenges, and fought duels, to be under the necessity of convicting the Earl of Cardigan, and it has been asserted that a blunder in conducting the prosecution was purposely committed, in order to free their Lordships from the necessity of pro nouncing on their honour a solemn acquittal, after the most unexceptionable evidence of guilt. But be this as it may, the people will look only to the naked fact of the ac quittal of a man of whose guilt there could not be even a shadow of doubt ; and, scorning to perplex themselves with the trickery by which the end was attained or with settling the respective shares of the responsibility between the prosecutors and the tribunal, they will arrive at the conclusion, that the House of Peers have solemnly deter mined that henceforward duelling is not to be considered a violation of the law. After this acquittal of the Earl of Cardigan by the supreme tribunal of the country, if there shall not be one law for the peer and another for the peasant, no man in England ought to be convicted for shedding the blood of another in a duel. (From the Globe.) The two rival measures now before Parliament for amending the Registration, and, so far as relates to one of those measures, for defining the elective franchise in Ireland, are, in their principles and probable results, in calculably the most important of the Session, and are so regarded by met, of all parties. Lord Morpeth's Bill differs from that of Lord Stanley's in all those particulars which a knowledge of the public career of the two statesmen would induce us to expect. Lord Stanley's Bill for amending the registration is worthy of himself. It is an adumbration of his own mind—a production stamped with the genius which devised and proposed in 1831 the re-enactment, with increased penalties for violation, of the Irish Registra tion of Arms Bill. The penalty fixed by the expiring stitute was ten pounds fine, or two months' imprison , inent : Lord (then Mr.) Stanley proposed, with his or dinary fluency, in ' , race of fining a delinquent Irishman ten pounds, or imprisoning him for two months, for having an old pistol in his possession to trans port him to Australia for seven years ! 'Phis pro position was not prefaced with any intim xtion of the necessity of ,trong measures—no description was given of the disturbed or calamitous state of Ire land. It was not said that murder and ine;:adiarisin took nightly walks eirough the island. It vi as not suggested that Ireland shoull be treatei like a man'a-, and that she roust be dewed the tue of thme privlegei which would become a sounder and ra e: state of public feeling. But, without pre'a...e, without any pre liminary extenuatioo, a ittiout any attempt ti make t e House of Commons acquanited with any supposed or real necessity for the striugecit measure, at on, e, and almost as matter of course, and wit:, a silt Lf glib factil ty, the Seel etary for Ireland declared his inten tion to introduce a clause for the transpc rtation for seven }ears of any offeader, in a proclaimed district, against the Act ! Ile indignant fee ing which this in sulting and tyrannical proposal excited in the House, rendered yet more mani:e,t by the attempt of a few Orange Members to get up a cheer of approba bation, compelled the propose; to give pause. The House was adjourned. Mr. St inley came down in a few hours after ; and, after stammering out something which iu ParliameltAry phrase is deemed " an explanation," receiel from the loA! ground he had assumed : anal in a tme and with a look of deerence anti depression, he intimated tbst his mind had undergone a change, and that he should not press tr:e a iortion of a clause which bad, to his sur prise, excited so much displeasure. It a'terwards came out that not a single Minister, net a man in office, even knew that twig new coercive scheme was in the Secre tary's contemplation. Not a member of the Cabinet had been consulted—not one had even eognizatce of what was intended ; but, without consultation, and, it should be added, without reflection, this mea sure, which justly exasperated the people of Ireland to a fearful state of indignation, and was universally reprobated by both countries, was brought forward by the very member of the Government who, at the open ing of Parliament, expressed his conviction that Ire land could be pacified, and reconciled to her con nexion with England, only by conciliatory means! Lord Stanley's last attempt at legislation for Ire land is perfectly in keeping with his first. Time has neither improved his understanding nor ameliorated his heart. The Noble Lord's Bill now before Parlia ment is a compound of clumsiness and cruelty. It fet ters the elector in his attempt to register by restric tions, and confounds him with impediments. Under pre tence of purifying and protecting the franchise, it perpe trates the most fearful injury upon its rightful claimant, by surrounding him with difficulties, and subjects him at every step to harrassing litigation in his attempts to establish his claim. Contra.t the simplicity of process, and the efficiency of operation, so strikingly displayed in Lord Morpeth's Bill, with the complicated de tails and difficult requirements of Lord Stanley's—the former clearing the path of the rightful voter in his way to the Registration Court and to the polling-booth, while the mere pretender to the franchise is effectually excluded by the precautions which it suppl es—the latter, deterring the timid but valid elector from making his claim, lest he become involved in fearful loss, if not absolute ruin, under pretence of keeping back the reckless pretender to the franchise from establishing a fictitious claim. amount to " upwards" of 25,000 men. It is some what difficult to reconcile the presence of so I:rge an army with the careful abstinence from elJetioneer ing interference so reported aid commended. The " municipality" do not appear to have viewed this armed assemblage, at such a moment, with the same unsuspecting confidence, for we are informed that " angry words had passed on the subject between that body and the Duke. What great stroke of force or policy may be in agita tion we shall not pretend to divine, but we are far from believing that his Excellency, the Regent' is the man, or possesses the masculine mind, to conso lidate the peace or work out the regeneration of Spain. , Imagine this mighty hero of a hundred fights, so styled by his sycophants, at the head of a nume rous staff passing in review the volunteer militia of Madrid, when he could find no more lofty theme on which to harangue his valorous audience than de nunciations of the libels and delinquencies of the C'orreo National, a forty page; in opposition, with menaces sufficiently significant of the fate in stare for the unfortunate editors. A great functionary fuming, fretting, and feacitig with a few unfrie idly journalists will hardly succeed long in contrcl!ing the destinies of a divided and unruly people. MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS. FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF VESTERDAY. CHRONICLE.—The leading article in to-day's Chronicle, relative to the liberation of Mr. M'Leod upon bail, has removed much of the remaining uneasiness enter tained on that subject ; but the business done in the English Funds has been limited, prices being kept down by the renewed rumours of a revolutionary mov..ment Constantinople, alluded to in the morning pape r s, and by the expected success of the Fortification Bill in the French Chamber of Peers. We mentioned the story of the out break at Constantinople in our City article of Monday afi one of the causes which had depressed the Funds here on that day. It was communicated in private letters from Paris so far back as Friday last, which reached the City only on Monday morning, and it seems exti a ndinary how such a report could have found its way to affect prices on the Paris Bourse only on Mon day afternoon, three days after it was current there in the diplomatic circles. Had there been any grounds for it, an event of such importance must have found its way to the Money Al iiket much sootier; and we attribute the slight fall in the French Rent , son Monday to a knowledge that the Commission in the Chamber of Peers were faviurable to the Fortification Bill, the passing of which would ren der the appearance of proposals fur a Fi one!! loan of large amount a question only of time, if the w.nks be seriously entered upon; as it is now, ious that the French Treasury cannot find the funds necessary for their execution without borrowed supplies, and London is the only market to which M. flurnann can turn his thoughts with much hopes of success of obtaining them. TIME S.—A private letter from Baltimore states the belief of the writer that the banks in Maryland and Vir glnia would resume specie payments on the Ist inst., of which it was cansidercd a fair indication that the notes it; Maryland were at par for specie. Of the state of the countty generally, howl.ver, as to its commerce and its fiscal operations, it is observed that it will yet be necessary to have one, and pet haps two crops out of mother earth before all be right." The arrival of a private vessel from Barbadocs furnishes papers thence to the 13th of January inclusive, which is a later date by nearly throe weeks than those brought by the packet conveyance. The main Let they contain is, that sugar.making had commenced in the island. The crop was expected to be in quantity about the same as last year. Ground provisions were evN-ywherc scarce. In the French Chamber of Deputies on the 13th inst., the Debate on the Customs Duties Bill was resumed, but the only occurrence worthy of notice was a question put to the Minister of Commerce whether it was his intention cr not to reduce the duty on iron. It was observed, that although much had been said respecting the interest taken by the Government in the agricultural prosperity of France, iron was so dear that it was in some localities an article of luxury, and wooden spades were plated with iron. The reply of the Minister ot Commerce was, that although it was the wish of Government to reduce the duty, the present was not a proper time for such a measure, as the iron manufacturers were those who were suffering most. Mr. Labouchere's Bill for the equalization of the rum duties, read for the first time on Monday, cannot fail to be an object ot the highest interest to those concerned in the produce both of the East and West ladies. BY the first clause, every gallon of rum, of any strength not exceeding the strength of proof by Sikes's hydrometer, and in proportion for any greater or less strength, being the produce of any British pan .ssion within ►he limits of the East India Company's coarser, is to pay 9s. 4d., and every gallon of rum shrub the same amount. A proviso is contained in the second clause, that such rum or rum shrub shall be the produce of a British possession in India into which the importation of foreign sugar shall have been pro hibited, or of sugar the produce of any British posse.. sion within the limits of the Company's charter into which foreign sugar cannot legally be imported. The Act, if passed, is not to come into operation till it is proved that foreign rum and rum shrub have been prohibited to be imported into any of the possessions from which the importation is allowed, according to a provision in the 3d clause ; and, as a precautionary measure, it is required in the 4th clause, that before such rum or rum shrub be entered in the United Kingdom, the master of the ship shall deliver at the Customs a certificate, by the collector of the sea-customs of the port where the rum or rum shrub was taken on board, testifying that the shipper of the article had produced a certificate by the revenue collector of the district in which it was produced that it really is the produce of such district. The second read ing of this Bill is fixed for next Friday. Some doubt having arisen on the construction of an order in Council of the 10th of last August, as to whe ther a distinction was to be made between the produce of the East Indies and other British possessions when im ported into the Cape of Good Hope, the Customs having adopted the interpretation according to which a dis tinction was to be made to the disadvantage of India, the East India and China Association have applied to the Treasury as to the real meaning of the order, and re ceived an answer, in which the Lords of the Treasury state that it appears to them, on consideration of the order, that goods, the growth, manufacture, and •produce of territories under the government of the East India Corn. parry would be admissible into the Cape of Good Hope on the same terms as goods from any other British posses. sion abroad. They add that they will give the requisite instructions to the Customs' officers at the Cape to pre vent any misconception on this point. CHARGE OF MURDER AT SEA.-THE QUEEN V. ROBERT WILLIMAN COOK, AND GEORGE WAKEIIAM.—In this case the above -named prisoners, who were committed by Mr. Ballantine, the Thames Police Magistrate, to take their trial at the next Maids:one Ses sions, for the wilful murder of Wi liam Sago, a sailor-boy, were brought before Mr. Justice Coleridge on Wedne ,day, at his private residence, in Montague-place, Russell-square, on a writ of habeas corpus, when the effidsvits of three Maltese seamen, and the stewai d of the ship, whose evidebee was not taken at the Police-office,were put in and react. They contradicted the testimony of the witnesses on the deposi tions. Mr. Justice Coleridge said he had carefully read over the depositions, and the affidavits filed in 'answer thereto, and under all the circumstances he should accept bail for the prisoners. He ordered that each of them should enter into securities of 250/., and four respectable housekeepers each in the sum of 75/., for the appearance of the prisoners at the next assizes of oyer and terminer and gaol delivery at Maidstone, on the 15th of March. The prisoners were immediately discharged out of custody, and departed with their friends, consisting of many of the principal ship owners and merchants of London, who appeared much in terested in the proceedings. HOAX EXTRAORDINARY.—On Monday even ing a sprightly wag, well known as the " Helston Pocket Volume of Fun and Frolic," raised a report there that the Duke of Saxe Coburg, father of Prince Albert, had been driven by stress of weather into St. Michael's Mount, and would pass through Helston about ten o'clock on his way to London. This intelligence, which soon reached every ear, was apparently confirmed by the fact of eight horses. having been ordered at the inn precisely at that hour. Long'before the appointed time a crowd of persons of all descriptions took their station at the inn door, where, in spite of the intense cold, they remained eagerly awaiting the arrival of the illustrious visitor. The entrance to the inn was lighted with wax tapers; the waiting-maids sported their richest ringlets and ferbelows, and the post boys exhibited their buffs, while "mine host" himself was busily engaged in inspecting and superintending all the necessary arrangements in doors and out. Many of the town-council, too, graced the scene with their presence, and the band animated it with its enlivening strains. At lengtht here arrived a certain man of law and letters dele gated !o present a congratulatory address to the illustrious stranger, which address he " then and there" proceeded to read to the by-standers. This display, however, was cut short by cries of " He's coming, he's coming ;" and presently after two carriages- and-tour appeared. The band struck up " See the Conquering Hero comes," fol lowed by " God save the Queen ;" the crowd, uncovered, stood in breathless anxiety; the learned delegate ap proached, but was dumbfounded when, instead of the father of her Majesty's royal consort, he encountered only the guard of the Malta mail I—Cornwall Gazettc. NON-INTRUSION.—Mr. M. M. Crichton, ac companied by the Rev. Mr. Grey, Perth, made his advent at Hayrick ou Wednesday last to enlighten the inhabitants by an exposition of his previously well-known doctrines of Non-Intrusion, and band-hills were in the course of the day placarded about the streets, and in the evening the public crier summoned the citizens to assemble in the Subscription Rooms to hear this redoub►ed champion ; but, alas ; out of a population of 6,000, only about 150 could be prevailed on to attend, and these, with the exception of a very few, were artizans. After the lecture various questions were put to him by the audience as to his being paid for going about the country on his evangelical purposes, &c., which he did not seem to relish, while be plainly admit ted he was paid by a certain Society. The petition they distinctly refused to sign, and a perfect hubbub ensuing, Mr. Crichton was glad to escape from the room on the plea of fatigue, doubtless sadly disappointed with the re sult of his visit to this place. Before going from the town he left with the landlord ten shillings, with a copy of the petition for him, to try and get a person to canvass for signatures; but as yet, we believe, he has not fallen upon one who will undertake the job. Though a collec tion was solicited at the door, only a few halfpence were thrown into the plate.—Kelso BRUSSELS, FEB. 15.—0 n the 12th of the month a contract was entered into between the Ministers of the Interior and the Belgian Maritime Society for the rtesblishmen► of a ref!iii, , r of i-""' b"""e R:o A pan. ''L to leave Antwerp every two mouths on the Ist of the month. j The packets are to go alternately to Rio, and thence to Valparaiso and to Rio only. LA iV INTELLIGENCE. COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH. Fgg, 17. London Sittings at. Nisi Prius, before Lord DaNMAX and a. Common Jury,) MARY 141A15THA OREENSTED V. ionsr clztAaLcs This was an actioti fOr breach of promise of marriage. Sir F. POLLOCK stated the ease to the Jury. The plaintiff was a young woman, the daughter of a widow, who had been compelled to bring this action in consequence of thc defen dant having violated the sacred promise of marriage he had made to her, after having gained her love and affection. He should be able to prove, by numerous letters, that the de fendant had over and over again promised marriage, and in deed the evidence would clearly show that, in 1839, the pro mise having been made so far back as 1834, the banns of marriage were published in Lambeth Church. The mo ther of the plaintiff had for some time refused her consent, but at last seeing how warmly, apparently, they were attached to each other, she yielded to their wishes. The Learned Coun sel then read and commented on the following letters, written to the plaintiff by the defendant : "My dearest and beloved Mary—l have just heard, to my misery, the unjust conduct of your mother, and the manner which it has affected you ; but pray, my dearest girl , do not let it hurt you, or you will break my heart. You know there is nothing causes me so much wretchedness as to see you mi serable, and surely you will not break the heart that is so sin cerely, warmly, and for ever yours. Treat with scorn your cruel, hard-hearted oppressors. It is not they that will do you justice, but the Almighty will, I sincerely hope, punish them who are so callous to all human feelings. And is there not another thing to console you ? I hope there is. You have my unchanging love ; you know, my lovely girl, you have it, therefore cheer up and say to yourself, I have one who will always stand by me, and when the storms of life and cruel oppression surround me, he will console me and love me in the hour of misery. Then why should I grieve when I have him for my support and his faithful heart for my haven of happiii&i,' Adieu my beloved and dearest. Mary till ten or half-past ten this evening, when I hope you will be reco vered and meet inc with pleasure. Your ever faithful and attached adorer—J. C. NoßTir. " God bless you, trust in him for justice." The parties seers nearly of the same age, between 24 and 25. Matters so contitlitc•d until the month of February, 1840, the plaintiff was, unfortunately, delivered of an illegitimate child, of which the defendant was the father. He then ceased his attentions, and, in the following ittiy, married another young lady, his present wife. Under those circumstances this action *a; brought. There was no doubt the dfendant was able to lay such damages a's the Jury might award. lie had been surveyor of the high roads in the parish of Lambeth, and was now a stone-merchant. The circumstances, in cas‘:.s of this nature, were very various, and differed in degree* of fla grancy, but he felt. that this case was one admitting of no pal hating circitinstatices 7 and he trusted the Jury. by their ver dict, would mark their tense of the conduct which the defen dant had pursued. Mr. Jones-1 am clerk to the High Bailiff of Southwark. I know the plaintiff and her mother, and I have been very inti mate with the defendant. In 1839 he told me he was shortly to be married, and wished me, as his most intimate friend, to be present in the church with them. He told me he had pub lished the banns at Lambeth-road Church, He once spoke to me about his property, and said he expected to receive 50/. a year from his father. The 11ev. Mr. Peat, one of the Ministers of butheth Old Church, produced the parish register of the banns of marriage , published by the plaintiff and defendant . on_the 14th, '2:st, and 2.5 th of April, 1830, • The letters of the defendant it'6lT thou put in and read. Mrs. Mary Greenst.ed—l am mother of the plaintiff, and a widow. I have five children. The plaintiff is thy eldest daughter. She is nearly 24. I received three letters from the defendant in 1835. He wished to pay attention to my daugh ter. I objected to hitn at first, hut afterwards approved of him when I found they were so nitwit attached to each other. I heard of banns having been published in 1830. 'the wedding was to have been kept a secret from me, but 1 untierntOod they were to be married. The plaintiff had a child on the 3d of Feb., 1840. I suspected her situation in June or July pre ceding. The defendant never came to my house after then. He made appointments with the plaintiff up to Oct., 1839. Mr. THESIG Elt having addressed the Jury for the defendant, called the niece and mother of Mr. North, who represented his conduct as low and the lady's as violent and coarse: Sir F. PoLLoce - remarked upon the aggravation by the defence set up. Lord DENAIA N then summed up, and the Jury, after a short deliberation, found a verdict for the plaintiff—Damages 250/. FEB. 18: EDEN V. GOLDIE. Mr. PLATT stated the ease. It was an action to recover damages for injury sustained by the plaintiff, Martha Eden, an old woman, who had been knocked down and injured by the defendant while driving in his gig. The following witnesses were examined : George E iward Austin—l carry on business in the Mile-end-road. In the month of July last I was standing outside the door, between nine and ten in the morning ; heard some one bawl out, and I turned round. I saw two gentleman in a one-horse chaise trying to stop the horse. Before they could do so the horse knocked down a woman. She was picked up and brought into my shop. One of the gentlemen got out of the chaise end put her a shilling in her hand to get a cab and take her home. She was carried home in a chair, being unable to walk. She lived as servant at Mr. Byron's, within a few doors of my house. Mary Anne Baker—Saw the plaintiff lying in the road, and she tried to get up, when the horse or shaft knocked her down again. Joseph Baker assisted to carry plaintiff into Austin's shop, and thence to her master's house. One of the gen tleman gave her a shilling, and then got into the chaise again and drove off. She could not stand at all. She was not deaf before the accident. William Hampton— I am ostler at the Black Boy, Mile end-road. I saw the defendant coming along the road driving the chaise. The old lady was crossing the road, and the defendant pulled the horse short up, and she was knocked down.. The horse was going at the rate of eight or nine miles an hour. Henry Byron proved that the plaintiff bad been thirty years in his service. She was about sixty years old. She was three weeks confined to her bed, and can only go about now on crutches. James Cochrane— I called on Mr. Goldie at his distil lery a day or two after the accident. Mr. Goldie said he was very sorry about it, and should see if something could net be done for her. He also said he would call on the medical man. Mrs. Byron deposed that the defendant called on the plaintiff and expressed his rcgret,and promised to call again. He also said be should call on the medical man. He did not call again till after the proceedings were taken. She is not now fit to earn het bread. Thomas Dcake, a surgeon. attended the plaintiff. The neck of the thigh bone was broken, and that can never be remedied. 1 attended her for six or seven weeks. My charge was three guineas. Mr. HUMPHREY addressed the Jury for the defendant, and expressed his regret for the accident, which the defen dant would have made compensation for, but that unfortu naeely he bad been made a bankrupt. The Jury found a verdict for the plaintiff, damages 200/. COURT OF BANKRUPTCY, FEB. 17. (Before Mr. Commissioner HOLROYD.) IN RE DAVID CLARE• The fiat in this case was issued in December, 1865, against the separate estate of the bankrupt, who was a partner in the very extensive East India concern of Fairlie, Clark, Innes, and Co., of New Broad-street; and that firm having previously failed, in 1833, for 970,0001. The amount of debt proved and claimed under Clark's estate was 50,556/. 13s. 2d., on a part of which 20s. in the pound was paid, and 14s. either paid or reserved upon the remainder. The last hearing but one was on the 29th of February, 1840, when a claim was put in upon the pert of Mr. Adam Frees Smith, as trustee for Mr. and Mrs. Falconer, the lat ter having Married him upon the death of Mr. Falconer, for principal and interest to the amount of 6,011/. Is. 7d. The Learned Commissioner then gave the assignees time to send to India for further evidence, which was heard on the of December last, but as the subject was one of very great im portance, as between trustee and cestui que trust, husband and wife, acquiescence, &c., he took time to consider, and now delivered his judgment, setting forth that the right of the husband to administer, and to enjoy exclusively the effects of his deceased wife, depended upon the common law, the Statute of Frauds declaring that the Statute of Distributions should not extend to the states of femme coverts. In the present case, then, Mr. Smith had adminis tered to his wife solely for his own benefit, for it was not pretended that his wife left any debts unsatisfied. It appeared, therefore, to him that he must consider the question in the same way as he should if Mr. Smith were claiming the interest in the trust fund as the ap pointee of his wife, and that' he must look on Mr. Smith as the present cesti que trust. As regarded Air. Smith, he con sidered the result of the evidence to be, that the trust fund was suffered to remain with Ferguson and Co. with Smith's per mission ; that he authorised the money to be so dealt with as much as the trustee, and that he could not complain that this was a misapplication, permitting it with respect to his own in terest.—Brice v. Stokes, Rep. 312, and Nail v. Pinter, Swars. Rep. 555. For these reasons he was of opinion that the y roof for interest must be expunged. POLICE INTELLIGENCE. MANSION-ROUSE. TDE INDEPENDENT WEST MIDDLESO! ASSU RANCE COMPANY.-Sir Peter Laurie having sent for Mr. Farquhar, of the house of Johnston and Farq,bar, solicitors, New Broad-street, who are employed against tho Independent West Middlesex Fire and Life As surance Company, to communicate with him on the subject, that gentleman called at the Justice-room, and, in answer to questions from the Alderman, stated that where there:were innumerable and complicated instances of plunder, as in the " West Middlesex," the operations of those who were acting for the unfortunate annuitants were necessarily very tardy. He had ascertained that the original deed of settlement of the Company had been burned, and tie managers were endeavouring to get hold of the notarial copy, which had been sent to Scotland, when they bad the impudence to go to trial to esta blish their reputation. The notarial copy was, how ever, safe in the hands of the officer of the Court of Session. If they had succeeded, all trace of the Com pany would be list. The names to the deed had been obtained at the rata of five shillings each, and, since the breaking up of the establishment, the most unde niable proofs had been discovered of the whole of the enormous fraud. Sir PETER LAURIE said that it was very odd that the Scotch, who generally saw their way pretty clearly where money was concerned, were, in regard to the West Middlesex Company, very blind. He had heard that there were numerous annuitants from that country on the book', and most of them were, he understood, poor en rnen and women, who, captivated with the promise of the large per centage, which in fact ought rather to have frightened them, put all the hard earn ings of their youth into the jaws of the establishment. Mr. Farquhar said that the clerks of the house in which he was a partner had frequently visited the house No. 27, Baker -street, where the villanous transactions were carried on, and witnessed the most heart-rending distress. He had seen Mr. Smith, the landlord of the house, who informed him that Hole, the secretary,had a lease of the house for 21 years, at 130/ : per annum. I.,wilord r-moved p,pers wtach had cot been previously rernovAd or destt.yed by the manage?, to the house of Messrs. Johnston .and Farquhar, in New Broad -street, as Sir Peter Laurie had requested him to do. The porter who used to attend during the humbug operations of the Board-room, had mentioned that about a fortnight before the how4e was eloFed two pipes of wine had been brought into it, bottled off has tily, and divided amongst the manners and secrctuy, who sent the prey to their respective homes. Sit' PETER LAURIE said that amongst the crowds of communications which he had received was the follow ing : Highfield, near Nactwici►, Feb. 11. Sir,—As you have so laudably exerted yob:self in exposing the swindling transactions of the West Isii.:(l - Fire and Life Assurance Company, 1 beg to send you particulars of the following cruel robbery corn mittcd by that Company. An agent was appointed in Audlem, in this county, who states he received fifteen out of every hundred pounds he could obtain, that is, remitting eighty-five, retaining fifteen, a circumstance you, perhaps, arc net aware of. No doubt many rgents had the same premium. John Trickett, of Burton, in this parish, an honest hard-working man, had in the course of forty years saved 1071. Unfortunately he was advised to purchase into the West Middlesex, from which he was to receive 25/. per annum for life. The first dividend is not yet due. He has lost his property, and is unable to work, and must now go the parish for relief. There are many cases in this neighbouri...ud dt equal atrocity. I remain, Sir, yours very obediently, W. BAKER. Surrey-0 ice, Kennington-contra:on. Sir,—l beg to introduce myself to your notice, through the indium of my intimate friend, Miss Page, whom you so kindly protecte I in the Spanish Bond at fairs. Inclosel is a rough copy of my unfortunate connexion with the West Nlidenefex Association, and if not trespassing too much on your valuable time, may I beg the favour of your advice under the present circumstance,. I remain, your obelient servant, G. G. \Veit Middines and Ge..eral Annuity Arsociatior. &C. Sze. Sze. l' now all men, &c. &c. That we, John Wilson, Thomas Know and William Edward 'f,s3lor, three of the Acting Ma nagers, &c. &c., are firmly bound to Mrs. El zabe..h G., of Surrey-place, Kennington-common, in the penal sum of nine hundred and fa/ pounds. Pated 17th day of December, 1839. JOHN WILSON. THOMAS KN W LES. W. E. TAYLOR. In the presence of George Wiliams, solicitor, No, 2, Hart-strcet, Bloomsbury. William Hoe, Secretary, 27, Brook-streCt, Portman square. WEereas the said DiztLe+h G., has this day paid td tl.e West Middlesex Company, the sum of four hun dred and seventy-five pounds, andthe consideration is an annuity of sixty paunde, payable quarterly, to com mence from the 17th of November instant, and to con tinue during her life, &c., the first payment to com mence,and be paid, on the 17th day of February, 1838. B.eceived the day of the above, &c. &c., the full sum of 475/. JOHN WILSON. THOMAS KNOWLES. W. E. TAYLOR. In the presence of William Hole. Mr. Farquhar said, teat amongst the applicants a t. the house in Baker-street, were the following :—A lady, from the neighbourhood of Chesterfield, who had sunk 7001. for an annuity, and who had in vain written to the ma-lagers. Those letters, together with a peat number of other letters, demanding, some in a menacing, some in a supplicatory, tone, the amount of money due, es ,.:_e found amongst the papers of the Company, to w hi c h no attention whatever was paid. A gentleman, from a person i n Limerick, who had alto sunk 7001. in the Association, i epre.;el:tecl that the poor man for whom ahem he applied bad aunt i ei ..elf -destruction in con sequence of the deplorable state of des; tution to which he had been reduced by the .robbery comn.: tied upon him. Another gentleman detailed the particula‘: 3 of a female who had, by bard labour, and pinching economy, gathered together 700/., all of which she deposited in the hands of the Directors, who promised her a most comfortable independence for her life. From the moment this poor victim heard of the catastrophe at Baker•street, she hourly drooped, and at last died of a broken heart, and with all the terrors of a workhouse before her. A laundress in the neighbourhood of the offices of the Association who scraped together, with the assistance of friends, the sum of 4001., which she handed over to the managers for the promise of an an nuity that would enable her to abate her exertions in her avocation as old age advanced, was in a state bor dering upon madness-. An aged and infirm man who came up to town in an exhausted condition by the rail road, told his melancholy story. He had sunk all he had in the world, amounting to 1,000/., in the .‘ West Middlesex," and he had now no alternative but the workhouse, except, indeed, what was probable, the madhouse should be considered the proper place for him. Such were a few of the insta nces of misery wit nessed at the house, which the landlord declared he would shut up, as he could not endure such desperate distress as was every moment exhibited ia Baker-street. Sir PETER LAURIE said he had observed that Mr. Godson had given notice of some proccedins mill re spect to the Company. He trusted that Parliamem: would cause such regulations to be observed with respect to all associations to which the property of people is likely to be entrusted, as would throw responsibility upon Directors and Managers of character and unexception able pecuniary means. Here was an instance of extra ordinary success upon the part of a set of pennyless ad venterers, in plundering multitudes of persons of the profits of labour and years, and a similar species of depredation might be commenced to-morrow. Mr. Farquhar said that lords and ladies were in cluded amongst the dupes of the Association, The Managers had shown such active resentment when the Scotch Reformers' Gazette attacked thorn, that many of the victims not only believed that the gentlemen who conducted the affairs of the Company were maligned, but congratulated them upon the legal means adopted to punish the libeller. The following letter, which was written by one of the sufferers, who would not credit any imputation upon the honour of the " West Mid dlesex," would be read with curiosity : " New Romney, Oct. 12, 1840. " Sir,—l have paid my half-year's premium to your agent at Dover (Mr. Pierson), who has sent me a re ceipt in due form. lam much obliged by your prompt information rel4ting to the article in the Scotch Paper to which I requested your attention, and have notfailed to put both Mr. Hopkins and Mr. Kelchlee in posses sion of it. I do not know the name of the Paper in which it appeared, as it was cut out and sent to me, but should immediately recognise it if the Journal was placed in my hands. I wi3ll the Office every success in their prosecution of the Editor, and shall feel obliged if you kindly inform me of the result. " I am, Sir, yours, very obediently, " H. B. WALKER. " I felt it my duty to the office, as well as to mysel f and neighbours, to inform them of the impression pro duced here by the article in question. Sir P. LAURIE requested that his correspondents on the subject of the " West Middlesex," would make al allowance for his inabiiity to answer them by letter. He should hand all their communications to the house of Messrs. Johnston and Farquhar, who were actively in vestigating the innumerable transactions. He consi dered it incumbent upon _him to impress upon all per sons who' wanted to: obtain! interest upon any money they might have been enabled to lay by, to be most cautious to whom they entrusted it, as it was much to be feared that there were many flashy concerns, not much more substantial, in the metropolis than that the mischiefs of which were every day so wofully recorded. He trusted, and had every reason to suppose, that the exertions of the solicitors would not be without effect. Mr. Bigg, who was engaged upon the part of many of the London annuitants, while Messrs. Johnston and Farquhar were engaged for the Scotch and Irish, had, he understood, taken possession of some property be longing to the managers ; and he thought it would be most prudent in the solicitors for all the claimants to their exertions for the good of all. The military ~- . .f ikers who have served in India t‘e conduct of the two squadrons express great surprise at Light Cavalry in the tn s t _.: : waited on of the 2d Regiment of Bengt': to mind the affni:. at llant disposition affair at Purrah Darrah. They cal: Sertabuldee in 1817, when thaedmtohseir office most g was displayed by the natives, n Captain Fitzgerald, whose post was sore beset, rf luirin L g him that " now was the time to show their devotion•to t,_ e Company, and seal it with their blood, and that the plain before them was the spot where they ought to die." A correspondent, who has long served with the native troops, expresses great concern at such an instance of degeneracy as is said lately to have occurred, alleging, that he has been with them in various trying situations, both in peace and war, in their own country, in China, and the taking of the French Islands, and that he always found them en dowed with the most unquestionable zeal and courage. THE ULSTER ASSOCIATION.—This body of Reformers, at a meeting held on Thursday, at Belfast, passed resolutions in praise of Lord Morpeth'a it:gistra lion Bill, and condemnatory of .Lord Stanley's. They at the same time adopted a particular form of petition in consonance with their views, to the House of Commons, which they recommended all their fellow Reformers in Ireland to join in. " Lord Stanley's ` ingenious device' respecting the Ulster Association is, therefore (as the Dublin Evening Post remarks), fully detected and ex posed. The Reformers, also, of Newry and Carrick-on- Suir have set a glorious example. Their petitions, with several thousand signatures, are now on their way to the House of Commons. We are informed that the number of passengers conveyed upon the Great Western line, in the six months ending 31st December last, amounted to upwards of 648,000, and that not a single fatal accident has happened to one of them. Of this number about 492,000 were car ried on the London division of the line, and 156,000 the lin beta.cen Bfistol and Bath, the opening of -.hid) ;,00k place on the Last of AtAguht lant. l ne,e can be t e dou,, that as soon as the whole liue is opened, the number of pas sengers will greatly exceed onc million and a half per an nnw....Ral/way Magazine. MORNING EDITION. , CORN AVERAGE`' I Quarter. I o r U th E e N N E V it ee : —.... :L AVERAGE PRICES OF BRITISH cO d., the Inspectorri l e , n2.ed Feb. 12, 1841, made up from the lit turil 8 Wales, per Imperi,, the different Cities and Towns in En g, and ' d Wheat 6ls. Id. ,' Vats Barley 318.10,1.1 , •Ye .... ..... 348. V. I Pease ........ .3 9 5. ed AVERAGES 0.,' THE LAST SIX WEEKS. Week ending wnewr. BARLP.,V*I OATS. Rl7ll. BEANS. i PE I " ----- ..------..--......................... ----"--.--- ----- ----- Jan. 8 Bl 9 33 6 . 0 1 6 3 6 39 ln 09 11 15 oo 6O 932 ]l t i . 43113) 7 33 . 31 11 trl :9 6O 9323 21 ..- st 5'39 4 3 , 8 , •.;•, Feb. 5 7 1 ~, ~ 40 0, 39 12 ` , l 11 39 6 3 1, I" THE SIX WEPKS IMPERIAL AGGREGATE AVERAGES °I% Wheat ...... ... 6ls. la.l Oats ...—... ,21s, 84.' . Bean 'eases ...... ....... ~...39 • 940 It.: r ley 32 s. 6d . I R y e DUTIES ON FOREIGN CORN• 11 Od Wheat...,..... 255. Sd. 1 Oats Barley . 13s. 10,1,1 Rye ......... 21s. 3d. 1 Peas* .........-1' THE M i l RKETS--YESTER.DAY. __,... COLONIAL, MARKET. There w - 74-s but a limiteb! d e m and by private treaty., and the public sales ;lent off with ;:! - tle foirit. Prices were however firm for most arti!tles. The arri7ats still large. TEA lo:.T. a small part only of that offered wa's ac The public sales we'll off heavily, a .t..d at ratheilowei• rates ;,• Congou, Is. 6d. cash. TALLOW MARNE T. kbe spot but theta P. Y. Candle was stead at 46s 6d on ' ' There was a good demand Wally sold. Cot IpanY'ro was little business done. y HAY MARKET. R p K ric E e T s . wer6 vss,s ri. el ~ fully sup r t e (1 ' the supply being small. For Straw more mot ' l 'Y r;-- — N' Clover, 4/ 15s to 6l; Meadow Hay, 3/ 16s to 51. • COUNTRY CORN MARKETS. ~ 1 Beans. Per Quarter Boston Bran'atm 39 4 5 19 4 0 1 ' 8 3 6 • 41 20' el 59 40 P 1 1) t‘i 945 (From the Standard.) Our Contemporary, the Times, laments, we arc sure with sincerity, that an opinion prevails in England that " there' is oir la* for the rich and another for the poor," and cttes the case of Lord Waldegrave in proof that such, isr i the.t4th. We leave the Morning Chronicle to,":Bo6.*=i , tlya-..Ximp with regard to Lord Waldbgraire p sitra'"werthink - thait the:reply of our Whig Contemporary itilt^-1A admitted as conclusive : " In d jui.tied to . ttie'Oourt of queen's Bench, it may be . observed that.the is universarof allowing defen dants to speak with the prosecutor, that is, to buy him off, and that the sentence is deferred till the result of the con ference is known. This practice has grown out of the strict separation which the English law makes between civil and criminal matters. In the case of an assault, Lr instance, the fine or imprisonment of a defendant may be a satisfaction . to the public, but should the prosecutor have been disabled, and subjected to heavy loss, the Magistrates are naturally led to endeavour to obtain something for him." It is plain that no state of society having both rich and poor can exist, in which there will not to this ex tent prevailet difference of laws ; that the rich must be better ably to compensate injuries, and the poor more willing tia' . receive compensation, than to prosecute re venge, or than even to assert the austere authority of the law. Beyond this, we deny that the criminal law of England allows of any distinction between rich and poor—nay, more, we deny that any opinion of such distinction obtains or ought to obtain. The first man prosecuted for fighting a duel without homi cide was—Who? A poor man? No. An Earl ; and we cannot help thinking prosecuted chiefly because he was a Nobleman ; for we cannot think so badly of any of our countrymen as to belie% e that the prosecution was suggested and encouraged, and pressed forward because its object was unpo. pular (perhaps justly unpopular) on other grounds. We are sure that the Times would not consciously pander to a feeling so execrable, as the desire to sacrifice a man nominally for one offence because he was guilty of another. Then there is the prosecution of Lord Waldegrave, whom we know to be guilty of a very grave offence—of an offence meriting the severest punishment. But is not the publication of the young man's scandalous misconduct a serious aggrava tion of his punishment, whatever that may be—and would a young tradesman or an humble young gentleman committing such an offence, as hundreds do every week in the year, be subjected to that aggravation ? No ;we say that the criminal laws bear more heavily upon offenders of exalted rank than upon any others : the country knows that they do—the aristocracy themselves know that they do-- and , all rejoice at it. We belong to the democracy, and we stand or fall by our own order ; but we can not as Englishmen divest ourselves of pride in the moral superiority of the present British aris tocracy to any aristocracy existing, or that ever did exist. The aristocracy of England are not merely the first class in rank they are in intelligence and moral worth certainly inferior to no other class of the community. The very circumstances, un pleasant and disgraceful as they are, brought forward to asperse their order, prove this. A stupid and crimi nal escapade is charged—sometimes truly, and much more frequently falsely (for offenders of lower rank have no objection to affiliate their misconduct upon their betters)—against an anonymous "scion of aristocracy." Is not the cry immediately, " Oh, it must be the one " Lord W. or the other Lord W. ?" Now there are, between Peers and sons of Peers of the age of man hood, probably from 1,500 to 2,000 commonly resident in England : of these there are but two in the whole upon whom conjecture can fix any disgraceful or un gentlemanlike violation of the law. Is there any other class that would bear this test ? And can it be sup posed that a class so generally, or rather so univer sally (for what is two• out of 1,500) exemplary, is a class enjoying peculiar impunity for misconduct? We wish this fact to be sincerely reflected on, and there fore we will close with it. (From the Courier.) A new Coates will shortly reassemble at Madrid, as the elections of the Deputies throughout Spain were rapidly proceeding. The Correspondent of the 7 1 inies, writing from that capital, enunciates the following rather unaccountable opinion regarding these elections. "It must be said, for the credit of the Regency, that the elec tions were never freer than on this occasion. The Go vernment, so far from wishing to influence the votes, had directed its subordinates to abstain from all interfe rence, and its orders were so strictly obeyed that only one provincial intend Ant was mentioned as having infringed them, who was to be removed for his con duct." Ate! : how E.1111i: that a large mil wry iurce was collecting and concen trating, by the ordeis of the Duke of Victoria, about Madrid, which by the end of the present month would Wheat. 2a_rle_ 40 6 2 ‘3, 1 :.; to 3:3 : 35 . 1 .. . . ..,, 1 s 93 . to 22 s 2 . 16 60 32 23 —4• A 27 34 23 27 58 4 4 1_ 3 5 . ; to 4 : 0 . 60 62 28 :17 24 30 34 4 9 4* 511 60 V.H 35 20 3 0 51 64 27 2 0 18 % 0 33 3, 3 ,, 52 62 26 32 '22 29 7 ~,' .... 41 58 60 30 38 22 30 ' 414 , " qg ad -51 nu 3 0 24 24 28 .1" 40 • •••• 58 65 3•.: :38 22 '23 3•,' „ 36 38 . 31 ' SI 58 66 28 34 20 24 34. " ~„„ l a bo 66 36 :39 26 32 34 49 42 40 : 4 ‘ . 26 63 28 34 28 32 38 A. 44 111 53 61 33 36 98 33 46 •„'1 3 6 • 0 , 56 et; 23 31 20 30 34 4.. \ 36 • 0 5 6 67 34 43 27 34 33 4.'1 40 4 58 tic i 3; 32 24 30 28 3 59 64 28 34 '24 no :37 MI \ 3. gli , 56 66 2:1 14 25 25 36 4 3 i 3 s , V ERPOOL CORN .: 60 65, 27 I Art fish, White, per 701 b. ea, 24 30 40 42 I Red • Scotch, Welch, and Manx ..... ••••. Irish, White •....... 8 2 . 0 9 ,, ------ Red ... ..... 1 0 ')0 , Foreign 7 5 19 1.7(01"..—Fe1b05.;.1;33. to i ( i; , it ••• . , 0 3 g OATS, English , Welsh, and Scotch, per 451 b...... • " '-- --- Irish ' .... .• 3 a 0 ~,,; .... .......... •• • ••• 0 (~ „ s .. --- Foreign 1 g B,, s z ay, English, Malting, per Imp. quarter 3O 3 9 ----- Scotch and Irish, per 60161. ~ --- Fs:ding 3 A 141 4 '0 BEANS, linglisi:, per Imperial quarter 44 b . . -, 0 -- Irish, &e •, 0 . Foreign PEASE, English, per Imperial quarter 4l 0 4 ,1 0 •--- Foreign Floun, English, per 28 016 . 4B 0 a 49 0 --- Irish OATMEAL, English and Irish, per 2401bs . • M 2+i 0 0 i 1.5 INDIAN COMM, ptr 480113. _ 33 38 8 RYE, per Imperial quitter MALT, per Imperial quarter 45 0 ' HULL CORN MARKET. 60s. (A:. 664. Wheat, White (per Quarter) 48s 591. (Po Bed Foreign sos. 5•41. Os. Barley. Stalling "l's ‘, - 5. • : , 11• Grinding British Oats, Foreign (in bond) Beans revue, Grey Blue and White 315. 363; 0* Linseed des. 50s 5 6 „:* 4 445. :••-• Flour (per sack) ._ . s .„, ~../. • -:, 0- 8. to 8. 58 6:3 54 63 5S 69 fiiighton Chichester Dunmow Grantham Grimsby Hai!sham Hitchin Ipswich Lewes 000000 •••:• Lynn Maidstone Norwich Petworth Rom ford Sandwich Thetford Wisherh Witham Yarmouth L. WHEAT, Engil at' ... .. .... 40 Rapeseed per 10 quarters) -- :4 CHELTENHAM MAR NETS. d•' 1 Per Bushel. s. d. to s. ell Per I. i• *". 6 1 Wheat : Barley 3 S 4 0 Mutton Oats 3 0 3 9 Veal Beans Pease 6 0 8 0 . Lamb ....................... .. ..... ...1 . ..•...... I ' Hay 4l. ids. to 5/. Os. Od. per la; • CAN'T'ERBURY MARKET. co'. -J Wheat, white.---.. 60s. to 645...... 01d........ —s• 1- 4 -- red---... 51s. to 60s. ...... Old-....... --s• , Barley, Militia; '2B s. to 315 ....... Grnding.• --'• :,..`" 's' '''' Oats ..-----. 245. to 285...... 014.....---• -- 5 . to 'leans wows* 313 to 4'_5...... 010.........". -. 4 . ~,„., g'' .... p ea5 :............---. 425. to —5.....- Grey....--. 38 5 . t° CHELMSFORD Mit RKET. Wheat, White.... Red ........... 68 to 71 Oats .................. ...•••' 58 63 Pease, Gray ........ . ..... Barley lf 36 White ......»••• Chevalier 36 .7 Beans, Tick . . ............ Grinding •,---„-- _ KING'S COUNTY ELECTION.--The t;:iscw have determined to start Mr. Bernard, who, for we' .t , ill ' tious purposes, is to demand a poll on Saturday pe s t, tious rev order, as the Orange organ avows, to prevent Mr% „ i od• • strong from giving his vote in support of the secooo_*,,,,to ing of Lord Morpeth's Bill, a.sd, further, to be reai t h . e t turn to account any possible wa.nt of preparation ?; ba part of the Reformers. Forewarved is forearine_d_ Ala we have no doubt the Liberals are fully prepared w rr :far • the faction such a drubbing as will make then it. J et to attempting the discreditable trick of Which, einl a t i e in° find, Mr. Bernard has allowed himself to be Ina" strument.—.Dublin Evening Post. f e llo l 7, STARVING 'LABOURERS.—Four poOr,„ an from from Somersetshire, with scarcely any elethi e k ' O Ol most starved to death, were on Wednesdaybrought n , ,pl y • : ton Garden, charged with having stolen a twe'S e ",„*ittr„h ' from a baker's shop. Mr. Greenwood, the , 1 ""t",e-'0P", • . kindly ordered that the overseer of St. Sep 1;1 , ..,. • should be immediately sent for, that they Inig u : ke 0.‘7, ceived, and something done for them; and in ,`',," ,pl " I firm: he directed that they should be provided Wi t " - 0 . tiful meal each and made comfortable. pppe flr VIENNA, FEB. 6.—His Majesty the O O P has conferred the Order of t he Golden Fleec e . 0 0 ., ani Archduke Leopold, eldest son of Archduke Rain on Prince Maximilian, of Tour and Taxi5............,00. 0e _d _ _ _ ,__ ------ 1.114 g • SUPERIOR LONDON-MADE WA951.11. —A. B. SAVORY and SONS, Watchmakers, I`j . ...%* t for 5 hill. London (opposite the Bank of England), orw;; ; 1 0 0- 0 0 leetion a very large STOCK of Highly-finished 1# .re d tel to , WATCHES, the whole of which being manufact* s o o r , ~ their own insi , ection, on their own premises, they.col, soili k sell at least 2.51. ;ler cent. below the usual trade pricol;eo AP*. tide of the Came duality. A printed warranty is 0' each Watch. PRICES MOUN'i: Fine Vertical Watches, jes:elled, with double., L . 4 4 backed engine-turned cases-, y,-arranted ....... . ... In Patent detached Lever Watches, four holes, maintaining power, e,,,-nped, jewell ed a ED IN SILVER CAStS• , 6 ~: and double-backed cases, tearr vi an it t il ecl r, 715 . . 113 ; 11 1 5 :t. 6 990 1 6 1 # 00 Either of the above in silver hunting cat:s, W • wh i c h ej , A large variety of second-hand Silveri ,Va: e ! les t 'x2 20' . been carefully examined,'anti Nye lie warrani'e‘,.., a r - Es, , GOLD CASE'S, SIZE FOR LA__"' b d i s a Fine Vertical Watches, jewelled, in engine-ten :0 ' gold cases, and gold. dials, warrarned .............• ~ 0 Fine Vertical Watelf;!s, jewelled, with deuble- back e% 1,0 i engine-turned oldV cases and gold dials, warrante' " • Patent detached Lever Watches, jewel l ed in fou r , 0 holes with double-backed gold cases and gold dials , 0 1 4 warranted... ................. ....- .................... .; GOLD CASES, SIZE FOR GENTLEIvm" Patent detached Lever Watches , j ewelled in fou r , 0 holes, seconds, and double - hacke d g old cases, war - 14 i' ranted - ......................... •"'• Patent detached Lever Watches, capped, jewelled 11 . 0 Pae s t ; ne x na holes,tent ldetached ia s l e s o w n La d re s rv , aenr d t o Ne v ldr b a, : t.c e . h - . . b e, a s., c . k . e . d .. . gold .. cases .. a ..... i 7 li six holes, seconds, double-backe: i gold dials warranted ............... 01;10000 Either el the Gentlemen's Watch' may C e had i° g A cases, for 31. 3s. each extrs", t ele N.B. Second-hand Watches purchased it - OP'" gold cases ae° „,, O. , • „....--- It i rC g o Lady's size, with strong engine-turned do o f Of hard cases,PATENT enamelA elegant T E d Ng i aoTll , cl is d hi LEVER ai Thirteen dials, e Fourteen Guineas each_ h di e j' . 7 _. , _ Di e ' e w a c c :111 1: : la t a l e :O . :e s : : Gentlemen's size, with seconds. and small for This celebrated construction (the„. ma' acc t t in i P z eld nleg; .°l capped, a w epup a te t s e d h , hi . c a can be bttohe mark adaredkteat)this;:inleswnedoasffi:eemarmeedinn, maintaining i i nj t e h irivig t e li pl e ic :! t : ei e nr s t f o on co r Toe going while winding mi at the above price. eP An i " --11 tile A printed warm -- - nty is given, with fi xed term! , , Watches will always receive auy attention requirea• tto T. COX SAVORY, Sevou daori • 2 Watchmaker, Jeweller, &c 47 , Cornhill ( Gracechurch-street), London- c hsoO e ' 0 N.B.—Second-hand Watches purch ased in n „Icon : t• & TABLE CANDLESTICKS, supericrdi„ticnip for durability, equal in appearance. Table,„ er . o besi i s t , pp ee inches rrppaai ri h ri i ;g ditto,hsn, u7ffse with e itt r rha p a yrsi i ,c r hw ; u : h these - frt. tre, 4s. each. The particular metal a "nue- be to ld - great variety of otlkerarticles are made, can n° 11 . 4 , silver by reference tO'e stamp. Catalognee grarTssree" I ti la l\l aI .... I II 3 EiLrOZ: Vi .... :21e s- , .. iire st# 0 n the tre e., minster, Mrs. Mansfield, of a son.- 14 0 ' On the 13th inst. , at Crouch Oak , Cherto* fft or i : Fielder, of a daughtr. GrAltellt:; On the 16th inst., at Leamington, Mi's• J. L . 4.,.. IL '". 3 On the 16th inst., at Clapham-cornylon, "'".. io ly o' Nvii : ,, of a son. 09 ti le on ,::e 16th instant, at South Lodge, James w e ,: .. ber, Esq., of a son. -------- ------- ~ If -- e nt L.' el . MARRIED. j e utea c o loa On the 10th inst., at Stanwix, Carlisle, L .p ant- iv eto Thompson, 81st Regimevt, second son of Lie %S o f J..ti ~.; T. Personet Thompson, to Sarah, eldest daughi " •E. Esq., of. Knells. Sal 4bi ls ' llg hter On the 10th inst., at Nunton Church, near la ot Whitaker, Esq., solicitor, of Caine, to Alan , e ,s er soot of the late P. Attwater, Esq., of Nunton. , „,r ar ir, .s l tis Ater On the 10th inst., at Cowley, near Oxford , 0' 1 4 r 'Middles .............„.„, of Mark Noble, Esq., of Fulham, to Elizabeth, f0ur ...„....../ of James Lockhart, Esq., of Cowley : __---- -- . 0 r JoL e ' Ryland, aged 45, very suddenly, of a dirt: o ro s: IY l ,tr On the 16th inst., at .170idgIFOrd, Middler s o 'rij . ie . 'r o t; leaving a widow and nine small children. He i d , i n c a re' • Sub-Actuary of the Providen t Institution, an 1‘1`14.1" gretted by all who knew him. k ne ar Jo h n Legg e fie ffliOnsntetrh,ewl3.tihioiprikstin.,sa.tEhsgis.7asgirdnB3ce,. Blakebron 9 ti:, for On the 14th inst., at Banstead, the Rev.. merly Rector of East Tilted, Hants, aged 81 4 :;,, _,„„baryi t, _at , On the 14th inst., in Southamptostreet, sass7barrie P son Parke, Esq., formerly of the Middle Temple ~„,,, law o , n an th d shire, aged 64. f lqr• Ca llt P l°ll ' .9 - On the 16th inst., Sophia, the wife o • elalt3ethofinCsrt°. ,wiTe'. t : itt. ...0. NNVa3ortic,esEtesrq,.,agofedFotme47;7' ,C4l3P,briii;,.. terrace, Islington. --1 of Tasistocl:, ag;;;;;govor e i , ,1,, 11 1, ;wt.. J. Gill r.,,.. • .-,-_,--- o v so, .. , .___,,__ an . .__-,,------------ minty() v stood' ' London: Printed ad Published b_y e __. , 15 , No: 112, Strand, at The Sun OfflC, I . T..../9, 1807 the county of 11liddlestL—IrridaY, 1!?,rw.7, ~ z ~, ..',..../ ~Vv • ---'"