The Sun. — London, England, 1831-02-28 00:00:00

House of Commons ! If this be not impeach able, .we know not what impeachment means, or for what end but that of gross deception such a process finds place in the theory of the British C 011.• st itution. To come to particulars. The present First Lord of the Admiralty, after stating that he did not wish (in him it might certainly seem invi dious, though not in members unconnected with office) to bring a specific charge against any one in dividual, said, that it had become necessary for him "to enumerate a very few' items of the public expendture, which already in consequence (of the bad practice alluded to) had taken place, without having ever been brought under the notice of the Commons, although the surplus of the money voted had been ostensibly intended for other purposes !' The Victualling Board of Portsmouth had been under taken by Government without one syllable having ever b !en breathed upon the subject within the walls of Par liament: the money thus unlawfully expended was no less titan At the Island of Ascension Works at Woolwich, of which the estimate was 84,0001., bad actually, but clandestinely, rol , '!:ed the nation of the difference between that sum and 325,0001., equal to Unauthorized works at Leith A ship at Bombay £364,000 This is not all : more than 3,000 seamen and marines had not long since been kept on foot beyond what the navy estimates intima'ed, or the votes of Parliament had sanctioned. This transfer of the actual but acknowledged " surplus under one heafl, to supply the deficiencies under another head," has been carried, as Sir James Graham says, to an extent almost incredible. In four years the votes for timber and ship-building had amounted to upwards of 3,700,0001., and the expenditure had fallen short of 2,700,000/., leaving a fund for fraud, peculation, or crrruption, of more than a million sterling ! So, in provisions, the estimates of four years exceeded the expenditure by 905,000/., making, with the sums already ref, rred to, a total (and that under " a few" beads only of misappropriation) of about 3,270,000/. and this in four years. Now look a little into the possible—nay, inevitable—working of such a system, where, instead of an un-anticipated sur plus being placed to the credit of the nation, it is perverted to whatever uses the will and pleasure of the First Lord of the Admiralty may think fit. Sir James Graham states in so many words, that owing to the unlawful misapplication to other ob jects of the large sums voted within the last four years to the purchase of that essential article he finds the Dock-yards in absolute want of timber, and is therefore compelled to ask from Parliament a larger sum for the supply of the present year than he would have done but for that instance of dis honesty in his predecessors. For what, we repeat. was the power of impeachment aiven ? But is this the woist ? No. The money thus ' described to have been employed in the public service, though on ob jects not contemplated nor allowed by Parliament, might have been turned to any purpose that the private or par y interest of the Adminis , ration sag gcsted,n multiplying officeis,—in bribing voters, —in any of the thous Ind-and-one criminal schemes which selfishness, devoid of public principle, may plead to its colleagues or dependents some com mon end in mis fppropriating. The quantity of timber wanted fer ship-building was not a thing subject to contingencies ; the ship-build ing service is of a regular arid systematic nature. It must always have been foreseen at the beginning of a year, what gross amount of timber would be wanting fer the average progress of a cer tain number of ships throughout the course of it; yet we find a regular annual excess of estimate over expenditure in that great article for four successive years, and not one farthing of credit given on ac count of that surplus to the public ! Then it is plain to everyman that it was the deliberate intention of the Ministers to ask more money than the public service wanted; or if not, they must, with their eyes open, have cheated the service of what it did really require. In either ca a the country was robbed, and a "high crime and misdemeanour" was beyond all question committed. If, again, the an nual vote for provisions was, during a period of four years, regularly above the wants of the service, and to the extent of 225,0001. per annum, why the thing is palpable : it was not a venial error, it was not a blunder, but a deliberate offence, and as such it ought not merely to be expoeei, but punished.—Tinges. The meetings on the subject of Parliamentary Reform are so frequent that there is hardly a post which does not bring us accounts of a number of them. In the country papers received yesterday we find reports of Reform mce!ings in Wiltshire, Exeter, Bradford, Wisbeach, &c. 'ln short, there is scarcely a town in the island which has not had its Reform meeting, and we have found ourselves utterly unable to chronicle them. It may be said in general of them, that they have been attended by nearly the whole body of the inhabitants, the excep tions being generally persons hostile to improve merit from interested motives. Thus the Western Times observes — , 6 We did not see on the bench the Rey. Dr. Collyns, the :Master of the Grammar School at Exeter, and Rec tor of Stokeinteignhead, or Mr. Barnes, the Chapter Clerk, or any of the church or chamber men, that have hitherto attempted by their presence and their probing to damp the liberal ardour of the citizens." Another feature of almost all the meetings is, that the vote by ballot, whenever proposed, has been al most unanimously adopted. At Exeter, says the Western Times— The arguments against the ballot were put to the meeting by one of the best speakers in the city; but the amendment, introducing the vote by ballot into the peti tion, was carried by as large a rneetintz as we ever wit nessed in the city, with only five dissentients. There were only five hands held up against the ballot, out of a meeting of as crowded a hall as we ever witnessed. As far, therefore, as public opinion can lya gathered from this city, the ballot is most decidedly the opinion of the people. Tradesmen can best judge of its effects. This was a meeting of tradeimen, and they have expressed themselves desirous of expressing their votes in secrecy. Why should they be debarred the privilege? Men who would exercise undue influence may object to it, and that is the very rea• son why it should be granted." There never was a question respecting which the people of this country were so much agreed, as the necessity of Parli.tmentsry Reform.—Morn. Chron. On the occasion of Lord Brougham's elevation to the ii.rst dignity in tire law, we gave warm expressicn to our anticipations of the great national benefit likly to result flan) !his accession of powt r and tee fulness to a the whole tenor of whose rovious life afforded evidence of desire. so earnest to improve the Juridical Institutions of his count; y, and who was on all hands allowed to possess in an eminent degree the mental endowments, activity, and indus try, necessary to the successful execution of so great a work. Since he accepted the Seals only three brief months have elapsed, and we find him a:lncline-I ing from his high place, that the so long desired niea su.-es of Reform in the Court of Chancery are already matured and ready to be submitted to the consideration of the Legislature. When we contrast the energy and dispatch of his proceedings with the indecision, tad - tress, and timorougness of his immediate predecessor, whose big promises, from time to time reiterated, awl ,on one occasion solemnly announced in the King', 14 tveech, proved utterly abortive and ineffective, we t hi . alt we have an abundant justification of the anti. cipat:.ons in which we indulged. That Lord Lynd hurst possesses in a high degree the talents of a mai, of business, we readily admit, and we do not doubt that, with some shades of difference in the details, Lord Brougham's plan will receive from him a cor cient support. . But there w as a defect dial and effi somewh e re, probably in the absence of that magna nimity which indaccs Lord Brougham, new as he i• to a Court of Equity, to commit his great name anti place by ma ki n g proposition s on. a subject wh en h t is liable to be encou ntered by the perverse applica tion of minute professional knowledge to l. defeat ant; thwart him, and to all the reflections w sinuous ingenuity may cast on his leg al reputation. Nor is r.this all. Comparing Lord Lyndhurst's scheme foi sitending the jurisdiction, and by consequence aug menting the emoluments of the Commissioners of Bankrupt, with Lord Brougham's unreserved ;than sloncnent of that vast field of patronage, it must be admitted that a character of nobleness and gene rosity attaches to the present Lord Chancellor, which sets at immeasurable distance the merits of his predecessor. Let him proceed in his undertaking without misgiving or apprehension, and we can con fidently assure him that the applause and approba tion of the country will not be wanting to sustain his most meritorious efforts.—Morning Chronicle. It will be seen in our Parliamentary report, that on the prsetitation of a petition from the city of Edinburgh, signed by 21,700 persons, praying for Parliamentary Reform, and complaining that the representation of that city, containing upwards of 160,000 inhabitants, was virtually vested in three individuals, Mr. WilUam Dandas, the tepresentative of these three individuals, s iid, " he would never consent to any Reform by which the institutions of the country could be endangered." We have not the smallest doubt of the sincerity of Mr. Dundas's admiration of the existing state of the representa tion. Indeed, we know no man who has mare rea son to be satisfied with things are they are. Our able contemporary (the Scotsman), in the number for Wednesday last, has some excellent remarks on the disclosures in a Parliamentary Paper, respecting the Signet and Sasine offices, from which the Right Hon. Gentleman draws a jolly revenue without care or labour. The net emoluments from these two offices, during the last ten years, have been 58,0721., nearly 6,000/. a yerr. " These," says our contemporary, " are not the gross, but the net emoluments which the Member for E lin burgh receives from the offices, after paying clerks, subalterns, and incidents. When he told us recently in Parliament, that his two sinecures yielded him only 1,500/. a year, we must suppose that his modesty in duced him to underrate his wealth. A correspondent, however, who has access to good sources of information, states, that Mr. Dundas pays over 1,000/. per annum of his emoluments; as Keeper of the Signet, to Lord Mel ville, who resigned the office in his favour when he got another. But this is a private arrangement, with which the public have nothing to do, farther than as it affords a glimse of the corrupt machinery by which the Covet nment is moved. Mr. Dundas may share his profits with his cousin Robert, or his cousin Henry, or with the Pope, or Charles the Tenth, if he pleases ; but still the fact re mains certain, that he receives 5,800/. per annum from the country for doing nothing ! " A fact like this we hold to be an instantia crucis. It fixes the character of the system more unequivocally than all the expositions and glosses of Blackstone or Paley. Here is neatly 6,0001. per annum lavished on a man, who, even on the showing of his own friends, has never rendered the country the smallest service, who has never fought her battles abroad, or filled any public station at home, requiting even common mechanical labour. What talisman makes so large a sum flow into the pocket of an individual who has no visible claims On the national ? The answer is obvious. Our Government is a Government of influence ; and those who get possession of the springs of that influence, snake use of it to fill the pockets of themselves and their friends. Lord Melville has dune no mare than many others would have done. The political machire was lull of corruption, and as head distrihtitor of patronage, he naturally kept the hest things for himself and his relatives. Merit was never thought of, and the nature of the system was so well understood, that 00 offence was taken at the principle of distribution. It was an exchange of votes and political services fir place and money, by which corruption was kept rolling in a perpetual circle—jobbing electors returning jobbing Mem bers, who laid on tax after tax, of which a part always flowed hack by some channel into the hands of these same representatives and electors—while the people, who paid for all, had their complaints silenced by coercion and terror. " Sinecures, useless or overpaid places, are bounties for bad Government. This is their true character ; and Mr. Dunda', gaining 6,0001. per annum, without present la bour, or the merit of past services, or any intelligible claim on the British public, is an admirable type of the system alder which our debt and taxes have grown to their present magnitude. The Reformers never can, and never will be satisfied, while a single abuse like this meets the public eye. That the profits ate derived from fees does not alter the nature of the case. This is merely taxing a particular class, instead of a country at large. Why should every suitor in the Courts, and every young man beginning busiiuss as a W.S, and struggling with difficulties, be taxed in a large sum for the benefit of the Dundas fatuity ?" Sir John Walsh (the third edition of whose pam phlet we have _now before us) says, that " if the House of Commons be now swept away, or undergo such extensive modification as entirely to destroy its identity, its last acts will have been worthy of its long and noble career; it will have escaped the decay of time, and its existence will have termi nated in the meridian of its vigour, and in the per formance of acts of great and permanent benefit to the country." We will answer for it that the Rev. Mr. Thuriow, who receives 11,0001. a year from the suitors of the Court of Chancery, for doing no one act (as lie does not even subscribe his name), and every other sinecurist and pensioner will, like Mr. Wiliam Dundas, be ready to die in their last ditch for the institutions of the country, that they may be transmitted unimpaired to our descendants. Oh, what clearness of perception is given by a sine cure of 6,0001. or 8,0001. a year.—Morning Chron. The enemies of the present Ministry—of Re form and retrenchment—have been busily engaged during the past week in endeavouring to sow dis sension in the Cabinet, and to create a belief in the public mind, that its days wen: numbered, and that it must give place to another, but of what materials it is impossible to divine. These reports, we need scarcely add, are as totally without foundation as they are malicious and interested. There neither is, or has been, any dissension in the Cabinet, what ever disagreement of opinion there may exist on different points of policy; arid as to a change of Ministry, what possible ground can be urged to show that it is either desirable or probable ? Has the new Ministry forfeited any of its pledges ? Has it fallen short of any of its promises at the time of accepting office ? Has it lost the confidence of the country ? Or, rather, is not the country iooking towards it now as its only hope of being saved from the political convulsions ,if which the other States of Europe are the theatre? Every one can easily supply the only an swers of which these questions are capable; and we, therefore, ask again, what motive should there exist tati render a change of Ministry either probable or desirable ? Has not a laudable anxiety been evinced to retrench the expenses of the state—to shift the burthen of taxation from the should( re of the poor to those of the rich, and retrieve industry from the fetters with which it has been shackled by preceding Administrations ? What a host of abuses have not neen knocked on the head by Sr James Graham, in he Admiralty department, as proved by his admirable of Friday last ? Is it no benefit also, let us ask, that the duties on coals, on candles, and on printed ;!alicoes, have been surrendered ? Oh, but then, say the opponents of the Government, the budget has met with poor support, and several taxes have bcen altered or abandoned which formed part of it ? And what of that ? Who ever brought forward a budget which mils not altered in various respects before it pa4sed through the two Houses of Parliament ? And is it not the duty of the Govt rnment to alter and to re ,nodel, to abaedon and to change, until it finds a •najority of the people on its side ? We regret that lie Chancellor of the Exchequer should have listened s o f a r to the remonstrances of an interested . few, as to have abandoned the proposed taxes on tae funds ind land, and the remission of the tax on glass ; but ,ve see no culpability in the matter, beyond a too ready compliance with the suggestions of the inte rested parties, and no symptom at all either of want of sense, or of unsound notions of taxation. The principle was good, and the public ought to have supported the Noble Lord in carrying it into effect. Co conclude, howevi r, those parties who are desi rous of a mcra dictatorial Government than the pre sent, may rest assured that their expectations will be disappointed. " No Reform," in the present Itate of the COUrEtry and of the continent of Europe, is an effectual bar to such a possibility, until an actual and efficient Reform has taken place.— Morning Advertiser. The whole fabric of Chancery abomination totters to its fall; the venerated dust and rubbish of anti quity is to be swept away; the cobwebs are to be brushed from their prescriptive corners; the spiders cry. out that the world is at an end; and, as daylight is let into the intricate crevices of the building, the obscene birds who have formed their hereditary nests there, from generation to generation, hoot at the light, and, in their purblind struggles, fly in the faces of the unwelcome intruders. The Chancellor has redeemed his pledge ; he now stands fortla,— not the popular declaimer—not the opposition ora tor,—but the practical, ministerial, reformer of the law. He proposes no petty amendment—no aho. lition of minor offices or minor evils—no palliative —no sedative—no p/ webo—no compromise between acknowledged evil and conflicting interests. He lays his axe to the root of the evil—he aims a mor tal blow at the pocktts of his adversaries—he refuses the supplies, and the ways and means of cor ruption are at an end. Judicial officers, and their administrative subordinates, are to be paid by sala ries—not by fees ; or if in part by fees, then only in that stage of proceeding over which they have no controul to multiply, hasten, or retard the steps of the suitor. The Master's clerks grieve for their graluilies—the registers for their copy-money; those pleasant unctions—those cordials to pen-wearied di ligence—those stimulants to expedition—are gone for ever. The Masters plunge their hands into the depths of their femoralia, and, with lengthened faces and lack-lustre eye, meditate the departed glory of their warrants ; while seventy Commissioners of bankrupts, dispersed to all quarters of the wind, wonder what the world is to do without them. Yet all this is done with so much judgment, with so much due consideration for individual interest, that those who inwardly curse, and privately mutter, cannot openly complain. If they remain in office, they are liberally paid for the proper execution of their duty. If their services are dispensed with, they are as liberally compensated for the loss of their emoluments. A present and permanent good is cheaply purchased at the expence of a temporary and decreasing incumbrance; and this, too, is put on its just footing : there is no twaddle of the in defe:►sible rights of vested interest—no prattle of freehold—no talk of inheritance in official exactions. Thus the sinecures held by the Reverend Mr. Ihurlow* amount to between nine and ten thou sands a year; among these is the most iniquitous office that it ever entered into the mind of man or courtier to imagine—a tax of seven thousands a year out of bankrupts' estates, to be collected at a further expence of about fifty per cent. ! " I an► aware," says the Lord Chancellor, " that the hAder of the patent place I have alluded to has vested rights in it : but if he should be very exorbitant in his demands, let him not think himself very sure of the tenure by which he holds off►ce. If my tenure of office is secure, I will not fail to grapple with it ; and that I may go out there is no chance, for I am sure that I am at present well fixed in it : but if I should not go out of office, I will grapple with this patent place ; I will let the patentee see that I can exercise the power which the law confers on me . The fe,s for making all commissions of bankruptcy, whence the patentee derives his revenue, the law gives me the power, by a side-wind, to put an end to, by prevent ing the seal Bing put to commissions. If Ido that, what then becomes of the. patentee? I will not say that the patentee has not a vested right, but it is a joke to say that he holds it on the same tenure us your Lordships bold your freehold estates, of which you cannot be deprived but by the failure of the seasons, or the conquest of an enemy. The vested rights of this patentee depend on the clause of an Act of Parliament; and he who holds the Great Seal can put an end to them when he please'. I think, then, that the holder of this place, if he attend to morality, to honourable feeling, or if he take counsel of common sense and prudence, will take into his consideration what I have now stated to your Lordships; that be will consult his at torney, his counsel, his conveyancer, and take all those legal steps necessary to make up his mind to accept the liberal offer I shall make. From the abolition of this sinecure, then, we shall save 8,0001. a-year out of 11,0001. which, added to the 51,000/. I have already mentioned, will make the whole saving amount at least to 73,0001." Thus, therefore, the expense of compensation is balanced by an immediate saving to the public : but though the saving is indirect, and the charge must be immediate, his Lordship does not propose to tax the people to raise it ; there is a fund, which if he does not apply it to the furtherance of legal Reform some future Minister will borrow for the exigencies of warfare—the Suitors' Fund of the Court of Chancery, in which some millions remain, and ever will remain, unclaimed, and unclaimable, by the real owners. Out of this it is proposed to pay the new burthens, and it cannot be better applied : since, at the expense of those who are long since beyond the reach of their mortal vexations, the means will be afforded of averting similar evils from their posterity. Generous, however, as this mode of treating sinecurists is, it will not conciliate ail interests : some will stickle for the last fraction of average income; many dread inquiry into the amount and sources of their emoluments : exactions, extor tions, crcroachments, and usurpations, are entitled to no place in the scale : therefore, the _Morning Post, speaking for its order, fruges consumere flats, puss fotth its wailings; and the Clerk of the Pleas in the King's Bench deranges his crisped head in anxious meditations on the progre's of referms,which may extend from equity to law. Much opposition— some open, more in secret—must therefore be ex pected. In the House of Lords, it is true, not a voice was heard in vindication of the once venerated system—Lord Eldon was not there ; and of all who had cringed to his favour, or fattened sons or ne phews on his patronage, there was not one to uphold Isis favourite jurisdictions, or to defend the manner in which, for five and twenty years and upwards, he had administered his high office. His once an:a gonist, his now successor, was more generous; ex plaining why he had hurried into Reform, he endea voured to excuse the inaction of Isis predecessor : " I, who have little or no experience, whose knowledge of the practice of the Court must necessarily be limited— I, a mere novice in the law of that Court, nevertheless begin with attempting what others, to the very close of their career, hose not attempted—a change, an innovation, and to sum up all in one expression, so hateful, so alien to long established habits, so sore, so agonizing to the ex perienced practitioner—in one hateful word, " the head and front of my offentling"—a Chancery Reform. Reform, odious and reprobated in all ptdces, is especi a lly odious and especially reprobated there, where it appears as if it were a monster, composed of two parts so utterly irreconcilable and incongruous as Chancery Reform. My answer to this charee is, that short as my experience his been in that Gaut, I almost already begin to feel those difficulties and those incunibrances which have overpowered and mastered the good intentions of all my illustrious predecessors. I am already, as it were, attached to the soil—l am already in the course of seduction. I feel that lam getting in volved in the integuments and entanglements which I have Keen describing as forming the excuse for my•predecessots. I, who came into the Court pouring out prayers for Re form, am almost already incapacitated for attempting it; and, if I remain there inactive a little longer, shall be wholly so. Vix prece finita, torpor gravis alligat artus : Walla eingunturtenui prwcordia Miro In frondem crines, in ramos brachia crescunt : Pes modo tans velox pigris radicibus harret : .Ora cacumen obit: remanet nitor onus in ilia.' " I feel that I am on the point, if I delay any longer, of becoming, in my flight from the day, fixed and routed in the soil ; and that I shall flourish only like the laurel in the fable, a monument of her escape from the embraces of the god of light." The wise physician, who is obliged to live in a pest house, does not delay his purification till he be comes infected with the disorder; he applies the first and full vigour of his strength to the work of cleanliness; if he omits it till the languor of disease incapacitates from exertion, or the familiarity of the objects of disgust reconciles him to corruption, be m a y himself fall a victim to his delay, but the sys tem stands little chance of amendment. Lord Brougham has the advantage of which Lord Lynd hurst failed to avail himself; he comes into a new So perfectly useless is this sinecure, that its holder is not even called upon to sign his name to the commissions which are issued on his teste. The title of Lord Thurlow, the last deceased patentee, continues printed at the foot of the parchments even to this day ! Court—things, familiar to its ordinary practitioner's, are strange to him—forms to which they are accus tomed from their days of pupilage, and which they took unexamined from the dogmas of an equity draftsman, to him require explanation : it was not so with Lord Eldon, he was trained in these abuses and absurdities, till they became part and parcel of his intellect : he was born, reared, educated, made as a public character in times and circumstances, in which passive submission to all existing institutions was religion, in which change was heresy, in which innovation was rebellion against Church and State. We do not wonder that Lord Eldon was not a re former—can he now stem the tide? No.—lf he cannot, who can ? No one ! • Yet we will not be supine, we will not risk eur victory—(our victory !) —by inattention to the movements of a retreating enemy; we still see their skirmishers - lurking in the ditches, from which we must drive them; nor are there wanting deserters of doubtful fidelity, who might stab their new leaders in the back, should they find an unguarded opportunity. On these we have our eyes—we shall show no quarter to detected treachery. As far as the Chancellor's plans are de veloped, they will be best collected from his speech (of which we need not say that it was luminous, eloquent, and powerfully sarcastic); they resolve themselves into these heads :—The substitution of a Judge of the superior Courts of Westminster, in certain cases for the Commissioners of Lunatics; the fotmation of a Board to secure the proper treat meat of those unfortunate wards of the Crown ; the substitution of ten Judges for the seventy Commis sioners of Bankrupts, and the consolidation of that jurisdiction in one Court ; the regulation of the Master's offices, the registers, and six clerks, with the genetal abolition of fees, copy money and gra tuities; an appellate tribunal in lieu, or improve ment, of the Privy Council ; and lastly, the substi tution of viva voce examination, fei the present mode of taking written depositions and affidavits in Chan cery. It is obviously impossible to review these matters in detail, within any ordinary space; we shall yet probably notice them, from time to time, as they are discussed in Parliament, especially if any insidious attempt be made to mar the matter in Come mittee.—Examiner. MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT PUTNEY. (From the Observer.) It would appear that the family of Mr. Clarke consisted of himself, his wife, and two daughters, both of whom are under twenty years of age; and Mr. Clarke having amassed some little property, de termined some years since to retire from the busy world. To accomplish this he purchased a piece of ground in the Richmond-road, and has erected a very handsome residence, which was rendered pe culiar by its resemblance to the house built for Buo naparte at St. Helena. Being of an economical disposition, and quite domesticated, he had latterly no other domestic besides his own family. Mrs. Clarke and her husband, however, lived very un happily together, and Mrs. Clarke ultimately be came insane ; so much so, indeed, that she was confined about twelve months in St. Luke's Hos pital. On her return home she insisted on having separate beds, and from the frequent return of the unfortunate malady, great unhappiness was the con sequence. About three weeks sinee, the boy of Mr. Layton, baker, at Putney, brought to the house a bag of flour, containing two quarterns, each guar tern being separated by a string being tied in the middle of the bag. Mr. Clarke, on answering the gate bell, observed that onlv one quartern had been ordered,when the boy repliedthat he was aware ofthat, but that he had forgot to leave the other at a distant hotae. It being nearly dark, Mr. Clarke, rather than take the trouble of emptying the first quarter,' out, consented to take the two quarterns. The first quar. tern was placed in the flour tub, and the other re mained in the- bag. On Monday last Mr. Clarke ordered a pudding to be made, and the eldest daughter, during the absence of her father, p:e pared the eggs. On his return he observed that he thought . the pudding would be late before it was done, arid, as was his general practice, he assisted the eldest daughter in making it. Mrs. Clarke seldom or eV( r troubled herself with the culinary department. His daughter then said there was not enough of flour in the tub, upon which Mr. Clarke opened the bag, and emptied the other quartern into the tub, a portion of which Mr. Clarke mixed up in a basin for the pudding. At dinner, after partaking of cold roast beef, the dumpling was first taken up by the younger daughter, who sugared and buttered it. She then offered a piece to her father, who refused to partake of it, alleging as a reason that lie was not partial to heavy dumpling, but observing at the some time that Betsy, the elder daughter, would perhaps like some, and instantly put a piece in . her plate, which she ate. The youngest daughter had no sooner swallowed a portion of the dumpling than she complained of a heat in the mouth and throat. The elder girl also similarly complained ; when Mr. Clarke observed, that it would be necessary to take good care of the pudding, which was almost imme diately after taken up and placed before Mr. Clarke, lie being in the habit of helping the family. Upon cutting it from the side of the basin, it was observed to have an unusually brown appearance, Mr. Clarke remarking that he never saw a pudding look like it. He, however, divided it into four pieces, and served the young women, when Mrs. Clarke said," Come, give me my piece." Her husband eipresEed again his astonishment at the appearance of the pud ding, and said he thought it was not fit to eat. In reply to this observation, Mrs. Clarke said that there was - nothing in it, unless lie (Mr. Clarke) had put in some thing, and requested to have some sugar, which was given to her. She then ate the whole in her plate. The younger daughter was shortly taken ill, and, to allay the violent heat in her throat, she procured some water and drank it. In consequence of her indisposition, Mr. Clarke desired the elder one to take a portion of the pudding to Mr. Layton, the baker, to know if he wild account for the sin gular appearance of it. Mr. Layton and three other persons in his house tasted of it, who, in about an hour, were taken ill with a violent vomiting. On the return home of the elder daughter she found her mother exceedingly ill, and, at the request of her father, the instantly proceeded to Mr. Wade, a surgeon, in High -street, Putney. Before, however, she had reached the house of Mr. Wade, she felt an inclination to vomit which gradually increased, till at length she became alarmingly ill. The young woman vomited very much, and laying her head on the shoulder of Mts. Wade, said that she and Ulf family had been taken ill by eating a batter-pudding. Mr. Wade shortly came in and administered the j proper remedies on such occasions, after which the female was put to bed in a most agonizing state. Mr. Wade, as soon as he could leave Miss Clarke, proceeded to her residence, where he found Mrs. Clarke apparently in the agonies of death. After advising Mr. Clarke how act in such an emergency, Mr. Wade left the house to attend upon Miss Clarke and the four persons at the baker's, arid also to make up a draught for Mrs. Clarke. So ill was the elder d eughter that it was deemed proper not to remove her, and she remained at Mr. Wade's till the following day, when she so far recovered as to be enabled to return home. The younger girl was not so violently affected as her sister, and after some hours had elapsed she was considered out of danger, although very weak. Mr. Clarke who had only pariaken of a stria!' portion of the pud ding, was attacked with sickness, w hile con versing with Mr. Layt on ' s young man, at the gate, respecting the flour, whom he informed that tie had been ill ever since he had eaten a piece of dinner. About eight o'clock, Mrs. Clarke who had vomited a great portion of blood, asked for some ale and sugar, which were given to her by Mr. Clarke. Mr. Clarke then retired to his chamber, aid was about getting into bed as Mr. Wade again called. This was about nine o'clock ; and on Mr. Wade entering the room of Mr. Clarke, he was requested by him 'to - see how his wife was. Mr. Wade im mediately repaired to the chamber of Mrs. Clarke, whom he found lying on the bed quite dead, which circumstance he instantly communicated to her hus band. On the following day Mr. Wade again called at the house of Mr. Clarke, and inquired where the remainder of the pudding was ? The younger daughter replied that she had thrown it into the garden. He wished her to find it, when she went out, and brought back with her a very small portion of it, not more than an ounce. Mr. Wade requested to know where the remainder was, and she said that she had thrown it into the garden, between the gooseberry bushes, and had covered it over with dirt. Her father took a shovel, and, accompanying Mr. Wade into the garden, du g up the other portion of the pudding from the place where Miss Clarke had pointed out. Her motive for burying the pud ding is said to have arisen from her dislike to have in the house any thing which was supposed to con tain poison. On Thursday, Mr. Carttar, coroner, and a Jury composed of highly respectable indivi duals, met at the house of Mr. Clarke, and held an inquest on the body. After an inquiry, which lasted from two till six o'clock, the inquest was adjourned till Monday next. Shortly after, information reached the coroner and jury that the pudding had been analysed, and a portion of arsenic was discovered to have been mixed with it. The flour from which the pudding was made , we are given to understand, was found to b e qu it e free from any poisonous in gredient. LAW INTELLIGENCE. COURT OP CHANCERY, FEB. 26. CALLAGHAN V. DOVE. Mr. WRIGHT, in the couse of the day, moved for an injunction to restrain the defendant, the printer of a Greek and English Lexicon, compiled by the plaintiff, from selling the work at a higher price than a guinea and a half. The parties had entered into a contract that 3,000 copies of the work should be printed by the defendant, and that they should be sold for that price, and the plaintiff's remunera tion was to be postpone:l until the whole of the copies should be sold. The plaintiff had recently discovered that the defendant had fixed the price of the work at two guineas, the consequence of which would necessarily be, to make the whole impression of slower sale, and the plaintiff, therefore, applied for the order of the Court to restrain the defendant from this breach of the agreement. His LORDSHIP did not think the fac , s s'ated war ranted such an application, and consequently re fused to make the order. COURT OF KING'S BENCH, FEB. 26. HULLETT AND ANOTHER V. HAGUE. This was an action for the infringement of a patent invention for evaporating fluids rapidly, at comparatively low temperatures. The patent had been granted in 1828, to Mr. W. Godfrey Kneller, the original inventor, and wa , tassigned by him to the plaintiffs, Messrs. Hulletr and Widder, sugar refiners. The process, it appeared, was applicable principally to the purpose of evaporating sugar. The invention was sta•ed to consist in fcreing through a pipe, by means of a bellows, or other blowing apparatus, atmospheric or any. other air, in a hot or cold state, through the liquid or solution subjected to evaporation. This, it was said, was a much simpler mode than that employed by Howard's well-known apparatus. It was admittted on the part of the plaittiffs that the principle of introducing a'r into the mass of eYapora•ing fluid was not new, but the invention of the process was claimed as original. The defendant, however, denied the ori ginality, and insisted that the apparatus was con structed from a specification of a patent invention of Messrs. Knight and Kirk, in 1822, for .a similar pur pose of evaporation by the application of currents of hot a'r through a coil-pipe or a perforated cul lender. It was insisted on the part of the defendant that his machine had been constructed from Knight and Kirk's specification, and that the plaintiffs' had also been taken therefrom. On the part of the plaintiffs Mr. Farey, Mr. Beale, and other scientific men were examined. They all gave it as their opinion that Kneller's apparatus was an original invention, and one of great utility. _ . For the defence several witnesses were call to prove that there ‘ias no novelty in Kneller's inven tion ; that it was in fact taken from Knight and Kirk's specification. The Jury found for the plaintiffs, for nominal damages. LENT ASSIZES. OXFORD CIRCUIT.—READING, Fien. 26. William Brown was indicted for setting fire to a straw-stack at Abingdon, on the 25th of December. It appeared from the evidence of the prosecutor, that he went with his family to St. Helen's church, on the evening of Chris.mas-day, and was called out by his son, who told him his stack was burning.— There were a great number of ather witnesses called, who det-dled 'at great length the circum stances of the fire; but the case was altogether one of suspicion against the prisoner, arising from a com parison of the foot-marks with his booti, and his be ing supposed to be on ill ttrms with the prosecutlr. The prisoner (who was a butcher at Abingdon) received an excellent character. The Learned JUDGE summed up, and the Jury immediately returned a verdict of Not Guilty. This trial lasted very nearly nine hours. There are eleven causes entered for trial at Nisi Ptius, one of which is a special jury case, but no business of importance is expected. SURREY SESSIONS, FEB. 26. Samuel Marden, a coal-merchant, residing in tile Albany-road, Camberwell, was indicted for stealing a fur tippet, value 175., the property of Angel Boxsius, a furrier, on Newington-causeway. The trial of the prisoner excited an extraordinary degree of interest, owing to the singular ty of the dream. stances attending the charge, and attracted a crowded Court during the proceedings, which la , ted from ten uutil five o'clock in the afternoon. Mr. BACON having stated the ease on the piirt of the prosecution, Angel Boxsius was called, and he stated, that on the 28th of January last, the prisoner called at his shop, relative to the delivery af some coals with which he had supplied him. Previously to the ar rival of the prisoner at the residence of the prose cutor, the latter removed a fur tippet, which was on the counter near the door, to a desk at the upper end of the shop, close to the parlour window. The pri soner remained there about an hour and a half al together, and was enveloped in a cloak.' D ur i ng some part of the time the prisoner was left alone in the shop, the boy having been sent to an adjoining street to borrow a shovel. When the boy returned, the prisoner took the shovel in one hand, and, with the other underneath his cloak, turned over a few shovelfulls of coals in order to let prosecutor see the -quality of them, and he left the shop soon afterwards, the time he went away being about a quarter after six o'clock in the evening ; the shop was closed a* nine o'clock. There were three ladies called at the shop during the time the prisoner was there rela tive to furs, but . they did not approach that part where the tippet was placed. Prosecutor missed the tippet the next morning, and did not hear any thing about it until the afternoon of the 14th inst,, when, while standing at the door, he observed a young lady pass with the tippet in question on her shoulders; and, in explanation of the manner :in which it had come into her possession, she unhesitatingly de scribed that it had been sent' to her by Mr. Marden, on the 29th of January, with a letter begging her acceptance of it. The prisoner was subsequently taken into custody, and then stated that he had purchased the tippet of an aged man on the morn ing of the 29th of January, near the Elephant and Castle, is proceeding from his residence to h man offered it for 1 08 ., but that he ultimately let him in Montagu-close, and adding, that the, have it for 7s. The prosecutor added, .that Stowell, a parish constable, a man named Morris, and his Wheat. Aberdeen 8erwick.....,,. Coldstream ... Cupar vowwww. Dundee............. Elgin .........-...... 62 67 Inverness,... 56 60 Kelso ............. 48 52 Kirka1dy..,.....1 42 70 Perth - 48 64 [1::?.. The size of the in, 22 29 25 27 24 25 33 36 32 36 32 35 32 31 26 28 27 39 21 24 isure va 22 28 19 22 19 21 23 33 27 23 29 26 22 25 19 21 25 32 19 22 1 e 6 throui Beans. 26 3 03 0 f' 2 40 42 38 40 19 21 36 28 30 2 : 2 . 45 28 24 rhout the - ,ia _jet , EDINBURGH MEAL. AI ARKET..—Peu- :- raw toe We had a large supply of Oatmeal at this day s on price. which met with a very dull sale. at a reduction of ls• " price. Barley and Peasemeal the same as last week. imp 0 Per Sack of 2801 b. Imp. P e r St o n e of 141 b. ..„ 9 X 2 7 0 First Oatmeal .. .... First Oatmeal . Second ditto 2 5 0 Second ditto ............ v ~ 0 , Barleymeal 1 16 0 8ar1eymea1............. C Ns. Peasemeal 1 16 0 Peasemeal ..............s,-" ,030.. Pot Barley—No. I, per cwt. 145.-2 d. 165.-3d.20" - ----- e.B h'cli EDINBURGH CORN 1%1 ARKET.—Feb• - . o' l lo sold heavily. Wheat down 4s. on the top, and 4d. 1 t he o d We had a middling supply of all kinds of Grain to-daPor, : opt average. Barley up Is. on the average. Oats up = 2 s• ° toP , and Is. 9.d. on the average. Beans Is. down on the 2s. 6d. on the average. 13 0 ; Wheat. Barley. Oats. Pease. 45s gk i First 74s Od 45s Od 42s 01 453 0.1 0 2 Second Third PRICES OF PROVISIONS C. 0 1 4 Beef; per lb. ...Os. 3d. to Os. Cd. Fresh Butter , lb.s. lo3 * 1 0 Lamb, per qr. 10 0 Hutt0n.,,,,,..,,,,,,,,. 0 4 0 6 Salt Ditto.....— 0 11 , 192 1 Vea1.,............,,,,, 0 4 010 Ditto, per cwt. 94 ° u 6 Pork 0 4 120 6 a Eggs,tS 9 1 0 'fallow, cwt.... 35 0 40 0 Wheat Ditto,. 6 6 6 9 Quartern Loaf 0I) 010 Barley Ditto ~ 5 6 9 Potatoes, 1711 b. 0 0 0 5 Hay, per 5t.... 1 6 rpawerckdpot) 0 0 6 0 GLASGOW CORN I Wheat, per 2401 b. s. d. s. d. British, old 36 0 to 38 0 - new 30 0 35 0 Canada, free 34 0 36'0 Irish Barley, per 3201 b. English 36 0 37 0 Sc.ttish 30,0 31 6 Irish AR KET.—Feb. 23 . 66, 6. Oats, per 2641 b. 6 tool., Irish 240 British A l El Beans, pet 2601'1%24 0 rd English .......... 2 4 0 Pi Scottish 4 0 00 Pease, Scottish 40 14 Oatmeal, per 1401 b. 300 Flour, per 2801 b " CORNWALL. MARKETS. 0,4;0 $ ll9 Tnuao—Wheat (average) 9.7s.—Barley, 13s. Oil.'" pi. A . V.,' ST. AUSTELL—Wheat, 245. to 28s.—Barley, 12s. t o 8:',.t0 , Os. to 9s. Od. Ost S fr Boomm—Wheat (average) 27s.—Barley, 13s. ed.- - a La UNCESTON—Wheat (average) 295. Od.—Barley,l46. Hs. 31—Beef, 61—Mutton, 6d. "4 HELsToN—Wheat, 275. Od.—Barley, 13s. Od. ~, i0 4 :.41.• PENzaNce—Wheat, 265. to 27s.—Barley, --,,,. — oil. P' /1. Os. to 9s. od.—Beef and Mutton, sd. to tid.—Por. , c , Butter, 13:1. per lb. .., . 11 , . ,e 4 LisKEAßD—Wheat, —s. Od. to 245. 6d. —Barley, to Bs. Od. . ST. CoLum to P s—Wheat, 255. to 27s.—Barley, 124. t t and Mutton, 4d. to sd.—Veal,43o.—Lamb, Od• il ds ' :.-----= _ To ll ' • MINING INTELLIGENCE. 4 , 0 1 Quantity of Copper Ore sold at Itedruth last Thursday I Average Produce Quant'ty of fine Copper Amount of 5a1e,:21,4fi7/. veraee Standaw' _h. Extract of a letter from \V arsaw, dale be 9.0 ;ii .....,. It is a positiv e f ac t, th a t on th e n ight o.r th i. - kioB,-i i i, November the Council of Admi n i s tration of ° e t ! ir - ,,i' of Poland deputed two of its members to the G r ti o 0 . 40 CONSTANTINE, to take his orders with the ion e pt 0 11 sembling round his person at Belvedere. 11 1,, a voo r i ; 0 ! with an injunction to tell the Council to en u— ,, q uen - vea to re. establish order. It was therefore in C OllE .i re tol li the desire of the Grand Duke that the Counc il at Warsaw." • O ld ' BIRTHS. ) rt 10 1 of At Hanover, on the 15th inst- the lady of -1 0 " 1 i , ote 1 of a daughter. „ 4,,,,, 0 On the 22d inst. at the Royal Magazines, North `-' in of F. Chapm an , k sq ., o f a d aug h ter . r ah 1 r - f l i " cA On the 27th i ns t. i n M ans fi e ld- s t ree t, Lady .-- ja g ° a daughter. Be?k n e t le h y e , 2 i 4 u t , l :., in lis st. q a ., t o S t pe a te s h n le . y, W orces tershir e ' th o e f i.,:icb °l ' i On the 26th inst. the lady o f J. E. Abbott, ....'''' leS ii q lane, Lombard-street, of a son. j. jl ppe Pte On On the 26th inst at St. Geore's, Illoomsburi, ' , te r 0 Esq., of San Sebastian, in Spain, to Louisa, daftice. A. A. Parkin, Esq., solicitor ofthe General Post- 0 ev . , r,,,. v ., DIED F ,„ ersetl"ag ea gol , On the 25th inst. at his son's house, in ~- 11 ' Surr-41, - ..., man square, Thomas Ives, Esq., of ChertseY , , the .. _...,61/ • On the 21st inst. at his residence at Bristol, ove Hall, aged 69. t v ac ",!, On the 2:341 inst. in her 80th year, Margar e ' - ' l l $ Lee Warner, Esq. of Walshigharn Abbey' _,,,,, i . ,„,, r ,,,,, PRINTS!) AND PUBLI3HED BY 11IIIRDO 1 u o `" 4 , Sr' OFFICE, 112, SraANiv, lAN° wife, were examined at Union-hall, when the r a os tak ecu en tor b , e i f n or h e is th er e os M s.. a e g x i a s m tr that he was not present in the shop during the Yin ; l ; time the prisoner was there, neither was Ili' d i B" T er he w p a who was occupied in the kitchen. The prisone. not use the large shovel, which would have reqinbr. both hands, but the small one, with one bend , w 1 the other remained under his cloak. young woman who had made the alterations in it I° l cross-examination , o t n h:l4 one of the prosecutor's customers. The identity of the tippet was here proved bY Miss Jarrod, the young lady to whore was sent by the prisoner, described, as a lreadY,.4 tailed, the manner in which it had come into ll‘ possession. The prisoner being called on for his defence, k in a written statement, which was read by the : ci t e ' ' ' . of the Court, declaratory of his innocence to : offence with which he was charged, and describuid y that lie had purchased the tippet in the way si re& alluded to. stu dy Thomas Cole, a policeman, into %%hose eu l ,o the prisoner was handed over by Stowell, state on the 14th instant, the prosecutor said to 1 1, 1 ' 1 . " I don't wish to indict Mr. Marden ; he has P e ll of money, and if you keep out of the way y ou w h i t be paid for your trouble." The witness addetitt": he refused to take the advice of the prosecutor , 6° '; ing to him on that occasion, " If it was a Po! you you would follow up the case to the u tmost-- - u ti v . l o t Mr. Marden is rich, you don't wish to prosecute, the sake of getting money by it." 0 0 i The witness, in his cross-examination, ha d ',hi made known that which he had now stated to Inspector or any body else, until within the last !/,‘ the tipcipee! or three days. He had AO object in view in keeta it a secret for so long a time, neither did he me' it when before the Magistrates at Union-hall. 1 Some surprise was m an if es t e d b y t h e Court 11°1 ; Jury that this witness had also kept back such portant evidence until within the last few dar' uo te , A great number of highly res p ecta bl e mono. and tradesmen gave the p r i soner an exce llent c ratter; and after the Chairm an h a d sum med op t t e evidence, the Jury retired for an h our to delibli and on their return into Court pr onounce d a Ye rc of Not Guilty. The prisoner was congratulated by his n untes l friends and acquaintances, who nearly filled the b of the Court. The sessions terminated. COUNTRY CORN MARKETS• DURING LAST WEEK. Wheat. Barley. Oats '''" 1 • 1 E Per Quarter. a. to s. s. t o s . s . t o s. -.• to - Carlisle 64 41 Carmarthen...—. 65 40 23 52 72 33 31 22 29 •',5 50 63 36 40 26 30 Penrith 65 40 30 -" Sketlield 78 47 28 :‘, Winchester "56 77 28 40 23 30 1.5 Per Bushel. s. d. s. d. •s. d. a. d. s. ft. A d. a. 6 Coventry 7 0 90 14 8 5 4 3 6 4 0 5 Newcastle (Staff.) 11 3 11 3 6 6 7 0 4 6 5 0 6 ;?, 0 6 0 Northallerton —... 709336 4 6 3 3 4 0 6 0 Stafford 9 0 9 4 5 9 6 2 3 6 4 0 5 Oa Swansea 80 89 46 49 6 30 .„ ' Warwick 90 10 01 4 6 50 22 26 " Per 8011. , 1 „ lig Barnardcastle.—. ,18 6 21 610 0 11 0 7 0 8 6 rI is Durham ll7 20 0 80 10 0 59 86 " 110 Richmond ~.,..!170 21 0i 9 0 90 60 88 1 „. Stockton 16 6 1961 90 10 0 58 70 9 6 11l 9 0 11 6 11 ° 0 6 2„7 WAKEFIELD CORN MARKET.—Feb. 2 5 . The supply of Wheat fresh up for this day's market large; all descriptions have met exceedingly dull sale, ah;,1 1 0 ., offered at rather lower prices, and the quantity s. Id has trifling; the millers hold only small stocks, but the dern4relf: Flour being to a very small extent, in an ti c ip a ti on of the `, (Nut Wheat and Flour being liberated next week, a t the lowes t e it a are disposed to do very little business until they see wi lt le& - • the reduction of duty is likely to produce. O a t s a re slow' low; Is. per quarter lower. The fresh arrivals of Barley at ije rd,l fine fresh heavy qualities are rather scarce and support lestr, of last Friday, but secondary and inf e rio r s amples are . L 'j i r; and very unsaleable, although offered at rather lower pr ,c `iot supply of Beans is large, and they sell heavily at a deell n per quarter. an l9. Wheat, Red, Norfolk and Suflblk 60s. 655. to 725. Lin. and Cam. 6os. 655. to 708. 60 ' -- Yorkshire 60s. 645. to 695. fine d „„ White ..--. Foreign, lied White Barley, Norfolk and Suflblk Lincolnshire to 38s. one, Yorkshire Wold 345. to 38s. 1,"; -- Foreign —s. to :ti o 64 1i 64 0i, 6 7 % 1 1: t t t 0 0 0 7 7 7 4 4 1 Fi u j 0. 1 4 1. e Beans, -- New 38s. to 41s. finee Oats, Potato 2 73 to 319. O n DI& Ane --- Poland —s. 265. to 2 ls. 7 &e ';o. Friezland and Small — s. 249. to 285. 5n tO, Healing 13(1. to 15d. Per 0 .10 Shelling 358 to 365. Oct Pe r 1,010 Malt 4ss. 483. fine 51s. per p ot , Rapeseed ... - - _ SCOTCH MARKETS. Barley Oats. 5 ~• :A 01111 , t party, te c 1111 Ar;hit 11 1 4 %e ll 0 li Thi i , -4 01 `\... v At tic ho le , Let