The Sun. — London, England, 1827-12-26 00:00:00

SPIRIT Or TIDE PUBLIC JOURNALS. We hare always contended that the Supreme Courts of England act on an erroneous and most dangerous principle in deciding on the conduct of inferior Magistrates. That principle is, that unless a corrupt motive in a Magistrate can be substan tiated, l►e is freed from all responsibility. Whatever incapacity he may display, however unjustifiable his conduct, and however irreconcileable with every notion of judicial propriety and judicial aptitude, yet, if corruption cannot be inferred from his acts, or distinctly established, the Courts throw their pro tecting shield around him. It is obvious that this is extending impunity to Magistrates, and giving them absolute power over the people. Corruptipn can never be proved against a Magistrate, if he be not absolutely a dolt; and where he has such a range for the display of rancour and malice as the English Judges afford him, he may very easily put up with the prohibition to add corruption to his other misdeeds. The Supreme Courts of Scotland may, in this respect, be advantageously contrasted with the Courts of England. We have never seen in the former any disposition to screen inferior Magi strates, or to establish principles with regard to them which would give them a discretionary power over the people. In another column, our readers will find a report of a case decided by the Court of Session, on the 13th December, which will serve as an illustration of what we have been stating. A shoemaker, at Baldcraigs, near Stonehaven, was charged' under the Scotch Game Laws, (which Lord Wharneliffe took for the model of his Bill) with having shot at a hare without being qualified; and hav ing pleaded guilty, he threw himself on the mercy of his Judges—Justices of the Peace—and intreated them to consider that he was the only support of his aged parents. On this, Mr. Allardice, one Justice, said, " I do not think he deserves any mercy, as I •arn informed that besides being a poacher, he is a thief; that he has been known to steal bee-hives and leather, and Mr. Boson ell knows this to be true." Mr. Boswell, the other Justice, replied—" I cannot say as to the bee-hives ; but I was informed by a re spectable farmer (now dead), that be stole a quan tity of leather." R. Robertson was fined in the full statutory penalty of 201., and 3/. 13s. 6d., the duty for a game certificate. Having brought an action against these Magistrates for 8001. damages, it was contended by the Magistrates that the words in question were spoken by them in the due exercise of their judicial functions as Justices of the Peace, when, by the prisoner pleading guilty, and throwing himself upon the mercy of the Court for a mitigation of punishment, his character became the subject of consideration ; but to this it was answered, that the offence with which he was charged, under the:Game Laws, had no reference to or connection with the crime of theft,vvith which t heeeJustices had charged him; and calumnious words, though spoken judicially, if not pertinent to the cause, are grounds of damages. The Court decided against the Justices—that the words spoken were actionable. Now it is well known to all who have any experience at Sessions, that hardly a case occurs where some one of the Justices pre-1 eent does not communicate something with regard eo the parties, quite foreign to the matter properly before the Court, but which serves to influence the decision. If a man is charged with cutting a twig value two pence, a Worshipful Magistrate will say, without hesitation, that he is a known or a sus pected poacher (poaching being the crime of crimes in the eye of Magistrates), and the poor fel low is at once sentenced to a twelvemonth's impri sonment. This is not an imaginary case—it actu ally occurred. Our readers cannot have forgotten the conduct of the Beitch of Magistrates at Mac clesfield the other day, whe'ye Sir John Stanley (an experienced Magistrate, being the Chairman of the Cheshire Quarter Sessions, and said to. be a very worthy gentleman) had the hardihood to reproach a gentleman, against whom a villainously false charge (as it was termed) of poaching had been brought by a convicted felon, with having, in his character of attorney, abetted poaching, by not lecturing the poachers, for whom he acted as Counsel, on the heinousness of their crime. If so experienced a Ma gistrate, being the Chairman of a rich and populous county, durst wander so far from judicial propriety as to hold this language, in a case which had ex cited universal interest, to an attorney, it may easily be conceived that the Magistrates of rural districts, where the population is necessarily more stupid and dependent, will feel themselves utterly free from all mtraint. The knowledge, that let them do what they will, or say what they will, provided that it is said or done in their magisterial,capacity, the Judges will protect them, renders them perfectly fearless. They give their tongues the most unbridled license ; and the Bench, instead of being the sanctuary of Justice, is converted into a theatre for the display of malicious tittle-tattle and scandal.—Morning Chronicle. The business with Tutkey appears by uo means to be brought to any point, Hogland wishes that the Turks would relinquish Greece. The Russians, in all probability, have long since said to us, " If yon -will not proclaim Greece independent, we will.— lire have a man, a Greek, who will do very well for a President, and, if you like to have any thing to d o with us in setting him up in that capacity, you may ; we and other Powers will assist you—but if you will not join us in doing this, which we think so expedient, and which the Greeks have asked us to do in conjunction with you—why then, we will do it ourselves." Now, on the supposition that Russia has not said more to us than this, it appears a matter of necessity for our Cabinet to have given way to such supposed dictation. For it never would have done for us to have looked on whilst Greece was erecting herself into an independent State under the sole auspices of Russia; Greece would, in fact, have become a Russian province ; or she would have been liable to have been seized by Russia at any time the latter might have thought proper. The pretence for such supposed dictation was, no doubt, the Greek piracies interfering with the trade of Russia. There could be none, as far as it respected piracies on the part of the Turks or Egyptians, because there has not been a single in stance of piracies of either Power, The Greeks have been the sole pirates, and we understand that those who have been engaged in that species of warfare are the most scoundrel race on the „race of the globe—worse than the wretches in Ireland who murder people in so cold-blooded a manner. ' --We understand from many gentlemen who have been of late years in Greece, that the lowest order of people there are of the worst dekieription, and the superior order full of trick and cunning, and not to be trusted at all in matters of commerce. It appears therefore likely enough that our Govern ment, at the head of which was Mr. Canning, were Torred by circumstances to join Russia and France in the severing of Greece from Turkey. That it will weaken Turkey there cannot be any doubt; and that Russia will seize Greece or the greater part of it, in the long run, we think there cannot be much doubt, for she will have a creature of her own at the head of the affairs of Greece. It is very likely that Austria was applied to in this business. But Austria, seeing probably more clearly than we the game Russia was playing, said, 0 No, we will have nothing to do with the business—we will be mere lookers-on." Besides, Aus-:ria, if she had any prin ciple, would say, " When I was in my greatest danger, and the whole force Bonaparte could collect in Europe was brought against me, though I believe that he made every offer to the Sultan to attack me, still h e could never move the Sultan ; and in the day 'of my calamity the Sultan never fell upon me. Therefore, in the day of the Sultan's calamity, when som e of his most valuable provinces are in a state of rebellion, I will not interfere with him and those provinces;' 'Thi s This, i we think, was the reasoning of Austria. is also the reasoning England ought to have adopted. because we in the day of our cala mity, .when almost th e w h o l e Continent was against ai s, with a consummate never General at the head of it, we wereforsaken, much less assailed by the Turks, w e are now, i n whomconjunction with Russia and France, treating in so scandalota a manner.— Mr. Canning, if alive, might say, " We could not help ourselves. It was not our interest to interfere between the Sultan and the Greeks; but if we do not go along with France and Russia in severing Greece from Turkey,Russia will seize Greece, and would then seize the whole of the European part of Turkey. She would then have Constanti nople for her southern capital, Moscow for her middle capital, and Petersburgh for her northern. She would be then the strongest empire of which there is any record. With such an empire she might dictate to all Europe. Our Ministers, it is preamble, saw the matter in this point of view, and therefore thought it better to join Russia, and to ward off the blow as long as they could, rather than to experience the mortification of seeing Russia carry into immediate effect what we have described. Some people might say, if those were the views of Russia, awhy not join the Turks, and prevent the Russians from doing these things ? Our reply would he, " The Debt prevents us ; for as long as we have a Debt, the interest of which amounts to 30 millions a year, so long shall we not be able to make war of any importance. We may be able to ma nage a trifling demonstration—as that, for instance, of sending fire thousand men to Portugal ; or de stroying, at Navarin, ships whose destruction we thought could he effected with impunity, and easily accomplished—hut as to wage war against such a Power as Russia, we have no chance, except we should make up our minds to run the risk of destroy ing our system of paper money." All Etirope knows the situation we are placed in by our Debt; and all Europe is becoming more saucy to us every day. The Ministers may gloss over things as much as they please, and many may erect monuments to the memory of Statesmen, and the papers in the interest of Ministers may endeavour to palliate these things, but the people of England have too much sense to be altogether blinded.—Morning Herald. We are sorry that Mr. Hunt did not succeed in getting into the City Parliament. The Corporation of London want such a man as Mr. Hunt among them, to draw off their attention from jobs and feasting, and to rouse them from the drowsiness which, being too long accustomed to die jog-trot of abuse, is but too apt to be engendered in brighter models either of wisdom or purity than have of late years found their way into the City Parliament. When, however, we say that the Corporation " want" such a man, the very context shows that we make use of a wrong expression. The pains they take to keep him out show that they want no such intruder. But the public, which is more to the purpose, want to see such a man as Mr. Hunt in a situation where he may teaze and worry the old Corporation hacks out of their feasting!, their re vellings, their oflice-sellings, their coal and corn meterships, and the other snug concerns which are paid for out of the citizens' money, while they are heavily taxed for purposes to which such money would, if their affairs were properly managed, be applied. We trust, therefore, that Mr. Hunt, though defeated, will not be dismayed; that lie will stick to the skirts of the Corporation ; and that the inha- , bitants of the Ward who have this year been so near returning him will put him among the City sages next year, who, when he gets there, will, no doubt, revive the comedy of the very " Devil among the Tailors."—/bid. We ought to have mentioned yesterday, that there is, we fear, no doubt of the embargo at Constanti nople having been re-imposed upon the merchant men of the Allied Powers before the last despatches came away. The departure of the Ambassadors was deferred no longer than until the result of the Divan about to be held on the 29th should trans pire; but making all allowances for uncertainty in Turkish affairs, it is only frank to state, that no hope existed of a favourable issue to the deliberations of the Council. We shall be surprised if the next ac counts from Mr. Canning are dated in the Turkish capital. Still with a Cabinet like that of Turkey no event can be called certain till it has actually taken place.—Tinges. It will be recollected, immediately after the forma tion of Mr. Canning's Administration, how very soon the old Tories, who had then deserted the King in a body, forgot their respectful language towards his Majesty,—how soon, how very soon, their honey was converted into gall. The general effect of this abusive language upon the country, was to :lead to the belief that they had no expectation of returning to office; we were of a different opinion, and do verily believe, that at that period they hoped to re-in state themselves by the dread which they thought that they should create in the Royal mind through the use of these scandalous imputations cast upon his Majesty. Time, however, may have changed their object; it is true, that what they begun early, they continue late; but that which they (lid at first with a view to inspire fear, they perpetuate in the indul gence of vindictive spleen. At the beginnin g of this career of virulence and invective against the King, we observed, and with regret, that the Whigs had sometimes, in the irritation of their long exclu sion from office, ventured to murmur against the dis pensations of the giverof office,bilt the language used by those who had basked for years, we had almost said for ages—in the Royal favour, was odious by its ex treme ingratitude : it is now become disgusting by its incessant repetition. In the evening journal which has been started by the excluded Tories, (and to the support of which no inconsiderable portion of talent has been brought) are daily tirades against the King personally ; his domestic habits, his familiar friends, his social parties are all made (so far as they are capable of being so made) the subjects of ridi cule, derision, or invective. In the Standard of Dec. 10, and 17, we read as follows : .(Extract from the Standard of Saturday, Dec. 8.) " We have lately been addressed by several corres pondents upon a subject of peculiar delicacy, vie. the alarm ing change which, within a few years, seems to have taken place in the system of government established by the late King after he had arrived at the full maturity of his un derstanding, and released himself from the Bute faction. " The two first monarchs of the house of Hanover were, it is now ascertained, as absolutely governed by fa vourites, irresponsible favourites, as our own second Ed ward, or as Louis XIV., or as Louis XV. of France. The Lune system of closet domination, acting, however, by a less objectionable influence than that which ruled George I. and George 11., was attempted at the accession of the late King, and for a short time the attempt was successful. But it was one of the earliest and noblest achievements ,of that unequalled Prince to shake off the dishonourable contrnol, and to present himself to his people as the first really ConstOginnal Prince that ever swayed the Eng lish sceptre: by thee& words we mean the first Sovereign who made the spirit of Ile Constitution his guide ; the first who rejected all advice save from his responsible Ministers ; the first who accepted no Ministers who did not seem to be recommended by the confidence of the honest aruj thinking part of the community; and who withheld from the Ministers so recommended, no part, not even the most triiiing, of the proper patronage of their offices,—the sole means which they could have of carrying on the Government with honour to themselves and their master, with advantage to the country, and with fidelity to the Constitution. " ft is not surprising that men should feel, even morbidly, apprehensive of the effect of a departure ft urn a line of go vernment which has been crowned with such glorious re sults ; and to this excessive sensibility we must 4ttribute it that we are daily importuned by correspondents to expose the growth of a scheme of closet government, and over whelmed with tenders of proofs that a favourite family at present constitutes the executive administration of the country, and absorbs the whole patronage of the State. Among these presumptive proofs it is suggested, as a thing without example in the history of England, that a man unknown as a theologian, ma saholar, and only distinguished by having been a private tutor in the family alluded to, eLould, at thirty-seven years of age, be promoted to the richest bishopric in the British empire. Another among these prima facie proofs not easily to lie rebutted is the ap pointment of a member of the same family—a man as little ;mown as a statesman or a military leader, as the fortunate Bishop is in the walks of divinity and literature—to the government of a province of immense importance to this empire ; a province torn inwardly by discontent, and menaced from without, by our most formidable rival—to the government of Canada. These flagrant instances of undeserved and injudicious promotion, reinforced by bun art& of less flagrant, but equally injudicious favours eon feired upon the :same family, make out a case of suspicion, but they make nut no more, and we think that suspicion is, in this case, an injustice to the King. " His Majesty's love of retirement is universally known, and as universally lamented. Its necessary effect is, that he must depend upon others for his knowledge of public feel ing ; but upon whom can he rely, save upon those imme diately about his person ? " And what can be more natural than that an incapable and unpopular Administration, anxious only for their places, should endeavour to bribe those persons to silence or to praise, by any gift at their disposal—no matter how extravagant? " We do not say that in no case ought suspicion to be entertained against the influence under which a king exer cises his office ; but we repeat it that there is full justifi cation for refusing, in the present case, to resign that con fidence which it is our pleasing duty to repose in the pupil of Eldon—the patron of Liverpool—the friend of Welling ton—the liberator of Europe--aad the Sun of George the Third. Let our correspondents but wait : a few months must disclose the machinery at work. Before long they will have to avow their approbation of our persevering con fidence in a Prince, who has been the pride and the object of affection with English Tories; or they will learn that Tories though we be, and, as such, zealous supporter. of our prince, we acknowledge the claims of our country as the highest claims that can be made upon us." (From the Standard of Monday, Dec. 10.) " The Whigs already anticipate, from the interview al luded to (the Duke of Wellington's visit to Windsor), an arrangement of the Ministry by which they are to be ex cluded, and already raise an outcry against the private ad visers by whom, as they assert, this arrangement has been suggested. This calculation is not unreasonable for Whigs, and in their present condition. Their unpopularity is great and growing, and they must feel that if the rapacity of " the family" is not satiated, " the family" has received as much as any ministry properly sensible of the inconve nience of an impeachment would venture to give. Bet, as we are good-natured people, we will console the Whigs with the assurance that they are in no danger of dismissal by an arrangement which shall connect the Duke of Wellington or Mr. Peel with any Administration, the head of which shall be a Popish statesman like Lord Goderich. Upon this point, the Duke and Mr. Peel are pledged, and they are not men to abandon a pledge given in the face of the: country." (From the Standard, Dec. 17.) " We copy the following from this morning's Times ; we can add the authority of our own private information to the assertion of the Times. Lord Goderich has certainly tendered his resignation, and has soneented to withhold a formal surrender of his office, only until a successor shall he found " There is, we have reason to believe, no doubt of the fact, that Lord Goderich has tendered his resignation to his Majesty, and that his Majesty has declined to accept it without further comeideration on the part of his Lordship. —ln the mean time, the Noble Viscount is stated to have gone, o■ Saturday, to his brother's residence in Bedford shire, whence he will return on Wednesday. Some of: Lord Goderich's friends are not without hopes that his Lordship may yet be indeeed to remain in office. ." The fact of the tender of the resignation, which has been so absurdly contradicted, partly from ignorance, partly from interested motives, has been sent in a formal and official communication to the Duke of Portland, who is at Nice. We shall not speculate at present on the pro bable consequences of this event ; but we think we may assure our readers, that the ultra faction have no chance of return to power.' "By the ultra faction ' the Times of course means the Protestant statesmen who retired in April last, and these who think with them : and we believe our contemporary is quite right in his conjecture that they are not likely soon to come into office. Many motives will concur to dissuade them from engaging in the public service. The King and the country have claims upon them, it is true, as they have upon every man in the community ; but it would be doubly unreasonable to press them into service so very soon after the cavalier dismissal that they received last spring ; and to set them to a penance at once so arduous and so little merited by them as the task of unravelling the tangled skein of Whig policy. This objection, however, the' Tory faction,' might overcome ; but we apprehend there remain others which are quite insurmountable. The Tories, we doubt not. may have if they please a Protestant head to the Ministry ; and if, having this, they should wish to have an exclusively Protestant Cabinet (though this in such case would not be necessary, according to Mr. Peel's declared opinion), they may, w e d o ubt not, send to the care of their private affairs all the ge nerous Whigs, Lords, and Commons, who come to the succour of the King, and to places and pensions. These terms, we question not, the Tory faction may have to morrow; but to render these of value, there is one other for which they must stipulate, because, as experience has shown, without it no Ministers, however able or zealous, can have a secure tenure of the power to serve their King and country. This sins qua non is the King's undivided confidence, of which the only acceptable proof is the re moval from the Royal Household of every one who has presumed to abuse the opportunities afforded by irre sponsible offices to tamper with affairs, for which the offi cers of the government are to answer with their reputation, perhaps with their lives and fortunes. The Tory Cabi net,' which shall take office while the present Lord Ste ward, for example, remains in his station, will deserve well to be treated as the last Tory Cabinet was treated. A little time, however—a little further experience of the Whigs, and trucklers, and bargainers,—a few more proofs that a Cabinet, to please the Sovereign at once, and to gain the public confidence, cannot be put together at pleasurel—will mature the occasion when the Tory faction must be called into place, and when the King shall be once again sur rounded by a constitutional council. " When that time alien arrive, we shall see the Duke of Wellington, and Mr. Peel, and their friends, as earnestly seeking office, as now we see them shun it ; because then office can be honourably filled, and usefully for the country ; whereas now office is a disgrace, and the Tory who holds it does but incapacitate himself for the public service. When they caa enjoy office honourably and usefully,—that is, with a Protestant head, and free from closet controul,— we may be sure that it is not the presence of one or two feeble Whigs, like Lord Lansdowne and Mr. Tierney (men who will make very amenable Tory underlings rather than part with their pay), which will deter the 'Tory faction from attending at the summons of their Sovereign." Now, there certainly are in the country many to whom such language and such remarks may be agree able : but that it should come from the Bathursts, the Peels, the Westmorlands,—all this we say from the Westmorlands, the Peels, the Bathursts, the Eldons, the Lowthere, the Beckets,—in one word, from the fag-end of the old Liverpool Administration, and that, at'last, after not a twelvemonth's exclusion from office, does argue a horrible malignity of nature in such persons ! " Why, my Lords and Gentle men," we should say, " our very worthy and approved good masters,"—(our Lords and Mas ters you have been long enough, Heaven knows),— " though, no doubt, all the places and offices in the kingdom are yours by prescription, yet his Majesty has not invaded your rights for a long time ;—pray suffer him for a little longer to indulge in the idea that he is King and not you, without emptying upon him the vessels of your wrath. Allow him to enjoy—what but few Sovereigns can enjoy—the solace of private friendship : or, if you will not bear this, yet, upon a mere principl e o f econom y, husband your malice, that it may last the longer; for, should his Majesty still continue to exclude you, your terms and vocabularies of abuse will be exhausted. We think we see you laugh at the word ' economy;' yes, we know you always despised it; but that was in the national concerns, and the nation is now reaping the blessings of that your con tempt for economy. But the present is a con cern of your own, and that, you know, is a different thing I Be sparing in your provision of slander, for you may have to wander long in the desolation of the wilderness.". -- Times . The organs of the Whig division of the Admi nistration are labouring to attract public attention to the social and domestic habits of the King, iu a manner which too plainly shows that this wretched party is now reduced to a situation so desperate, that it will reject no means, however unworthy, to accomplish its objects, or to gratify its resentments. Under the thin disguise of imputing to the eminent Statesmen who, in obedience to the dictates of ho nour and conscience, retired a few mouths ago from the service of the country, insinuations the most unfounded and the most disrespectful to the Sove reign, the Whig and Radical Press is now busily engaged in disseminating throughout the country the false and calumnious idea that the Ministerial arrangements of Great Britain, under the reign of George and the a Fourth,pers are dependent upon closet oal favouritism. We think we influence are warranted in describing this suggestion as false and calumnious towards the king, the whole tenor of • whose conduct since he assumed the reins of Government has been such as evinces great firmness of mind, great vigour and soli dity of understanding, an intimate knowledge and a deep feeling of his constitutional duties. We know with the utmost certainty that the suggestion did not originate with, and has never received the least sanction from any of the distinguished indivi duals to whom the Whig and Radical Journals affect to ascribe it, or from any portion of the Press at tached to their principles. How the report in ques tion originated we profess not to know. It probably had no higher source than the spirit of restless cu riosity and adventurous speculation ; whichiseeing so many things that were strange, must needs infer the existence of others more strange; which guesses at the hidden causes of political as well as of natural phenomena, for which it cannot otherwise account; and which could not see an Administration, conspi cuous alike for the want of talent and of principle, existing in England, without rushing to the rash and unwarranted conclusion, that the King of Eng land had surrendered his noble nature and his regal functions to the guidance of feelings merely per sonal, and had become accordingly the dupe and victim of intrigue. George the Fourth will, we have no •doubt, ere long, gloriously rectify a con clusion so prejudicial to his fame. But, however the suggestion so injurious to the Majesty of Eng land may have arisen, the feelings which impel the Organ of the Whig and Radical division of the Ca binet to assist its cunning at the present moment cannot be mistaken. They are smarting in the an guish of a recent and severe disappointment, and they have permitted resentment to triumph over prudence. Had the post of pre-eminence, recently abdicated in disgust by Lord Goderich, been offered to the Marquis of Lansdowne, or had even room been found in the Cabinet for their idol, Lord Hot land, the public may be assured that the Whig and Radical Journals would still have maintained a dis creet silence upon all that relates to the High Of ficers of the Royal Household, or to the social en joyment of the King.—Morning Post. The peculiar conduct pursued by the different Members of the British Cabinet can scarcely be said to have any parallel in our annals. No indi vidual amongst them appears to act as though he were the real possessor of his particular office, and when we look for unity of design and firmness of execution in the several high offices of the State, we find nothing but evasion—if not the utter denial of all official responsibility. We are not so unreason able as to expect that even so small a number as a dozen educated individuals must agree to the very shade in all their opinions, upon our foreign and do mestic policy; but we do expect from them, to act upon some general principles, which, though ad mitting of occasional modification when put into operation, will nevertheless be essentially the same. But this is wholly out of the question with the pre sent Administration, who literally seem astounded at the situation into which ill-directed ambition or mistaken views of legislative duty have plunged them. They have not the nerve or the capacity to advance; they have not the greater courage or magnanimity to withdraw from the field, where danger and disgrace alike await them. They dare not face the Nation, as our rul er s are al w ays bound to do ;—in short, hey so well know their utter weakness and incapacity—and the Nation so strongly feels it—that their continuance in office is contrary to the doctrine of all reasonable probability. Were the Members who compose the Cabinet just emerged from boy hood—had they just finished their Collegiate course, and stated to the world that their knowledge was confined to books, and that they had never ven tured upon the study of man, his modes of think ing, or the conflicting motives that direct all hu man actions—then indeed we could at ones ac count for the measures they have adopted. But when, on the other hand, we know their ages; their opportunities for acquiring information ; their voracious appetite for place, and the pertinacity with which they adhere to it—we cannot but la ment the destiny which is likely to await as, if the full grown Whigs and the younger shoots of Whig-lings are to remain at the head of our affairs. But this we cannot bring ourselves to believe; and if we were at all sceptical upon the subject, their leading Journal has in a sensible admonitory article, strongly recommended them to leave a " tumbling earnest attention.tode deliberate, i n which they alone may be endangered. This is timely as well as wholesome advice, and, b W er: e te t , t however unpalateable, it is worthy of their most but atth oeyumeeaymnaohtetuakp their take too long a minds, and leave the " House," before the neces= sity shall arise for using an unceremonious method of inducing them to do so. The Whig leading Journal begs the motley Cabinet to take care of " the swerving column," adding very significantly, that neither cramps nor props can keep them long together. This is a fair and candid acknowledg ment; but it is not more than we have ourselves repeatedly asserted. We now again repeat, neither cramps nor props, nor delusion, nor intrigue, can keep the present Cabinet long together.—lbid. POLICE INTELLIGENCE. WORSHIP-STREET.—An old man, named Sabine, a weaver, was summoned before the Magistrate for impro per conduct to his apprentice. It appeared that the boy had been apprenticed to the defendant between three and four years ; but during that time he had treated him in a very improper manner, and finally turned him out of the house. The old man stated, in answer to an inquiry of the Magistrate, that he had two children of his own, and he brought them np in a respectable, moral manner, and so he endeavoured to do with this boy, his apprentice.— Ile was well taken care of, " beth back and belly." Mr. RaououTox proceeded to question him as to his notions on subjects, and he declared that he had no belief whatever in the Scriptures, as set forth in either the Old or New Testaments; that his belief, in fine, Avas confined to what he could see around him, and knew to be true. Mr. BROUQIITON.—Did you ever attend the Lectures of Mr. Taylor—l mean at the Areopagus, 113 he styled it ? No. Mr. 13nouonToN.—Or the Free Thinking Christians He replied, " No ; he had formerly frequented different places of worship, but he found no Ministers capable of in structing him." Mr. BaouairroN said, it was not fitting that a boy like this should continue with a person who made an open pro fession of infidelity. The boy was, therefore, ordered to be turned over to another master. MARLBOROUGH-STREET.--A Usinvut WATcar- MAN. —Joseph Robinson, a private in the Sd Guards, was brought up from St. Giles's, charged with ling drunk and disorderly the preceding night. The watchman, an infirm old man, stated, that about nine o'clock the preceding night, he saw the prisoner in a most beastly state of intoxication; on his going up he re quested him to be quiet, when the defendant struck him, and he then sprang his rattle, when, on having assistance, they proceeded to take him to the watch-house. Mr. ROE—How was it you did not bring him up with the rest of the charges ?—Watchman--He has been in the workhouse all night ; for, on taking him to the watch house, he was run over by a coach. Mr. ROE—Run over by a coach ! What de you mean ? —Watchman—ln crossing the street with the prisoner, a hackney-soach was coning along at full gallop, when find ing we could not get out of the way, we let go the prisoner and ran ; owing to his being in liquor, he fell, and the coach went over his cheat, when, fearing he was hurt, We took him to the work-house. Mr. Rog—And is ho injured ?—Watchman--No, your worship. Mr. Rox—What is the number of the coach ?—Watch man—We do not know ; we were glad to get out of the way ; besides, the coachman could not help it, as the horses had taken fright, and were near to us when we began to cross. _ _ Mr. Rof —You must have been excessively 'tepid in d o ing so, and had the man been killed you should have been punished severely for your neglect. As the man has met with his accident he will be discharged without the fine, for you will be punis!ied by your officer—will you not ?....Robinson--4 shall, Sir. He Was then dis charged. ABUSES TN TRADE. [THIS ARTICLE CONCLUDES wiz swim.] The attention of the public has been, in the articles under this head, called hither to more particularly to the frauds prac tised in the sale and imitation of manufac tured goods, because our manufactures from the greater part of our exports and home trade, afford the most extensive employment for the population of the country, and are more exposed to the rivalry of foreign nations. The silk, the woollen, the linen, and the cotton trades, engage here and in the sister kingdom not merely thou sands but millions of hands ; and nothing can be of more importance to the interests of this great community than the endeavour to reach the highest pitch of excellence in each of those fertile branches of trade. To expose the base practices which undermine the growth of that de sirable superiority—to hold up to the abhorrence of all honest men the system which inevitably tends to depreciate the quality of the labour of our population, and to deprive the manufacturer and the workman, as well as the fair trader, of an adequate profit upon their industry, therefore became an imperative duty. The object of our communication, it is now evident, is attainable. The market has already sensibly felt the natural effect of the exposure of a stupendous moral and commercial evil ; the- public are aware of the delusion, but still the difficult task remains, of exciting the high aristocracy of the country to the virtuous act of discouraging all attempts upon the life of trade, of quelling the despicable pro pensity amongst those who are rolling in riches to undervalue honest labour, and cry up the spu rious commodities of every fraudulent dealer. The various degrees of quality in the raw ma terial of our manufactures have been already no ticed ; those in wool, for instance, from 10d. to 10s. ; and in silks, from 10s. to 255.; but in many goods there is a mixture of fine and coarse materials, the former of which can be thrown upon the surface with astonishing effect, by the hand of art, which is here unlimited in its ope rations. In silk or linen damask, in wolleen cloths, the better material is protruded with such exquisite skill, that the most accurate judges who have served an apprenticeship to trade have been baffled in their criticism by the deception. It is only necessary to look at the right and the wrong sides of those articles, to be convinced of the facility with which an appearance can be communicated. If this, then, be the case with respect to goods made of the same kind of ma tt j e o r : t a , b l e y i t p h ra h c o t i w s e m d u i h n a r i t n i c o l r e e s e 17 we hicht h ew woollcep en, cotton, silk, and linen are combined. In silk and woollen, for instance, one article can be made in exact resemblance to another, and in the one there shall be one-third less of silk than in the other. It is just the same iu the other mixtures, so that the shopkeeper himself, with all his penetration, is obliged to rely, in a great mea sure, upon the manufacturer, whom he holds re sponsible for the sterling quality of the goods ; and the customer must equally rely upon the shop keeper, or submit to the ahnosi positive certainty of being defrauded. Here is the chain of respon sibility by which excellence is attained and pre served, the bond by which the interests of the great mass of the people are incorporated and protected ; but if every man who invents a new pattern or article of any excellence must be pil fered of his invention ; if base imitations be thrown upon the town, and the public run mad after " bargains," nothing but villainy and fraud cam prosper in the public streets; the fair trades man must either become a convert to the opi nions and habits of the knave, or sink into ob scurity d a i ; l d thi w g a o n o t d ; so the fr high in foreign markets by British goods must drop into insignificante, our own mar k e t s mus t b e livh h ici e l h i a lo ra p et i e ir r e n h i a a s i e n r t s ai w ne il d l appear, and our population must have to en counter still greater excesses of wretchedness than those which have been already visited upon all the ranks of industry. The impudence of the fellows who foist their trash upon the public is beyond all endurance. It is but a few days ago that one of them sent about handbills, stating, that he would peremp torily sell 500 town-prints, at half-a-crown a yard, which could not be purchased at any other shop for less than four shillings. A gentleman connected with the town-print trade, had the cu riosity to look in, and he must have been recog nized by the shopkeeper, if the latter had been at all in the habit of dealing in town prints.— He was however supposed to be a customer, and the cheap articles were exhibited to his view.— Amongst them all there was not a single town print—they were, to a piece, job trash, which might be got at Manchester or anywhere else for 18d. or 20d. a yard. It is rather remark a bl e that he saw the carriage of a bargain-hunting lawyer's wife at the door as he was retiring, and afterwards observed the same carriage at the door of the very fellow in Oxford-street who played the respectable trick with the piece of silk da mask; but whether she hawked any patterns from the one honest concern to the other, or any ingenious and well-merited fraud was played off upon her, lie did not stop to ascertain. It is enough to shock and disgust any man of humanity to see how rapidly many of those ad venturers become opulent by the tricks of trade, while the honest shopkeeper declines in propor tion, and may be obliged to undergo the revolt ing alternative of the Gazette after years of la bour. There are hundreds of instances : we could name hundreds. Take one instance of the success of the former. A shopman to a respect able house (his service' over-valued at 251. a-year), finding that the town presented a rich harvest for empirics of all sorts, contrived to open a house, and advertised great varieties of trash for peremptory sale. He had the ingenuity to address himself to the compassion of the public in well-penned articles, calling upon those who felt for the poor to purchase cheap flannels or blankets for their service, at his house, which was supplied with large quantities, to be disposed of at the lowest possible price, in consideration of the approaching severity of winter. This caught the psalm-singers, who considered the advertiser's heart as " touched with pity," and flew off to the congenial soul with their ready money. With seven shillings' worth of print he contrived to snare hundreds, and there was not a single deception amongst all we have exposed, that was not resorted to in the immense business which his piety and tender-heartedness attracted to his shop. Well, he prospered; in 10 years he retired with a large fortune, and he now drives in the parks in his carriage, or rides a la militaire ; while his old master, after a laborious but honest exertion of more than 30 years, either walks, or jolts on the top of Et stage to town, from Fulham, to pursue the calling which h a s not yet enabled him to appear in a vehicle of his own. And yet the retired gentleman actually did not understand his own cash-book, and was so ignorant of the business in which he professed to embark, as to be most easily imposed upon himself; for it was only necessary to ask hi' three times as much for an article as it was vi o l to obtain his custom at a good profit, it being principle with him to judge of the exorbitant petite of others by his own, and to offer no 0 1 °' than one-third of a demand under any circ uit stances. We are aware that numbers of most respec!, ble and honourable tradesmen, at the same ti that they mos t rea dily b ear tes ti mon y to the t ry , of every syllable that has appeared in this P a r o on this momento us su bj ec t, are apprehensive t. suspicions may be excited by the exposure agl ; the great body of which they are members. . 0 is far from our w i s h t h at men of this deseriptld, should be mix e d u p i n t h e h eavy cens ure t h e w l has been raised in th e pu bli c min d aga inst fraudulent de a l ers , w h o b ranc h out like 91, streams from a few great so urces o f polltio' ar But every good of serious magnitude le l c f r os e panied with som e rea l or apparent ev il, a" ugi who consider that our observations are 11°. S eise ciently discrimin a ti ve , w ill a d m i t t h e cOunte'',oo. which has bee n a ff or d e d i n t h e e ffi cac ious - the ir demnation of a mode of dealing by whic h i ,, e ct own honest eff or t s h ave b een a l mos t pal l 'T an i It has been our desire to rescue them from imputation—to protect them from the fatal Ir e i r ration of this debasi ng s y s t e m; n o t to wound t ,!• c i i feelings by instituti ng a com parison from 10 0 1 they would naturally shrink with disgust, a d e which would indeed be to insult and dOg r Ai c them. In all oth er b ranc h es o f t ra de the Ptlyj s are constantly cheated. In jewellery the practised are innumerable. A s i ng ular fact, se been stated by B us h e ll, a conv i c t, w n° or , life has been spared, although he vil s ' l e ) et haps, the most accomplished thief th ilt h ,i l t , deceived the keen eye of a tr. , -- tv e to maker, and plundered the trade of pr°P e t i c -1 , to the amount of thousands. It was his pt3c visit jewellers' shops, accompanied by a t he man, man, whom he de scr ib e d as a merc hant, i", "r most extensive lin e i n th a t t ra d e and to oc , he appeared to a c t as i n t erpreter . In manY the worthy owner, w hil e t h e F renc h ma n Ives - or gaged in examinin g di amon d s , three sovereigns privately into Bushell'Prevail"3 whispering him at the same time, " ü ble upon him to take something and I'll u° that." " Yes, yes," Bushell would say, i f " t o slipped tw, ° o d, full enjoyment of the joke as well as 0 ' lie douceur, " you may depend upon it he'll Cider something." The Frenchman wo uld then °r for him, and leav e th e s h op , " ta ki ng " certain of these diamonds to be laid sae is propel or his sleeve to th e amoun t, per h a ps, of 2 1) ° it 3001. This was robbery to be sure, but the" ag was " biting the bit e r," and the sympathy W et absorbed in the convi c ti o n th a t if the shopk ee r, had not been robbed, why he would have e°' mitted a robbery himself. The rage for F rew ' trifles which are sold in London and at the Wlv tering places in such abundance, is a mongst t , ile extraordinary absurdities which distingui sh the votaries of fashion. French jewellery, Fr eueu millinery, French rubbish of all sorts, find O r : chasers at once at any price amongst the gr eat, and even amongst the servants of the gre at; while the poor English mechanic is famishing home, while in the various districts in w hich British articles of the kind ought to be many factured, the workmen may be seen in the ge" nuine livery of misf or t un e, an outcast and 3 beggar. POPULATION AND CONSUMPTION. ; sfl d The relative comparison between populat ion 4 Consumption, for the two periods of 1795 and 18" / produces the following singular results : 1795. 1825. Population, 8,300,000. Population, 11,200, 0 ' Consumption. Consumption. 0 , I Wine '7,740,992 Gall. Wine 4,912,7 40 08 , to Brit. Spiritss,lB4,lo2 Ditto Brit. 5pirit51,222,094 Di tto Foreign do. 3,545,920 Ditto Forei gn do. 3,701,969 P l ' ill , N(alt 28,661,374 Bush Malt 25,151,508 "' I Beer 7,110,268 Bar. Beer 7,207 ,58/ I°. i i This decrease may be assigned by some to in 3 Pr e kv ve i moral habits, which in a slight d egree , ma y be true; by it might more rationally be ascribed to the severa l bee - i and increased duties which took place during th e 113°18 spesified thirty years. THE MARKETS. COUNTRY OORN MAR aI" KETS DURING TH.- D a ps. Wheat. Per Quarter. a. to a. 38 55 Grantham 48 50 Grinabby 5O 58 Liorneastle 42 47 Hull 44 54 Lincoln Spilsby _ - _ 42 46 Stamford. 42 55 _ 44 60 Barley. Oats. to g. to s. „,,s• 4$ •.' 17 25 46 go q 8 4 0 4.2 21 23 r a 16 2 2 * A N 44 16 3 3 5$ 21 30 LO 40 18 ,20 70 23 31 80 16 30 44 s. to s. 24 34 2 , ; 33 25 30 24 28 26 33 28 34 24 28 26 37 26 34 COTTON WOOL. LIST OF IMPORTS AND EXPORTS. IMPORTICD. Sante pe- This riod last, year. year. Bags, &c. Bags, &c. Liverpool 745,5172 479,582 London '72,979 63,221 Glasgow 57,207 22,924 Total exported in 1927 ...... giro:JAW ). r---61'reviotte ly 016 yea r. 5V kee. I n 0 1407- 120 77,115. GLASGOW MARKETS, DEC . 22.--The sales of Sugar this woe amounted b" k to 980 hhds. at the de g cline of 6d. t o l a . per cwt ., and c on sisted of 23 lib 64 middling Grocery Demerara, a t "g. * to 645. hhtis. good boiling St. Vincent, at boa.ed 103 andball'!til, Jamaica at 62 5 . 6d. 6 5 lihdP. coloury b u t soft 0.10, ; for th e sca l e , at 635. p e r cwt. The whole stock iu porters' hands is only 1000 !Aids., and of these set 40 not offered at present.—ln 31 ,, ° , 1 , g in0 considerable parcels are no business of any consequence was done, there ,01 been no new arrivals, arid tits previous imports 09 .: v ery in the hands of the refiners.—ln Coffee the sales 31 ' of trifling, and no variation in priers.—Ther e were 5° :10 !,„iteti. Pimento, Dyewoods, or I n di go .—Of R uns som e parcels were sold at 3s. ed. to 3s. 4d. for JarnatCP. 16 0.P., and at 2s. 2d. to 2s. Sd. for good Demerara the latter being in lihds.—There awe.., rather u de mand for C o tt on thi s w eek, yet p r i ces are without altera tion.v Th e sa l es a mount to 1288 bides.—H o ld ers of e e : Ashes dem a nding 31s. to 325. f or P ot, an d 3es. to Sr c for Pearl, the attention of buyer s teat directed to th e oh ee j imports, at 30s. for Pots of Brand 1825 and 1826, 3n SOY. to 31s. for Pearls ; an d at t h ese rates a b out 20 0 br „ ' wero disposed of.—TLe4e is no demand for Tobacco, ti le trade being liberally supp li e d f or the present. —There mrs s i a fair though not extens i ve d eman d f or Tallow, at 41 P. 4'l' for small parcels at 425. per cwt.—There were con siderab fr arrivals of B ar l ey , b u t not muc h of other descript i ons of Grain. There was a fair demand for Wheat and Oats, b e Barley was very depressed, and prices almost nominal. BIRTH. On the 24th inst. the lady of Chas. Calvert, Esq. AL F" for Southwark, of a son. DIED. o , On the 23d inst. at St. G eorge ' s Pl ace, St. Geor_,ger East, aged 30, Eleanor, you ngest d aug h ter of the late Iv' John Cheap. On the 24th inst. at his house in York-place, Porto o° square, Robert Ewing, Esq. at an advanced age. On the 21st inst. at Blockley, Worcestershire, glee: long and severe illness, Mr. John Minchin, of the SO"' Exchange, aged 26. On the nth inst. at Hi g h ga t e , much regretted Irf '- who knew him, Thomas Price, Esq. aged 81. On the 25th inst. at Neasdon, Eliza Lo u i sa , th e fifth daughter of Mr. Hall, of New Boswell -court. Po* map and PaaussilD by M. YOUNO, alm 08111_, 1 / I*. 111, *tad. To sail fro] Fol T ii Pi n _AB E Commander. 1 For Freight a feasts. SmA BU CKLEs lane. ' This Sh•l full „ not, 10)i.W1 PuLbibed b 4.1 gard in; Sut an d Wak„ ", 41 11e Rol: ISTOR cfief•d'• AI.( Th e 'Qb.vr t last fifty This, ut r `' a rr,a,t,r in and cle ar i in a very gazin e . " Thim lar, it tel ir)g 111.1 1 Mi gnet I.l ` is lilt ;IS er es , bein g "11 va,N, I A 2 VOL. 1! T he p „ Ttuy full of d r : , st!.uetive t(- Of .k cattipai,, Post ti v PRIV 4 -VI -rAb l' , °T ' ll )%dour . 4 i; burgh t e of .Lotti4l4 natvi.Dtt youred i n t Lyttergirot " This v very aniusi exposes all this expose, r r I _J