The Sun. — London, England, 1830-05-10 00:00:00

r‘: PII": IT OF TILE PUBLIC JOURNALS, •e' s • The .Iliehop of London has addressed a letter t To the Inhabitants If London and • Westminster, the present Neglect of the Lord's-day. This indi cetele, it should appear, on the part of his Lordship, a commendable ;eel for the morals and happiness of the more popular parts of his diocess ; for we are sore, that-on the due observation of the Lord's-do mainly depends the virtue and goodness of society, m.'nsiaered in its aggregate capacity ; and it is only • in propOrtion to their virtue and goodness, that then cell be any internal peace of mind or domestic corn fort, or, in truth, any assured foundation for put - lie tranquillity. Whoever, therefore, undertakes such a task as his Lordship, whether it be one in his now more elevated station, or those in the hum . bier offices of churchwardens and overseers, or ever: strenuous and conscientious individuals in private life, s=had] have our cordial support. The Bishop i!oes not represent that the evil is new which he at tai ks (weal(' it were, there would be more hope et its speedy suppression !), nor does he seem to think that there is Mee accession to it. Our own opinion, and we have some knowledge of London and its en virons, would ]ern the contrary way ; but the casual sight of some of the ordinary profanations, a sudden inter: al movement of zeal, or various other acci dental causes, may have very probably stirred his Lordship thus to interfere with.the even current of vicious practice. Among the remedies not pro posed by his Lordship, but already adopted by seve ral coesc'entious persons in business, for protecting the Sabbath from the gross profanation of marketing on that day, is, paying their workmen and la bourers on the 'Friday,—(we speak now of the offerces of the humbler orders, we shall soon advert to the manner in which his Lordship treats the grosser—the more inexcusable criminality of the rich). By the custom just mentioned, the wife may make her little purchases during the Saturday, .while the husband finishes his week's labour. Those master tradesmen Ivho cannot provide the money necessary by the Friday, might pay them on Satur day•noon or early on the Saturday evening. But the B;shop of London, and others of his ardent temperament, would do well to observe, that in Cmse districts of London and the suburbs which latve been chiefly alluded to, the poor in a great measure work for the poor, and the employer will often have- to run about and find money to pay for his job when his workmen brings it home late on the Saturday night. Such people require our corn passion,—our aid,—our advice,—our remonstrance; correction should be administered, and obstruc tiens thrown in the way of procuring a little food when they had a little money, .with a very cautious band indeed. Of gin-shops and their frequenters, and the pollee to which they should be -subjected, notLiog can be said too severe,—no rule too rigid prescribed for their regulation. But now we come tea much more important part of the subject, in fact, to the source and origin of the misehief,— munch - , the irregularities of the great, in the viola tion of the Lord's-day, and this Bishop's manner of nettint: them, and his own personal conduct under the avowed knowledge of those grievous irregulari ties ; and we solicit the attention of that church of which we are members, to what we are .going to say. In pege 29 of his letter or book, he thus w e tto --" The Athenian curiosity of the present a u e, to which the public press is the pander, renders it almost impossible that any transactions of those who occupy the vantage-ground of life, should be concealed from those beneath them. Their habits of living, their domestic arrangements, t!Tir conversation, the petty details of their private life, find their way, generally, indeed, distorted and misrepresented, into the newspapers: and while many of their pious and charitable deeds pass unnoticed, DO violation of decency or propriety can escape publicity. Every Sunday dinner-party, or concert, is made known, on the Plowing day, to every corner of the metropolis - , and scandalizes, or encoura g es thousands." How needless ! how nu provoked ! how uneondueive to the success of his argument, and at the same time how acrimonious and ma lignant in a Christian Clergyman, thus to seep out of his way in order to vilify the press ! and art he: same time how easy for any one thus to throw elersive: terms. about him ! But first let us make the Bishop acquainted with the meaning of the word ;;antler; for though theie is much puff about his learning, we doubt, and always have doubted, any any greet . quantity in him. Let him learn, ther, frem Johnson, that a pander is " a pimp, a male bawd, a proettrerean egent for the lust and ill-dc sieree of another,". and that to pander is ". to pimp, to be subservient to lust and passion." This matter being cleated, and it being acknowledged that gross eieeetions of the Sabbath, by sumptuous banquet card partie; and conversazioni, cannot takt• place without scandal and shame, and also without tee c orrective restraint on their increase, imposed 3-y the disapprobation of men of intelligence, virtue, and piety, we esk any Lonourable-minded man whet her it would not be much more pandering to the great to conceal their criminal excesses in this respect, as the Bishop would - have tie do, than to let the offenders .know that they cannot practice them iii obscurity ? Nor have we been content with mere exposure; we have never ceased from defend ing the honour of the Lord's-day, and that against the desecrating practices of tie first men in the reolin, though we are supposed to have some con i.exuao with the present i‘linistry. It was but lately that we attacked, -aid pointed out in the strongest manlier possible, the injurious effect el their Sunday Cabinet dinners upon public morals. We conjuied them, respectfully but firmly, to desist frOm such festivities : we pointed out that they had Vs'ednesday as an unoccupied day, and that if they had not, they had no right to lob Christianity of the day, consecrated to 'it by God himself upon se cular motives. These, in spite of all we can say,— we avow the charge boldly,—are the great Sabbath breakers; and to these Sabbath-breakers it ie, that the Bishop - has crouched for preferment ! Prone these Sabbath-breakers it that he has accepted cad hods his present Bishopric, the revenues of which he so stupidly and clumsily endeavoured to ter stile the other day ! Arid now let us, in con eraat wilt his conduct, set before him that of the inspired and good remit of old. We would advise him to read carefully through the fifth chapter of the Second. Book of Kings.: he will there find that there was a mighty man of valorise in that as in thepresenfinstanee the captain of a King's host,who had wealth and power at his disposal ; but of none of these would a real and true man of God accep', even in return fur a miraculous cure which he hau performed itwon him. This great Captain, too, eviehed to take a slight liberty in a matter of reli <viol). and on a day of worship, too. He desieed to . be allowed to bow dower the head to Itimnion, in compliance with a profane custom ! Another person in the l'amsehold was less ;scrupulous.; he followed, lie solieited the unconverted warrior,— " Give roe, I pray thee," is his cry. And now we would ask the great body of our countrymen, before whom we stand with this abusive Bishop, to decide whether a churchman who writes ag s einst Sabbath breaking, and yet accepts of vast preferreeat at the impure hands of notorious Sabbath-breakers, more resembles the servant of Gad, or the slave of mam swon,whether, in fact, he je en •Elisha, or a Gehazi ? Another charge contained in the passage of the Bishop's letter above cited is, " ,that many of the. pious and charitable deeds of the geeet pa ys unnoticed by the papers which pia, lish their offences." We must say that what ever benevolent actions the great conceal from the eog,nizance of man, the public papers cannot reveal. " Their Father which seeth in secret Find' reward them openly." But with respect to those acts of piety or charity which must from their nature become known, we 'confidently appeal to the great themselves—we appeal to all mankind—whether ever charge were more basely . opposed to truth ? Do not the papere.teem with eulogies (perhaps some of them even extravagant) upon such acts ? How many columns have we and all the other journalists eretuitously dedicated to the mention end praise of ' hose noblemen, gentry, and clergy, who, during► the I 'ate agricultural pressure, have remitted any port;on rf their rent and tithes % A word more upon the •object of gaming and of gaming -houses, one of which has been lately opened within a few doors of my own residence !" as the swelling man says. We must beg leave to inform his Lordship, that the public press is the very scourge and terror of gam blers,--that some of the scoundrels themselves have icknowledged in this office, that they dread nothing else, or nothing so much. The public press of this country does more towards keeping the character and profession of a gambler in its due state of infamy, — more towards the suppression and concealment (and concealment is a species of suppression) of gam bling-houses, than al) the efforts of all the Bishops of the realm : we have also been assured that Mat broad and towering structure, which still seems to affront Heaven by its magnificence, has failed as a gamlAng speculation, and thus the ruin of thousands of families have been prevented, through the notice only which has been taken of it and its detestable projector, by the British press—by those papers which a Christian Bishop has described as panders. However, upon this word, anti the application which his Lordship has been pleased to make of it, 'we shall consider with some of our brethren, whether it may not be thought advisable to adopt some other mode of repelling the odious charge, and setting our selves right with the public.—Times. It was a judicious policy which placed in the great dignities of the Church men of gentle manners and quiet character. The elevation of Dr. Blomfield to the See of London proceeded on a different prin ciple, and has been attended with consequences which may teach Ministers how much more prudent was the practice of their predecessors. His is one of those spirits which no accumulation of riches and dignities can (to use Hume's striking phrase) " bribe into indolence." He is in a perpetual fer ment; one while haranguing upon ali manner of topics in the House of Lords, at another moment drilling his Clergy with a rigour which almost drives into rebellion and contumacy the most submissive of men; then attempting to enforce the constant use of an ecclesiastical habit ; again proceeding on his visitation throughout the country, so escorted, and accoutred as no Prelate ever was seen since the days of Wolsey ; and now descending from his Cathedral to lecture the inhabitants of. the metropo lis, in a pamphlet, on their neglect of the Lord's Day. Not that we should object to the zealous Bishop chiding, in proper temper, time, and place, the inattention of his flock to the religious duties of the Sabbath. Had he kept to his function, and sermonised till doomsday, his homilies should have passed us unnoticed ; but this pamphlet is a produc thin of such a character as challenges animadver sion. In style, to . be sure, it is a very pitiful per formance, showing that, with all his Greek ei udi tion and Parliamentary eloquence, the Bishop would be much the better for a little of that instruction in the, properties of language and grammar, which his neighbour, Mr. Cobbett, affords with so much good will to Lords lay and prelatic ; and for a first lesson, we would suggest to our friend of the Register the second page of thepamphlet, where one pronoun may be found referring to three different antecedents in the space of as many lines. But these things are not very important ; and, upon the whole, the Bishop is sufficiently intelligible, although not very consis tent or rational. The great evil of which he com plains is the present employment •f the Sunday, which he would have set apart for " religious wor ship and rest ;" and the strict observance of which, in such manner, he insists upon as absolutely " es sential to keep alive the sense of religion in any people" (p. 5), and as " the grand bulwark of Christianity" (p. What then is to be Said of Christianity in every other part of civilized Europe (Scotland excepted), where, in Lutheran and Cal vinistic, as well as • Catholic States, Sunday is uni versally celebrated as a festival, and where leisure and innocent grafficatiens arc not so strangely and unnaturally separated as in Great Britain ? Can it be gravely asserted that there is no religion at Frankfort, Berne, and Geneva, because the Sunday evenings are not observed in these places in the same way as here ? The Bishop is, however, no advocate for a " Pharisaical observance of the Chris- tian Sabbath ; nor would . he interfere with those quiet recreations which individuals may think fit to alloW themselves." Now the question is, what he really means ? Would he prevent Sunday dinners —the Speaker's for example; or to what extent would he permit them ? Is it reasonable or pos sible to define the limits ; and if not, is it not mere cant to declaim against them ? We observe that there is a special saving for the Squire's „inner to the parson, or, as it is quaintly ex pressed, " the ancient and accustomed hospita lity of entertaining those who attend Divine Service in their official capacity!" (page 25.) But the most objectionable part of the pamphlet is its spirit of hostility to the enjoyments of the lower orders ; the short stages, the steam vessele, anti barges, which enable the citizen" to gulp his weekly air," give Dr. Blomfield infinite scandal. And this Christian Bishop, writing from his pleasant villa at Fulham, surrounded by all the means and appliances to health and comfort, is grieved to relate " that the steam-packets up the Thames to Richmond, and downwards to Margate and the Nore, are crowded with gaily-dressed Sabbath-breakers, and that in the month of August last, 6,000 persons availed them selves of this convenience, and that more than five hundred boats have been known to pass under Put trey Bridge on a fine Sunday (p. 15)." What enormities ! For our poor part, but with all defe rence to the Bishop's superior discernment in these matters, we much doubt whether a Sabbath passed in that " melancholy indolence" which he recom mends, and relieved only by a homily from his Lord ship, though the best he ever conned, is likely to leave the mind of a hard-working tradesman in a better state, or to inspire more lively sentiments of piety and thankfulness to the great and bountiful Giver of all things, than the inward satisfaction which such a man may be supposed to experience ie seeing hiz wife and children go forth gaily and trimly dressed in their Sunday clothes, to inhale the pure, sweet air of the country, and to taste the little feast with which he may be able to regale them. It is all very well for the Bishop to desire people to take 'their pleasure on some other day, but what answer has he for those whose condition condemns them to unremitting toil throughout the week ? En the same way may be met all he urges against the shops open on Sundays for the poor to pia— chase their Sunday provisions. They must buy, when and es they can, after receiving their wages on the Saturday everting. '1 he exigencies of our social state will not allow of that strict and inflexible rule which Dr. Blomfield insists upon ; and the ab surdity to which such notiens tend, might surely have eteiech a less intelligent mind, when the diffi culty presented itself with which he is so sorely gravelled in respect of the Sunday newspapers, they being printed on the Saturday,'bue sold on the Sun day, while the Monday papers are necessarily got up on the Sunday, to be ready for sale on the Mon, day. So muc't for the doctrine of the pamphlet. — In page 17, however, we fine! a passage, which, if doubtful in its import, may be abundantly illustrated by reference to others of a kindred spirit. Or. Blomfeeld says —" It is surely an vet of kindness to the ungodiy, es undoubtedly it is to those who might be perverted by their example, to restrain them, if possible, by advice and exhortation; but, if rtee4s be, by authority, from inflicting e public injury upon. the cause of piety and virtue." In at least twentyothee places the same ominous word " Authority " recur:;. lit is needless to observe that the principle stated in this quotation is precisely the same on which the Church of Rome establiehetl the itcpit;ition, and other similar irhtitutions. The &Shop everil!l not leave it to a man to determine for himself whetleer to take the air upon a Sun day. Ile would restraie men to their dwellings after the hours of service, and whip them into Church at the tolling of the bell. Here is a precious proposal for the nineteenth century ! But it. will not do. Bishop Blomfield has fallen upon evil days. He is a Priest worthy of the palmy times of Popery; but, alas! the Reforma tion has established the great right of men to look after the salvation of their own souls, restrict ing the members of Dr. Biomfield's order to the simple supply of the requisite facilities for private and public devotion, but not leaving them one atom of authority to coerce us into beatitude, whether we will or no, nor to pursue us into our dwellings, and accompany us in our outgoings, prescribing, accord ing to their narrow conceptions, limits to our recrea tions, and measures to our festivities.—The glaring partiality of the laws on the subject of the ob. servance of the Sunday, has rendered them nearly a dead letter. A little while ago, an attempt was made to interfere with the Greenwich coaches that enter the City on a Sunday : but the good sense of the Lord Mayor led him to discourage it.— This pragmatical Prelate is not perhaps aware, that five hundred human beings, young and old, de pend on one single coach-owner in Greenwich, and that without the fares of Sunday, which enable a coach-owner to make up for the deficiencies of the week, the most of the individiduals dependent on coaches would be thrown on the parish. A law, to be just, ought to prevent all travelling in coaches on Sunday, except in cases of " necessity and mercy." But with a proud Prelate, Cabinet dinners are no sin : it it is only sin when the pale-faced mechanic escapes on a Sunday from the polluted .atmosphere of the manufactory to breath the balmy air of the fields, and exchange the din of the anvil for the carol of birds.—We have been told again and again, that the Church of England never appeared to so much advantage as in the days of Queen Elizabeth. The Bishops of the present day are said to be pig mies, compared with the Prelates of the age when the Thirty-nine Articles were framed. Now the predecessor of the Bishop of London in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Bishop Aylmer, one of the Fathe s of the Reformation, used, according to Strype, to play at bowls on Sunday. When the Puritans ob jected to this, he said, " That he never withdrew himself from service or sermon on the Lord's days ; that Christ, the best expositor of the SAbath, said, that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man far the Sabbath ; that man might have his meat dressed for his health upon the Sabbath ; and why might he not have some convenient exercise• of his body for the health thereof on that day?" Could is Protestant Bishop of any age possibly be in the wrong ?—Morning Chronicle. The following communication appeared in the Scotsman of Wednesday last : " MANCHESTER, MAY 3.—The precarious state of his Majesty!s health has put an end to our home spring trade, and preparations for summer are also suspended. This is a eery serious matter for mercantile men, and the con sequences must be severely felt. There is not less than from one and a half to two millions of money in goods calculated for the spring and summer markets, the greater part of which cannot, and will not find a purchaser, and bankruptcies will and must follow, unless an end be put to the old and mischievous practice (to a mercantile coun try) of national mourning. For the foreign market a great deal of goods is shipping, and the demand for cot ton twist of low numbers is increasing weekly. We have had within these ten days an inundation of the most wretched looking Irish weavers I ever saw, in search of work, and as our overseers of the poor will not assist people who come here in search of employment, the poor creatures are in great distress-" There are calamities which foresight cannot guard against, such as unfavourable seasons, leading to failure in crops, epidemics, &c., and men resign themselves to them without murmuring. It is other wise with calamities which orginate in human cru elty, human indifference, or human caprice. The most patient are unable to subdue their indignant feelings when they think of the heartless indiffer ence with which the sufferings of a large portion of the people, in consequence of the absurd custom of national or Court mountings, are viewed by the higher classes : Can it possibly gratify a Monarch to know that his death will be attended with ruin to numbers; that hundreds of thousands, unable to earn by their daily toil their daily bread, will never hear the word King pronounced without.associating 'with it the' cries •of famished children; and that while he is suffering under any of the,diseases to which flesh is heir, the sympathy of his subjects is disturbed by speculations on the probability of life or death, and anxious calculations whether mournings or fancy goods would be the most advisable purchase under existing circumstances ? Of the present King we may, without flattery, say, that he is by much the best we have had of the Bruns wick family; •and were it only through grad tilde for the benefits we have enjoyed under his mild reign, the distress under which he now labours would call for the warm sympathy of the people. But how much more gratifying would it be to know that the anxiety manifested respect ing the condition of his Majesty was the spontaneous effusion of real sympathy, and not the effect of a keen solicitude for self—of a wish to gain as much, or to suffer as little, from the death of the Monarch as possible ? We cannot for a moment conceive that any Monarch, or the family of any Monarch, can receive gratification from the inhuman considera tion, that the departure of Royalty is felt through the laud like the pestilence. To the Members of a Royal Family it must be above all things desirable, that the joy on the recovery of a Sovereign, and the grief on his demise, should be unmixed by other considerations. Those who have the best oppor tunities of knowing the real condition of the King, now express a more sanguine hope than ever of his recovery. If it should please Providence to spare his Majesty to us for some tune, we are almost cer tain that he will express a wish to put an end to a system which is so much felt by his industrious people; but if it should be otherwise decreed, it ought to be the endeavour of those in power to adopt such measures as would be gratifying to him were he conscious of them. Complaints on this subject are unfortunately not new, but of ancient date. The race of Courtiers and Ministers is, we fear, far above sympathy with the sufferings of the people. These sufferings have occasionally been described in language which one sho►ld think would have moved all but breasts callous to every kind feeling. On looking over the Newspaper published by Daniel Defoe, 1706, vol. 3. p. 43, we find an article on the subject of public mournings, written with his usual good sense, which, after the lap‘se of a century and a quarter, is as applicable as ever. - -,_ " The excess of that unhappy hunsour, for I can call it by no other (he says), was grown up to such a degree, that it was in a fair way to blow us all up in trade, and for some years together we had such frequent and long continued public mournings, that black seemed the uni versal mode, and all the trades which depended upon fancy, fashion, and gaiety of habit, beg- n to be threatened with a kind of banishment, as being voted useless in the nation. I cannot but therefore acquiesce with the ease of the tradesmen, and own the grievance to trade is intok.rab!e, and merits the consideration of the Govern ment; and though some of the following nasons are included in the Petitioners' ease delivered to the House of Common., yet I cannot think it improper to repeat them, to preserve the real heads of the grievance, as the true grounds of its being redressed. • • • • • " 1. These mournings have of late been more frequent and of longer continuance than ever was known or prac tised ; and the humou r daily increasing, and the prospect of its continuance too great, the grievance, wli;ch when seldom happening was but small, is become disastrous to families, destructive to trade, ruinous and intolerable to the poor. " 2. These mournings are particularly destructive to some trades more than others, and no equivalent ad vantage to any ; whereby they become the more a griev ance. A general blow to trade is felt by all the parts, ;..nd every one hears their share with the more ease; but fristre,T;es some parti cu l ar manu f actures , an d is this not the same time advantageous to others, being ts entirety ti a r t ely in itself a lessening of the general expence, which is the life pf trade. ca 3. The woollen manufactures worn in these mourn, i ngs are so „ n . , ; 11, rompared to the detriment it is to other branches of trade, that it is not worth naming ; on the other hand, the lessening the consumption of silk, silver, thread, hair, and other foreign goods for which our woollen manufactures are exported, makes it plain that these mournings are in their consequences fatal to the woollen inarn;factures in g eneral. " t. The respective trades depending upon the coma= customs of dressing and fashions in arparel are exceedingly distressed, and, in part, ruined ; multitudes of flourishing families reduced, and a general obstruction or etnbarge laid upon their employments. " 5. 'Tis a most irreparable damage to the tradesmen and shopkeepers, on whose stocks the poorer sort of peopl? are employed ; who, being obliged to provide large quan tities of goods against the usual season of trade, by these unforeseen accidents of mourning have all these goods left on their hands ; the channel of trade turned from them, and the demand being quite of another nature,. their sticks he dead till their goods become unfashionable, by which they are unavoidably ruined ; the trade itself rendered ha zardous and precarious, and men of stocks discouraged from adventuring to employ the poor. " 6. The condition of the poor, who had their em ployments and subsistences under these trades, is most sad and deplorable, and particularly deserves the compassion of the nation, their trade being lost, to which thousands of them having been bred up, know not what die to turn their hands to ; the particular advantage to the nation by some of those employments, in setting to work children very young, women, and impotent persons, which cannot be done in other works, exposes them to terrible distresses and inevitable poverty. " 7. The variety of these trades, and the vast and in credible number of poor who feel the miserable effects of the distress, are very considerable ; such as all sorts of silk-weavers, ribbon-weavers, silk-throwers, dyers, and spinners of silk and silver ; together with the merchants trading to Italy and Turkey, and the woollen manufactu re's under them ; the fringe and lace-makers, mercers, lumen, milliners, hosiers, &c., and by modest computa tion above an hundred thousand families of poor employed by them, are the miserable objects to move against this unhappy increasing custom, and the starving objects of charity waiting for redress of so ruinous a disast:•r in trade." If such was the extent of calamity caused by a general mourning in the days of Queen Anne, how much more extensive must the calamity be now, when so much greater a proportion of our people aspire to the distinction► of being fashionable.— Morning Chronicle. The Hampstead Heath question, it is to be hoped, I is now at rest. Next to the inherent justice of throwing out the Bill, this result, we suspect, may be attributed to the warm, the powerful, and inde pendent support which the matter has met with from the Press, by which the attention of the Le gislature was awakened to the mischievous tend ency of the measure. The victory is one of great moment, not only to the inhabitants of a large vicinage, who have become purchasers or tenants of their houses upon the faith of fields and com mons not being converted into masses of brick and mortar; but to those of the whole north and west parts of the metropolis, to whom the " evadere ad auras" in the regions of Hampstead and Highgate has been at all times desirable us a means both of health and recreation. But, while Hampstead Heath has thus been rescued from the Gothic hands of the spoiler, why has not the Legislature, we may ask, shown as much zeal in protecting the Parks (those still more vital lungs of the town) from similar invasion ? Must we say, because they have been in most cases Members of Pailiament, their connec tions, or patrons, who were to be benefirted by the nibblings and the slices which have bees al lowed in all those spots to be purloined from the nation ? and, in this respect, the curtailing of these open spaces is as impolitic as it is unjust. As the population of this immense metropolis increases, of course more space, instead of less, is wanted for air and exercise. In St. Jaines's Park this ill-timed curtailment of a place of public promenade is doubly striking; for there, while the stew Palace necessarily renders the Park a greater object of attraction both to royalty and the people, and its undiminished space more than ever a matter of public concern, the first thing done was to take away one of the malls, and cover with huge edifices, equal in height to Liverpool. warehouses, the only open ornamental space adjoining the Park which the former enclosers of it had left untouched ; yet not a word is said of this, lest Honourables and Right Honourables should take umbrage at being even questioned in the enjoyment of spaces belonging to the public, which were necessary to the health and iimocent recreation of the people.—Morning Herald. An Evening Paper, The Sun, has some very sen sible remarks upon the prosecution of a surgeon and . apothecary, foi• staving signed a certificate of insanity without having visited and personally examined the patient. Our contemporary observes that " a man once immured in a mad-house, probably remains there for the residue of his existence, without the means (unless front accident) of bringing his case before any public tribunal ; it is only when, from the nature of his property, the friends of a party cannot possess themselves of it without applying to the Court of Chancery, that a Commission issues, and, where it does, it is mostly held in some obscure pot house, and seldom affords the unhappy object any sufficient opportunity to dispute the allegation against him, or rebut the evidence got up by parties whose interest it is he should remain incarcerated, sup ported by the doctors they have feed, most likely with the money of their victim." The fact is that, so long as medical practitioners possess the power of sending a man to a mad-house upon their certificates alone, the personal liberty of every individual in the kingdom is at their mercy, or at the mercy of those who may choose to employ them. It is nonsense to say that the public have a sufficient security against any abuse of such power in the high character of the profession. However honourable the profession may be generally, recent cases have suiliciently proved that medical men in abundance are to be found capable of lending their names to the most nefarious practices ; sad, indeed, we have no hesitation in saying, that there are at this moment in London many practitioners, who would, for a sovereign each, give as many certificates of insanity as might be re quired, whether the persons certified were mad or not. We say this without intending to cast any reflection upon the profession as a body; but when we know that almost every street has its quack, and that that quack is in possession of a diploma from the College of Surgeons, we cannot doubt that the fact is as we have represented it. In short, the law, as it now stands, with regard to insane persons, or persons alleged to be insane, is a disgrace to the Statute-book, and we do hope and trust that Par liament will not separate without reforming it. A remedy for the existing evil may be very easily pro vided. Instead of consigning a person to prison on the certificate of a medical man, the law should re quire the certificate of at least two practitioners be fore-the patient could be legally put under restraint, and, before he could be finally sent to a mad-house, the certifiers should be examined on oath, in the presence of the patient, before two or more Magi strates.—Morning Herald. Among the Parliamentary documents which have just reached us, there are two from which very im portant inferences, respecting the policy of impri sonment for debt, may he drawn. They are returns by the Marshal of the King's Bench prison, to an order of the House of Common, stating the number of persons to whom the privilege of the rules has been granted—the sums in which they were in debted—the amount paid by them for receiving the privilege of the rules—the manner in which these sums have been applied—and, finally, the number of prisoners for debt in the custody of the Marshal and Warden on the Ist of January last; and, also, the number of years during which they have been con fined. With regard to the sums received for grant ing the privilege of the rules, the Marshal states : .4 That there is no other authority for taking fees for the rules, than custom from tints immemorial ; and the Commissioners for inquiring into the duties, salaries, and e moluments in Courts of Justice, did not recommend any alteration to be made therein. The Marshal begs to men tion that when lie came into office, he found the fees, re ceived for prisoners, going into the rules, by his prede cessor, to be ten guineas for the filet hundred pounds; this, he himself, of his own accord, soon after reduced to eight guineas for the first hundred pounds ; and four guineas for every subsequent hundred pounds, with which a prisoner may be chased, ,‘ The Marshal begs further to be permitted to observe, that there are very few cases in which he receives the whole of his fees ; and that in the above-mentioned five years, fifty-seven persons have been allowed the privilege of the rules, upon having paid 11. ls. only, and fifty-five others to whom the rules were given, without the pay- ment of one shilling for fees; and the latter number are, consequently, not included in the above list. " The Marshal begs to inform your Honourable House that the fees are received by himself, and applied solely to his own use, out of which he has to pay very heavy law expenses, and frequently through escapes, the whole of the debts with which a prisoner stands charged, without ever being repaid." The Warden of the Fleet Prison gives a similar, but somewhat different, answer 1— " The Warden," says he, " who is appointed by letteis patent under the Great Seal, receives no salary whatever, hut is wholly remunerated by fees, settled and established by his Majesty's Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, under the authority of the statutes of the 2d and 32d George the Second ; and the liberty of permitting pri soners to reside within the rules, upon giving an indem nity against an escape, has been granted by the Warden for the time being from very ancient times, and the prac tice is expressly recognised by the statute of the Bth and 9th William the Third, c. 27. The fees taken by the Warden from persons having the privilege, form a part of his resources, to compensate him for his labour and ser vices, responsibility and risk, and to enable him to defray the necessary expence attendant upon, and keeping up the establishment of the said prison, for salaries to officers, wages to servants, payment of the Parliamentary and pa rochial taxes, contingent law charges, loves by escapes, and all other expenses appertaining thereto." Now, it is quite evident from the statements of these gentlemen, that there is rib blame attachable to them for any evil resultiug from the practice of taking fees for granting the privilege of the rules; but, on the other hand, nothing can be more clear than that the species of sanctuary which is thus ob tained is both a gross violation of the original end and object of the law which authorises the imprison ment of a debtor, and a direct encouragement to fraudulent debtors to swindle every one from whom they can obtain either money or goods. The ob ject of incarceration is twofold—punishment and compulsion to pay ; but that object is completely defeated by the practice in question, which enables the debtor to set his creditors ut defiance, and to expend those funds in procuring the very privilege of which it was intended to deprive him, which ought to have gone in liquidation of his debts. Again, if we look at the number of years during which debtors are stated to have been in confine• inept, it will be equally evident that imprisonment ought in no case to be resorted to except as a means of punishing a fraudulent debtor. By the Warden of the Fleet Prison, it is stated that " The number of prisoners for debt, who have been confined above one year, 23; two years, eight; three years, 10; four years, three; five years, four ; sever, years,• one ; ten years, five :—Total, 54, whose debts amount in the aggregate to 138,9081." By the Marshal of the King's Bench it is vouched that " The number of prisoners for debt in his custody on the Ist of January, 1830, who have been confined above one year, 52 ; above two years, 28 ; • above three years, 18; above four years, 13 ; above five years, 12 ; above six years, six ; above seven years, six ; above eight years, six; above nine years, four; above ten years, 14." Now we think it must be plain to every one, first, that no money can come into the pockets of the creditor by the imprisonment of the debtor, unless he happen to have effects, which the law, without his imprisonment, ought to put into the possession of the creditor; and, secondly, that those who have been so long as five or ten years inured to the de lights of a prison, are by no means likely to come out on any other terms than those of defrauding the creditor. Persons who have been so long impri soned, may be almost said to have quitted the world, and made a world of the prison, and the persons with whom they are confined—nay, to take a liking to that which was at first a punishment, and to refuse to leave a place into which few are inclined to enter. Yet the law gives the power of imprisonment to the very end of life, and many are foolish enough to imagine that, by continuing to confine the debtor, they will succeed, if not , in recovering payment, at least in punishing him ! Nothing can be more cer tain than that the power of punishing fraudulent and spendthrift debtors ought to exist somewhere; but assuredly it ought not to be placed in the hands of the creditor, nor the putnshment to be inflicted in any case without the judgment of a Court. Such is . partly the law of Scotland,. and we trust, ere long, that it will also be the law in this country.- - Morning Advertiser. ARTISTS' BENEVOLENT FUND SOCIETY. The annual dinner of this Society _was held at the PreemasOns"Tavern, on Saturday, when Lord Ross- LYN, in the absence of the Duke of Wellington, presided. After the cloth was removed, The Noble CHAIRMAN proposed the " Health of the King," which he said he felt the greater hap piness in doing, as the bulletins for the last two days had announced his Majesty's health to•be' im proved. The toast was drunk with three times three, and with every demonstration of enthusiasm. " The Duke of Clarence and the rest of the Royal Family" were then successively drunk, with three times three. Mr. SHE then rose to propose the " health of their Noble Chairman, the Earl of Rosslyn."— (Applause.)—The toast was drank with three times three. The Earl of ROSSLYN returned thanks, and begged to take this opportunity of announcing to them, in his Majesty's name, the donation of 100 guineas, and in that of the Duke of Wellington, a donation of 501.; and to add, that his Grace would be happy to preside at their festival whenever he should be invited so to do.--(Applause.) The Earl of RossLYN proposed, with an appro priate encomium, " The health of M.A. Shee, Esq., the President of the Royal Academy, and the rest of the Academicians." Mr. SIIEE, in returning thanks, confessed the diffi cult situation in which he felt himself placed, as the successor of the late highly-gifted President. He feared they would have but too much reason to re mark the difference; but he assured them that an earnest desire to forward the interest of the Aca demy, and to offer his best support to that institu tion, should never be wanting on his part. " The Artists' Benevolent Fund," and " The Artists' General Fund Society," were respectively drunk with loud applause. A long list of subscribers was read. LAW INTELLIGENCE. SECONDARIES' OFFICE, MAY 8. LIBEL-CLEMENTS V. FLANAGAN, ESQ. This was a writ of inquiry to assess damages in a case of libel, the defendant having allowed judgment to go by default. The damages were laid at 5001. Mr. BROUGHAM (with whom was Mr. EARL) for the plaintiff, stated that his client was the keeper of a respectable academy at Stoke Newington. The defendant was a gentleman of eminence et the bar, against whom these proceedings had been adopted by the plaintiff, in order to save himself from utter ruin. The latter had under his care the two sons of a Mr. Homan, and a dispute having arisen be tween him and that gentleman, the lads were taken away from the school, Mr. Homan not thinking proper to give the usual notice. The plaintiff then brought his action in the Palace Court, and received damages to the amount of his demand ; and on the part of Mr. Homan an attempt was made to show matter to get rid of the demand. This matter was the alleged cruel treatment of the boys, which was represented as justifying the withdrawal of them from the care of the plaintiff without the usual no tice. The defendant was employed for the defence, and a few days after the trial a report appeared in the Times journal, from which it appeared that he had made a speech deeply affecting the character of the plaintiff, ascribing to him inhumanity and cruelty, and, in fact, representing him in such a light as was calculated to destroy all his prospects in his profes siou. Tne Learned Counsel commented upon the speech, after having described the extent to which a Counsel might go in rendering professional assist ance. In this case the defendant had supplied the report in question to the Times newspaper, from which it was copied into all the other papers, and PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY MURDO YOUNG, AT THE Stni OFFIVIir 12 - 1 ST Avv, LONDON, obtained a boundless en aation. If he had pound° for defence he would surely have justified, blit: he admitted the feeble foundation on which his mode' pended by allowing judgment to go by default. Brougham then stated th3t the libel had been *Ow vated by another, which the defendant wrote to the attorneys of the plaintiff, when they sent to the de fendant requesting a written contradiction to the re port. In this letter the defendant spoke of th° plaintiff as a " lying ruffian," and threw all manner of contempt upon him. The COMMON SERJEANT addressed the Jury M the defendant, After which, the Jury returned a verdict f or the plaintiff—Damages, 501. COUNTRY CORN MARKETS. DURING LAST WELK. Wheat. Barley. I Oats. Beans. Per Quarter. a. to a. s. to s. a. to a. a. to S. Carlisle 64 I 32 28 Carmarthen—. 60 36 IS 36 , Hexham 52 72 33 41 22 29 50 a' Morpeth 50 62 130 32 23 25 34 S Penrith 60 I— 31 23 ct 73 I 29 4 , 1 Winchester 52 74 i 27 34 21 25 42 4 6 Per Bushel. a. d. s. d. a. d, s. d. a. d. s. d. a. d. a. , Coventry 70 90 48 54 36 40 56 6 0 Newcastle (Staff.) 10 6 11 3 4 6 5 6 3 9 4 3 5 0 6 1 Northallerton 70 93 3 6 4 6 33 40 59 6 Stafford 90 94 59 62 36 40 72 1 Swansea ...---... S 0 84 44 48 30 36 00 0 " Warwick 90 10 4 6 5 0 3 3 40 73 S 0 Per 8011. Barnardeastle ..... 156 180 86 90 66 7 9 96 12 6 Durham 140 170 90 100 50 7 6 11 0 1 16 Richmond 12 0 16 0 90 10 6 70 8611 0 12 0 1 Stockton. l2 6 14 6 80 90 48 76 0 0 WAKEY ELD CORN MARKET.—May 7. There is a good supply of Wheat here this morning; fine fresh samples and good general runs of English sell slowly at about Is. per quarter under last Friday's priwf , but there is no demand for ordinary qualities--there is some quantity of foreign offering which has met dull sale at a decline of 2s. per quarter. Oats are without material variation. Barley is about Is. lower, soy thing under fine quality is very heavy sale. Beans are in li mited demand, and the priests of last week are barely maintained. Wheat, Red, Norfolk and Suffhlk 545. 575. to 621. New 608. 655. to 61s. White Old 635. 66a. to 735. fine 67e. fine 725. Sae 745. -- New tiOs. 61s. to 68s. fine63s. - Foreign, Red s4s. 575. to 645.-fine 675. White 6ls. 645. to 665. fine 695. Barley, Norfolk and Suffolk 32.. to 345. fine 38s. -- Lincolnshire 3/s. to 335. fine 365. - Yorkshire Wold 3ls. to 335. fine :-.55. - Foreign -s. to -s. fine -S. Beans, Old - New 345. to 365. fine 38s. Oats, Potato 2ls. to 295. fine 31s. -- Poland 235. 255. to 275. tine 495. - Friesland and Small 23s. 245. to 265. fine 275. - Mealing l2%d. to 14d. per Stone. Shelling .3ls. to 335. Od. per Load. Malt 3Bs. 40s. fine :435. per Load. Rapeseed sco 'Oatmeal. 30-s 1 22 24 34 24 26 •"" 24 27 30 '9 21 -- 2+t 40 27 44 Aberdeen Berwick—. Coldstream Cupar *new Dundee Elgin -- 50 74 40 42 40 44 54 70 58 78 50 60 53 58 40 44 60 '76 52 70 of the mi 24 29 20 22 21 23 30 32 32 33 20 25 24 29 In;erness..... I Kelso Kirkaldy_ I Perth The size 19 21 -- 24 9rl 40 • 24 27 ,30 34 -- 123 32 ..- flout the.countrl.- 33 33 19 23 noire •a 'Cli MARKETS. Wheat. I Barley Oats. I Beans. ----,_ 20 23 16 19 17 19 22 23 26 28 20 23 19 22 17 19 26 32 16 19 ies th roux I EDINBURGH CORN NtAlLKEa'.—may ft. Our supply of all kinds of Grain was small. Wheat dull sale, at lower prices. Oats and Beale maintained last week's quotations. The quality of Barley being rather inferior, met a dull sale, at nearly last week's prises. Wheat. Barley. Oats. Pease. Hestia. First 74s Od 37s Od 28s Sd —s Od 38s Second 72s Od 36s Sd 28s Od —s Od t7r Od Third 56s Od 32s Od 22s Od Od 35$ PRICES OF PROVISIONS, AC, Beer, per lb. Os. 3d. to Os.sd. Fresh Butter, lb.s. 10.1, to Is. N• Mutton -- 0 4 0 5 Salt 0 g 010 0 3 0 6 Ditto, per et% t. 84 a $8 0 0 0 3 0 4 Eggs, per dos. 0 6 0 Lamb, per qr. 4 0 6 0 OatStraw(kp;.) 6 0 0 0 Tallow, cwt.... 27 0 28 0 Wheat Ditto.., 7 0 0 0 Quartern Loaf 010 011 Barley Ditto 0 0 0 Potatoes, 17i1b. 0 b 0 6 Hay, per 0 6 0 L MARKET.—May 4. f of Oatmeal at to-day's nlar . ill sale at 144 weeks* prices. Per Stone of 141 b. Imp. First Oatmeal Second ditto Barleymeal ...... ..- -1 - Peasemeal 0 1 to 145.-3 d, 18s.—Poatl 225. 6 EDINBURGH MEA We had a middling supply ket, which met with very du' _ _ Per Sack of 2801 b. Imp. First Oatmeal £2 0 0 Second ditto. 1 18 0 Barleyineal ........ 1 12 0 Peasemeal 1 10 0 Pot Barley—No. I, per cwt. 12 GLASGOW CORN MARKET.—.Mays,. Wheat, Barley, and Oats, are dull of sale, sad rather lower prices have been submitted tn. We cannocloote any alteration in the price of Beans and Pease. ~. L _, Wheat, per 2101 b. s. d. s. d. Oats, per 164113. i5.'8. 0. 4 1 ." - British, old 34 0t035 0 Irish ........ 191,0 210 new 30 0 31 0 British - 0 Canada, free 34 0 33 0 Beans, per 2601b.' Irish ••-•, 1 Barley, per 3201 b. Scottish l7 0 ,S 1 n English 27 0 20 0 Pease, Scottish ... 18 0 20% Scwttish 27 0 22 0 Oatmeal, per 1101 b. 110 20 v Irish 24 6 26 0 Flour. per 2301 b.... 50 0 51 0 CORNWALL. MARKETS. Tautto.—Wheat (average) 27s.—Barley. 13s. 6(l.—Oats, RI& 6d. Sr. Aurritt.t.—Wheat, 245. to 2tls.—Barley, 14s. to 16s.—thsts• Os. to 10s. Od. BODMIN—Wheat (average) 275. Ckl.—Barley, 13s. Od.—Oats, LA UN C ESTO N—Wh eat (average) Ws. Od.—Barley, 9s. Od.—Oats, Ss. Od.—Beef, Nil—Mutton, sd. HELATON—Wheat, 265. Od.—Barley, t3s. Od. I'ENZANCE—Wheat, 235. to 14s.—Barley, —4. to 13s.—Oats, Os. to 12s. Od.—Beef and Mutton, 4d. to 51d.—Pork, 3d. to Od.•+ Butter, 9d. per lb. LISK EA ao—Wheat, 21s. Od. to 255. 9d.—Barley,l2s.--Qats, 10s. to 10s. 6d. ST. CoLumn—Wheat, 255. to 26s.—Barley, 12s. to Lis...Beefs ' and Mutton, sd. to 6d.—Veal and Lamb, bd to 7d. The Co-operative Societies of Barnsley are' most of them on the wane, like Radical Reform. Theis is a want of union—and not only that, bat of common honesty--in certain of the leaders. It is stated that the' Treasurer of one of the Societies has absconded with £Ol.. of money confided to him is sixpences, not for individual,. but co-operative perposes. Report proclaims that he is off for America with his prise.—Leeds Intelligencer. IKEY SOLOmONS.—The apprehension of the notorious IcET Sotomotis has, according to the Van Dieman's Land papers, given the greatest satisfaction.. The domestic arrangements of his family had been viewed with jealousy by many industrious well-behaved persons in unfortunate circumstances, who were at a loss to recon stile the apparent injustice of a certain marked indulgence they received, that had been refused to other and much more deserving objects ; it is evident kat( has been caug ht in his own trap. The warrant for his apprebencion ar rived on Sunday, and was put in farce the next'tirvi, when he was lodged in the gaol, where he is carefully watched, until he embarks for England, there to abide , the due course of law.— Observer. BIRTIIS. On the 6th inst. at Whippingham, Isle of Wight, the lady of the Rev. J. D. Ward, of a son. On the sth inst. at Kensington-gore, the lady of R. W. Pilkington, Esq., of a son. _ MARRIED. On the Bth inst. at Brighton, by the Rev. Edward Ererard, M.A., Chaplain to the ishop of Chichester, James Pickford, Esq., of the Grenadier Regiment of Foot Guards, to Anna Henwood, (laughter of John Mills, Esq., of St. George's-place, Brighton. On the 6th inst. at Torquay, Devonshire, Ralph Carr Alderson, Esq., Captain Royal Engineers, eon of the late Joha Alderson, M.D., of Hull, to Maria, second daugh ter of the late Henry Thorold, Esq., of Claw°ld, in the county of Lincoln. At St. Pancras Church, Freileack W. Bushill, Esq. of Southampton-street, to Harriet, eldest daughter of Thos. Morton, Esq., of the Victualling-office, Somerset-place. DIED On the Bth inst. at Kingston.on-Thames, 11, Taylor, E.q , in his '73d year. On the Sth inst. aged 43, the Rev. William Orme, the be'oved Pastor of the Independent Church at Cam berwell, and Foreign Secretary of the London Missionary Society. On the 7th inst. in Lower Thames-street, Catherine Eliz tbeth, the third daughter ; and on the Bth inst. Christopher, the youngest son of Charlotte Ann and John Vonder Heyde. Oa the frith inst. at Maze-hill, Greenwich, Mary Anne, wife of Capt. Godly, R.N. On the 6th inst. at Ivy-cottage, Conduit-vale, Black heath, in the 65th year of his age, Lachlan M'Lean, Esq., after a lingering illness. He had served upwards of 50 years in his Majesty's naval service, and scarcely a twelve month elapsed since he retired from his off.ceof Paymaster of Pensions from Greenwich Hospital. On the 7th inst. at Colern ton Hall, Leicestershire, the infant son of Sir G. Beaumont, Bart. On the 24th inst. at Southampton, Miss Stuart, daugh ter of the late Sit John Stuart, Bart., of Allan.bank t Berwickshire, and sister of Sir James Stuart. F 1 Iva Sh at be