The Sun. — London, England, 1833-12-09 00:00:00

liberty of the press " seems indeed somewhat like the liberty of the press that felons have by the common law of England before conviction, that is to be pressed to death or hanged. If by the liberty of the press were understood merely the liberty of discussing the propriety of public measures and political opinions, let us have as much of it as you please ; but if it means the liberty of affronting, calumniating, and defaming one another, I, for my part, own myself willing to part with my share of it whenever our legis lators shall please to alter the law, and shall cheerfully consent to exchange my liberty of abusing others for the privilege of not being abused myself." In his " Account of the Supremest Court of Judicature in Penn sylvania—viz., the Court of the Press"-- he says, that the Supreme Executive Council of Libellers held in their exclusive keeping the characters and good fame of the citizens, and accused, judged, and condemned at pleasure, with no appeal from their tribunal. The follow ing witty and caustic passage, in the same paper, strongly characterises certain parties who have 'lately been actively supplying libels, suppressing_ their refutati on , ca t c hi ng a t contra di ct i on o f calumny as another lucky opportunity of circu lating the original poison with a fresh dose, and finally, raising " a hue and cry" about the itn portance of a " Free Press"—which is, in their view and estimation, the unlicensed liberty of lying and slandering. Franklin writes that this Court of the Press is thus constituted—" It is not hereditary, as in the Court of dernier resort, in the Peerage of England ; but any man who can procure pen, inks, and paper, with a press, a few types, and a huge pair of blacking balls, may commissionate himself; and his Court is immediately established in the plenary possession and exercise of its rights ; for if you make the least complaint of the Judge's conduct, he daubs his blacking-balls in your face wherever he meets you ; and besides tearing your private character to Hitters, marks you out for the odium of the public, as an enemy to the liberty of the press." This is the very exact description of some part of the English press which has assumed the right of foully libelling Lord Durham, and then denying to him the legal right of redress for scandalous injuries, such as that of exciting all the lowerclasses around him by calumnious falsehoods attributing to him the wanton destruction of a village on his estate. The Liverpool Albion, in an excellent article, has ably discriminated between the real and falsely claimed liberty of the press ; and disproves the right of the libellers and slan derers to the freedom of lying with impunity— " The grand advocates of the unlimited publi cation of opinion, that prosecutions for libel ought to be discouraged because they have a tendency to restrain the liberty of the press, has been brought forward on this occasion. But it can have no weight on the minds of thinking men. For as well might a pickpocket argue, that the prosecution of thieves has a tendency to destroy personal freedom, as the slanderer that the prosecution of the libeller will shake the palladium of liberty.' " The press must be protected against unjust prosecutions, and pri vate and public reputation must be better secured against the wanton injuries of the libellers. This is the distinction in the controversy, which we wish the public to mark. We again repeat that the growing system of personal calumny and abuse, especially of the country press, and the vulgar provincial publications, is disgust ing, and without precedent. We know that it is despised and detesten by all the intelligent and vir tuous classes of socisty ; but it nevertheless begets an odious and vulgar tove of slander in the younger persons, and accustoms the public mind to the toleration of falsehood. Franklin sensibly ob serves on this subject—" Whoever feels pain in hearing a good character of his neighbour will feel a pleasure in the reverse. And of those who, despairing to rise into distinction by their virtues, and are happy if others can be de pressed to a level with themselves, there are a number sufficient in every great town to maintain one of these Courts (of Libel) by their sub scriptions." In the rude state of society, prior the existence of legal institutions, the slan dered person cudgelled his calumniator. Now the law has certainly taken away this ancient right without affording any substitute ; and yet, nevertheless, we find that the country gentlemen libelled are reviving or claiming the cudgel right again, on the principle that if the Legislature will not protect by good laws their private repu tation, they will resume their original physical power of self-defence. Franklin boldly advo cated, under similar circumstances of defective law in America, the restoration of the ancient custom of an oak staff. He says, "My pro posal is, to leave the liberty of the Press un touched, to be exercised in its full extent, force, and vigour; but to permit the liberty of the cudgel to go with itpari passu." But this common sense philosopher closes his dissertation on the subject by gravely advising the State Legislature, if they deemed his offensive proposal detrimental to the public peace, " to take up the consideration of both liberties—that of the press, and that of the cudgel—and by an explicit law to mark their extent and limits; and at the same time that they secure the person of a citizen from assaults, that they would likewise provide for the security of his reputation." The same advice we strongly impress upon the present Government. The state of the Law of Libel is a national and ori ginally a Whig question. The proper course will be for Lord Althorp to refer the subject to a competent Committee of the House of Com mons, to whom the opinions of all parties on the defects of the existing statute and common law may be referred, and that a matured and adequate remedy may be provided. Mr. O'Con neh threatens to " take up the question in Par liament." Mr. O'Connell can defend libellers better than he can individually amend the law, and he is more practied as an agitator than a legislator. As he is now fond of citing the United States as an example of civil freedom to this country, and as we have thus quoted at length from Franklin, we will to-morrow state the improvement of the law of lib e l in America, where by an amended jurisprudence the cudgel, has been superseded by the supre macy of the law. This question is one of such present and future importance that we need not apologise for such repeated discussions of its merits. We were anxiou s also to prove, that however we sympathise with persons really per secuted and oppressed by the law of libel, yet we feel most for the calumniated persons de prived of the protection of the law, and that no esprit du corps lead us or our readers astr a y to do injustice to the moral courage of Lord bur ham who has entered the hornet's nest, and boldly called public attention to an abominable nuisance. Our declared opinion has been that Lord Durham stands so high above his detrac tors, that he may safely despise them ; but that he is_ justified in appealing to the laws of his codntry to punish them, though we would wish,' rem justice to all parties, that the law would afford what it ought to do—viz., equal justice. fThe law absurdly makes no sensible distinction between the writer, the publisher, the printer, and the copier or accidental propagator of a libel. Now we would desire to see Lord Dur ham accept the public admission of the false hood of' the libels from all parties except the wilful concoctors, and apply his superior and acknowledged talents to the alteration and im provement of the law. Lord Mansfield stated the liberty of the press to be the right of print ing without any previous license, subject to the consequences of the law; but unfortunately the law does not, as at present constituted, secure the proper consequences to any party complain ing of or defending alleged abuses of the just liberty of the press.—Morning Chronicle. The letter from a personage who styles himself " A Russian Subject," and which we publish this day, will amuse the greater portion of our readers, and possibly provoke a few of the less phlegmatic among them. To judge from the tone of this communication, one might sup pose that, however little accustomed to free agency a Russian may be in his own happy country, he fancies himself as much an autocrat in every other as Nicholas is.at St. Petersburgh or Warsaw. In most of the letters which we have seen, sent forth avowedly for the defence of the Russian Government, the only relation touched upon by the writers is that existing between the Czar and his own subjects, are not directed against her foreign policy,—her un quenchable spirit of aggrandizement, at the ex pense and to the ruin of other states,—her abominable treachery,—her base and stupid detestation of the name of liberty,—her tremen dous and harrowing oppression. Now that has never, that we know of, been a topic of com plaint with foreigners : no civilized country troubles itself to examine very seriously as to the degree in which tyranny and slavery have been mortised into each other throughout the Russian empire. It is not whether the often times atrocious measures of the Cabinet of St. Petersburgh are approved or murmured at by its own semi-barbarous subjects that European statesmen habitually condescend to inquire,— all that is taken for granted ; everybody is willing to admit that the people are worthy of the Government, and the Government of the people, and that neither would be tolerated in any civilized country on the globe. That topic, we repeat, is hardly ever mooted by foreigners, and by Englishmen least of all—yet it is the only question that Russians, in their endeavours to vindicate Nicholas and his aristocracy, ever have the courage to dis cuss. The journals of Great Britain, and their correspondents, almost invariably direct their animadversions against the foreign policy of Russia. Her appetite for aggrandizement, at the expense of neighbouring States, and to their ruin—her duplicity and hypocrisy—her detesta tion of the name of civil liberty—her intermed dling with the principle and form of the govern ment throughout every State in Europe,however nominally independent and actually remote— her harrowing oppression of the countries which she has wickedly betrayed and subjugated— these are fair and natural subjects of resent ment, among foreign Powers, and with all enlightened men, who inveigh against the original iniquity which partitioned Poland, when Frederick played the part of jackall to Catherine, and Austria was bullied into an un willing share in the crimes of that impious confe deracy. So the complaints of the whole world, because of the treatment experienced by Polaml, from the treaty of Vienna down to this passing hour, were made on behalf of the Polish nation and of humanity against Russia as a whole— against Russia, which had scourged and tortured them into rebellion, and which now pleads the consequences of her own cruelty as an excuse for those aggravations of it which Poland has since endured. But how are such just and distinct accusations met by this gentleman, who first talks of his being " an unprejudiced person," and then signs himself " A Russian Subject ?" In this manner, he solemnly assures us that " his respected Sovereign (Nicholas) acted agreeably to the wishes of his nation (the Russians scilicet) with regard to the Poles—in fact, we rather accuse him of too great leniency towards those treacherous rebels, and they would have found much worse had their punishment been left to the Russian nation ! ! !" Sir, we believe you,—devoutly we believe, on your authority, this or any other horror of that nation, which in another part of your letter you declare to be " much improved" within these five years. But that, again we say, is not the question. Nobody reproached the people of Russia with being one atom more humane, or equitable, or civilized, or enlightened, than their Chief ; nor is it of the least importance to us Englishmen—to us Europeans—to learn that what a rude and unfeeling, yet subtile and cal culating, Asiatic despotism decrees, untaught and callous myriads of itrbondsmen are ready in a moment to execute —nay, to outstrip in fierceness. It is truly a precious piece of logic to allege in justification of the heartless policy of the Czar Nicholas towards Poland—a justi fication;we mean, as addressed to Europe gene rally—that his own Russian subjects are more barbarous still than he is, and, had their devilish nature been unrestrained, that they would have administered to the Polesa still harder measure of " punishment !" This Russian subject calls the Poles " those treacherous rebels !" Good Heaven ! Can human intellect be so perverted ? Can this gentleman be so very unread in history, nay, FO little conversant with society, as to be ignorant that the generation has not yet passed away which saw that giant " treachery," of which Poland, free Poland—ay, regal, monarchical, conservative Poland, became the helpless and unprovoking victim—a generation whose ready heart and hand would have frustrated the villany before twelve months expired, had there been in contemporary Governments virtue, or honour, or humanity, or wisdom, to direct or co-operate with the upright energies of their unanimous people ? If it be said that prescription runs against Poland and that thirty or forty years of successful usurpa tion is a full defeasance of a nation's rights, what prescription, let us ask, runs against the rights of that fragment of the Polish kingdom which so lately composed the duchy of Warsaw, whose constitutional independence of the Russian em pire, though solemnly guaranteed by all Europe in the year 1815, was never —no, not for five suc cessive years—respected by the brutal tyrant who held the delegated despotism of the Emperor, and forced the insurrection of 1830-31 ? " Treacherous rebels " indeed ! We are shocked at the hardihood of him who could employ such] terms. If that be, as no doubt it is, the! sense in which the people of Russia regard' the condition of the Poles, it just proves this —viz., that the Russians and their Government are partakers of a common crime, and that when he day of reckoning conics, they must both contribute to discharge it. No doubt we shall be likewise assured by some patriotic and aspiring " Russian subject," that in all the schemes for the spoliation and ruin of Turkey, for dressing up Roumelia into an Imperial pleasure-garden, and the Euxine into a Mus covite fish-pond, the mild Nicholas acts " agree ably to the wishes of his devoted subjects, who even accuse him of too great moderation, and too much tenderness and leniency, to wards those treacherous" (infidels the) " Turks." Be it so ; it proves again that Czar and boor are politically well adapted to each other, and that Europe, when the hour shall come, must regard them as inseparable allies. TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES. Sir,—Your frequent attacks upon the Emperor Nicholas and his Government call forth a few remarks from an unprejudiced person. Lowing your liberality, I flatter myself, that though opposed to you in political opinions, you will be good enough to insert these lines as soon as you have some space and room to spare. The Emperor's conduct towards the Poles has so fre quently been discussed by his enemies aa l well as his parti zans, that I will omit this point entirely ; more able men than I am have undertaken his defence ; my remarks would therefore fall off entirely. The only observation I intend making on this head is the solemn assurance that our respected Sovereign acted agreeably to the wishes of his nation with regard to the Poles; in fact, we rather accuse him of too great leniency towards those treacherous rebels, and they would have fared much worse had their punish. meat been left to the Russian nation. Would to God that all nations were as satisfied with the proceed iags of their Sovereigns and as content with their Government as we are. You, or more properly speaking your worthy correspondent, is very much mis taken, if he supposes that the Emperor keeps his peop'e in darkness, and that we are going backwards in civiliza tion. During his (your correspondent's) apparently short sojourn in the capital of Russia, he could have no oppor tunity of judging correctly o❑ that head ; but I, who have travelled all over the empire, and, as a mercantile man, bad plenty of opportunity of mixing with all ranks and classes of society in different parts of the country, I solemnly declare that I find the lower orders improving fast in learning and civilization. During toy last journey found the number of schools in the different places I ravelled through considerably increased. I found the farmers with newspapers in their hands—what I never saw five years ago. lam afraid of taking up too much of your time and paper were I to enumerate all the various modes that the Emperor has taken of civilizing his subjects. The enlightened part of our nation is fully aware of the great advantages and privileges of a constitu tional government ; but at the same time the civil ized of our country are not blind to the comparative barbarity of the greater part of the popttlation. We see that our lower orders are not fit yet for a constitutional Government, but can only be ruled by a despotic Government. We see the necessity of having political meetings and conversations kept down, as the bulk of our ❑ation would not understand their meaning, and in their ignorance think revolution ❑ecessary. Even if I have mentioned the innumerable ways in which the Emperor benefits his people, there is one act alone that has gained him their hearts, and it was a bold act in a country like Russia, an act which Alexander, his brother and predecessor, would not have dared even to think of. mean an ukase issued on the Ist of Janu t ry, 1830, to the eff,ct that " All children born of slaves in the Russian dominion, after the Ist of January, 1830, shall be free subjects themselves and their lawful children." Thus has he accomplished a deed, the emancipation of slaves, by one blow, whilst i❑ this constitutional government you have been deliberating on the same question for years, and still cannot come to a conclusion. He has, moreover, shown his wisdom by the manner in which the freedom was given. Had he freed the slaves at once, a revolu tion might have been the consequence; by emancipating the following generations, there was no fear of a rebellion. Thus daily he proves to his country by his deeds, how great a blessing a Sovereign like him is to them ; there cannot be a nation that adores its ruler more than we do. He does not care for the Nobles, he keeps them down and curtails their power. He acts by the advice of a few chosen men, and his own understanding, guided in all by his ardent wishes to make his country happy, but not by favourites of either sex. He is an example in domestic life; there cannot, in private life, be a happier couple than he and the Empress. The English are prejudiced against him by 'he false reperts spread by the public papers; he cares not for their opinion, nor the opinions of other nations. His conscience tells him that no Sove reign has the prosperity and welfare of his own people more in mind than be ; his nation is grateful for this, and I know that all my countrymen would gladly exclaim with me, " I gladly down my life for the benefit of my King and country." I doubt whether every English man arid Frenchman could say so with a sincere heart. My intention was not to draw comparisons (they are odious), but to refute the falsehoods contained in your letter of this morning, dated from Vienna. I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, Saturday, Dec. 7. A RUSSIAN SUBJECT. *,,* We omit the last sentence this letter out of com passion for the bones of " A Russian Subject."— Times. We have extracted from the Gazette the average state of the Bank of England accounts from April to December. The public will be glad, particularly at this rather feverish period as to money transactions, to see such a state ment, and they will feel some gratitude to the Bank when we remind them that by the law such accounts are not required to be published before August next. The Bank has, however, thought that the publication would now be useful, and has accordingly sent it forth. It is, we understand, the in tention of the Bank to continue these publica tions every three months.—Morning Post. The letter of Sir Peter Laurie to the Town Clerk of the City of London, or rather of the Court of Aldermen, will be read with interest, and we doubt not with approbation. The vote of thanks of the Court of Alderman to the Lord Mayor and Chief Magistrate was indeed a very singular affair—so very singular indeed that the like of it, we believe, is not to be found in the records of the city, fraught as they are with very peculiar documents. The Court first pass a vote of thanks for his past services as Lord Mayor, and then, without giving him an oppor tunity of reply or protest, agree to something like a vote of censure upon him for his mode of examining prisoners. If that mode was bad or extra-judicial, there ought to have been no vote of thanks—if it contributed to the promotion of the ends of justice, there ought to have been no censure. But consistency from a Court of Alder men is not always to be reckoned upon as matter of certainty ; and in default of its unanimous ap plause Sir Peter may rest perfectly satisfied with the universal approbation of his conduct by his fellow citizens. Whether he expended his al lowance as Lord Mayor with sufficient liberality we have no means of knowing ; but that, as a magistrate, he proved eminently useful to the best interests, of the City, no one can deny. On this point, in fact, there is but one opinion among honest, disinterested, and unprejudiced men. It is not enough to say that no one ever surpassed him as a magistrate ; for in truth no one that filled the office of chief magistrate ever e a spatch, and suc great l o ss in c e e q s u s a . lled l l h ii e m c i i n ty in h d a u s st s r u y s , t z a e in a e l, d d his retirement from the chair.—Morn.Advertiser. MR. ROSE'S WlT.—(From the Brighton Gazette.)—When the present master of the Rolls, Sir John Leach, was at the Bar, he had occasion to leave the court, and handed his brief over to Mr. Rose, then at the B►r, and now one of the Judges in Bankruptcy, and re quested him to take a minute of the argument of Course' in his absence, upon which he wrote as follows Mr. Leach made a speech, Impressive, cl ar, and strong ; Mr. Hart made a start, Most tedious, dull, and long; Mr. Parker made that darker, Which was dark enough before; Alr. Bell spoke so well, The Chancellor said, I doubt. COURT OF CHANCERY, DEC. 7. CONTEMPT OF COURT. The LORD CHANCELLOR had read the affidavits furnished him on the subject of the contempt of Court committed by Mr. John Read, of Lambeth, in per mitting his son to marry a Miss Birkett, a ward of the Court, and afterwards concealing that marriage from the knowledge of the Court and the lady's re lations. He thought, however, it would have been much better if some of the affidavits had not been made, as they tended rather to mislead the Court than to afford a means of dealing out impartial jus tice. On the whole, his Lordship, in the present stage of the proceedings, declined to make any order with respect to the matters that had been brought before it. With respect to the young lady, he was bound, perhaps, to add, that she did not seem to have been guilty of the slightest indiscretion, except in the manner of her marriage. BATTLEY V. BLENCOWE, WINTYRE, GREEN & FROST. This was an action of libel. The defendants had pleaded the general is , tie of Not Guilty. The SOLICITOR-GENERAL stated that this was an action against the defendants, as proprietors and printers of a newspaper at Bury, to recover da mages from them 'for two libels published in their paper of and concerning the plaintiff. The plaintiff had been in the army for a period of thirty-seven years ; lie had originally served as a private soldier, and had risen from the ranks, and it was to be wished that there were more instances of that kind. He had at first served in Holland, then he went to Gibraltar; and, in 1813, a militia regiment being raised in West Suffolk, he was selected on account of his military experience to be appointed to the poit of adjutant in it; in that post he continued, and discharged his duties to the satisfaction of all the officers of the regiment up to 1831; in that year the regiment was called out for the purpose of training, as it was intended that it should be after wards sent to Ireland; he was then obliged, from ill health, to retire from the service. The plaintiff was engaged in the service of a wine merchant at Bury S. Edmund's, and had taken some part in an election at that place of a clerk to the Paving Commissioners. The libels in question were then published. They were not election squibs, but dull malignant statements of what were deliberate falsehoods. They charged, in substance, that the plaintiff, being in full health, was guilty of the gross and scandalous fraud of obtaining a false certificate for the purpose of procuring the retired allowance. It also imputed to him a want of personal courage ; declared that he had not seen active service; that because the regiment was going to Ireland his nerves had failed, and that for the purpo-e of avoiding going there he had obtained the certificate and the allowance of his retirement. They alleged that he was a man who had never faced the foes of his country ; who had entered the ranks as a private, and, by good fortune, had obtained the rank of Adjutant in a respectable militia, but who had not only abandoned his duty when that duty threatened to call him from the luxury of the wine -vaults, but had managed to retire on a plea which, it now appeared, did not subsist, for he had marvellously recovered within a short time, as was manifested at the election of the Pav ing Commissioners' clerk, when he spoke most loudly against pensioners and sinecurists. The Learned Counsel then went on to comment on the letters piecemeal, and urged that they were most decidedly libellous. Sir J. SCARLETT, for the defendants, observed that this was a miserable end of a case most labori ously and pompously opened. The plaintiff was so anxious to clear his character, he was so uneasy under the imputations cast upon him, that he allowed the spring assizes of the year to pass away, and then the summer assizes, and finally brought his action under the consideration of a Jury not composed of men from the neighbourhood of the place where he resided, but from the county of Middlesex, men strangers to him personally, and who had probably never heard of his name before. How were the Jury sure that these letters applied to the plaintiff? It appeared that there had been another Adjutant who had died lately. The witness denied what the Solicitor-General seemed to suppose, that the ex pression about the wine-vaults meant to impute that the plaintiff was a sot. He denied, too, that he knew anything about the plaintiff having been a bawler or roarer at public meetings against sine curists. But if it were supposed that the paragraphs did allude to the plaintiff, where was the proof that he had suffered the slightest injury from them? His health was not injured, that was clear; for his own witness, who had seen him recently, declared him to be surprisingly recovered. He put these circum stances to the consideration of the Jury in excuse of what the defendants had done. Verdict for the plaintiff—Damages 40s. COURT OF BANKRUPTCY, DEC. 7. (Before Mr. Commissioner MEnzvALE.) MACDONALD AND CAMPBELL'S BANKRUPTCY. Mr. Green, the official assignee, produced the ba lanced accounts on the joint estate of the bankrupts, and also on the separate estate of Mr. Macdonald, and stated that a dividend of one shilling in the pound could be paid on the former, and sixpence in the pound on the latter. The debts proved on the joint estate, on which a first dividend is now pay able, is 92,984/. On Mr. Macdonald's estate a former dividend of 2s. in the pound has been declared. LANCASTER'S BANKRUPTCY. The bankrupt in this case was an extensive mer chant, and the debts proved to-day amount to be tween 19,0001. and 20,0001. Mr. YOUNG applied for an order from the Court to authorise the payment of the official assignee of certain moneys in his hand for a special purpose. The COMMISSIONER said he had no such power. The Court of Review must be applied to. MIDDLESEX SESSIONS, DEC. 7. SWINDLING AND CONVICTION.—Jamcs Drewry, a respectable looking man, was indicted for having defrauded Mr. Fardell, a butcher, in High•street, Poplar, of the use of his horse and chaise, a sove reign, and a round of beef. The prisoner represented that he was in the ser vice of Captain Drewry, a gentleman of fortune at Kew, and that his master required the use of a horse and chaise for a short period. He at the same time axed his eye on Mr. Fardell's beef, of which he approved, and he said he would recommend Mr. Fardell to his master, who had a family, eleven in number, and " heavy consumers." A dashing livery servant attended the prisoner, and Mr. Fardell readily lent him the chaise and gave him the beef. The prisoner next diddled a tailor named Gooch of a suit of clothes, and then he went to East Ham, and bargained with a Mr. Abbott for the lease of a stylish house, with four acres of ground. Mr. Ab bott happening to mention the name of Mr. Judson, a tradesman at Whitechapel, on which the prisoner, with an air of surprise, exclaimed " Judson ! Bless my soul ! Why, he is my particular friend, and ,! am under an engagement to dine with him to-day. " —(Laughter.) Abbott thought " it was all cor rect" (he laughter.) continued) b T but e found prisonerhe was c m istaken. cut a great —(Renewed dash at Kew, where he went over the palace. It was proved that there was no such person as Captain Drewry. The prisoner in his defence said that if his pro secutors had not "put a stop to hi m " h e wou l d have paid them all i n time.—(Lau g h ter .) He was found Guilty of having swindled Mr. Fardell and Mr. Gooch, and the Court sentenced him to seven years' transportation. POLICE INTELLIGENCE. MANSION-HO USE. SINGULAR CASE OF ROBBERY.—On Saturday the premises of Mr. Clarke, a respectable fish-sales man in Billingsgate Market, were entered and robbed. On the morning the burglary was committed Mr. Clarke entered his premises at the usual entrance, which seemed not to have been attempted from without. He was astonished to see his desk broken open, his papers scattered about, and a quantity of dollars and other silver, which he had taken in his business, missing. The window, he observed, had not been raised, but there was a small pane of glass in it broken ; so that he suspected the thief must have been one of very small dimensions, and part of a large gang of young market robbers, against whom Mr. Goldham, the Clerk of Billingsgate, has been long waging war. Steps were accordingly taken. The hour at which the burglary was committed was supposed to be early in the morning, from the fact that three beautiful linnets were found in their cages in the counting-house with their necks wrung; the thief, in all probability, being apprehensive that their singing would attract somebody to the broken window, and lead to detection. Three or four boys, who have been known as "striving to live" about the market, upon being told of the robbery, said that a boy named M'Carthy, who has been remarkable for entering shops and robbing tills, even when the shopkeepers were at their work, had told them, the day before the burglary, that he was going to " crack," and the day after it that he had " cracked " a house in Thames -street, and they had no doubt the house was Mr. Clarke's. M'Carthy, they said, could get himself through any sort of opening. M'Carthy, on being brought up, " knowed " no thing at all about such nonsense; had never told anything of the kind to the boys, who were well known thieves, and more likely to "crack " them selves than to allow themselves to be " cracked" by others. One of the officers soon afterwards brought up a man of the name of Brown, and charged him with having induced M'Carthy to commit the burglary. The ground of accusation appeared to be, that Brown and M'Carthy were constantly together; and that immediately after the robbery they were extremely well "togged," without having any other visible occupation than that of walking gentlemen. Brown was an industrious hard-working man, and was willing to put his hand to any thing, so as w'ant bad, and he declared to God he " knowed' nothing of Mr. Clarke's " crack." A pair of boy's shoes were found on the pre mises, and the boys who gave evidence said that they were convinced those shoes belonged to M'Carthy. ._ It is believed that the thief got in in the day time, while business was going forward, and easily hid himself amongst the boxes and packages, and that not being able to open the door to his confede rates, he pocketed the cash, and, to use the language of the fancy, "starred the glaze" to get out. Both prisoners were remanded. AN UNSOPHISTICATED DUI'E.--Thomas Jones, a very well-looking jolly countrymen, in a smock frock, complained to the LORD MAYOR that he had lost his money and goods. Upon coming into London he had 8/. about him, and was met by two persons who pressed him to buy a watch. He didn't loik to buy it, but they followed he into a pooblic house, and they made he give 4/. for it, As he goed along he thowt he heard people laugh ing at he, and Ee taked out his watch and he looked at it, and he then thowt h a bad un.— (Laughter.) \Tell, he went into a watchmaker's shop and he axed the price on it, and he said four shillin—(Laughter)—so he thowt how for to get back his money, and he went up to a cab-driver and told what a scurvy trick he had been sarved, and the cab-driver said that the two fellows was what they called Jew duffers, and that he had been sarved out by them himself.—(Great laughter.) So the cap-driver axed he what money he had, and he said 3/. 16s. " Because," said the cabman, " I know where you will find these fellows; but you mustn't take any money amongst 'em, but leave it wi' me."—(Laughter.) The proposition was at once embraced. The countryman entered the cab, and the driver drove him about for a long time, and at last stopped at the door of a public-house, into which he desired the countryman to go and catch the Jew duffers. In went poor Jones, and after a vain search he returned to obtain the further assist ance of his friend the cabman, who had, the moment his dupe entered the house, disappeared. The LORD MAYOR, who could scarcely refrain from laughing at such gullibility, gave orders to the police on the subject. BOW-STREET. Mary Anne Robinson and Ellen Smith were brought up, charged with stealing a diamond ring, and a gold ring, from Mr. Joseph Harrison, a free, and accepted mason, on S3turday morning, at three o'clock, at a brothel in Eagle-court, Drury-lane. The two prisoners were some time since charged at this office with stealing 41. from the person of a gentleman named Smith, residing in Islington, under nearly similar circumstances, but were acquitted and discharged at the Old Bailey Sessions before last in consequence of the non-appearance of the pro- sE cutor. The prisoners both denied all knowledge of the robbery. Mr.llliNsuuLL remanded the prisoner Robinson till Thursday next, for the production of further evi dence, and ordered that Smith should be discharged. MARLBORO UGH-STREET. ATTACK UPON A HOUSE OF BAD CHARACTER.— At the evening sitting several boys were placed at the bar before Mr. CONANT, and charged with aiding and assisting in disturbing the peace, and smashing the windows of a house in Leicester-street. The parish authorities have given directions for watchmen to parade in front of several houses of bad character with a lanthorn, and caution the public to " beware" of these places, the result of which has been to cause an immense assemblage of persons nightly in front of the houses, among whom are a number of young urchins, who have so com pletely " stormed" the premises that scarcely a whole window remains in any of them. The outside of the houses is also covered with mud. At length it was found necessary to call for the aid of the po lice, who on Saturday evening discovered the pri soners among the most active of the juvenile depre dators, and they were taken into custody. Mr. CONANT ordered the prisoners to be sent to the House of Correction until they could find bail. Q UEEN-S Q ['ARE. BURGLARY.—A young man fashionsbly attired, who gave his name Michael Andrew Adolphus O'Connor, was charged with burglariously entering the dwelling-house of Mr. William Randall, 6, Char lotte -street, Pimlico, and carrying off various descrip tions of property to a large amount in value. '[he prisoner was committed to Newgate for trial, and the policeman ordered to institute inquiries after the remaining property. UNION-HALL. Mr. Fielding, proprietor of the Beulah Spa Hotel at Norwood, appeared before the magistrates, and stated that on Tuesday week a gentlemanly-looking man came to his house, and having given his card, .‘ Captain St. James's," remained at the hotel until the following Thursday, when his bill, which amounted to thirty shillings, was presented, but he did not settle the amount. He left the hotel the same day, and in a short time after Mr. Fielding received a letter from Captain B--, apprizing him that a parcel would be sent to the hotel ad dressed to Captain A , and requesting him to take care of it. A parcel did arrive with the address stated, and on the following day Captain B-- called and requested it to be delivered to him, but Mr. Fielding declined, as it was not addressed to him, and at the same time hinted that he had for gotten to settle his bill. The Captain was very indignant, and Mr. Fielding afterwards received a lawyer's letter, informing him that proceedings would be commenced against him if he continued to refuse the delivery of the letter. Mr. TRAILL thought the applicant was justified in detaining the parcel. Captain B. could easily bring forward witnesses to prove the parcel his pro perty, if it were his. THAMES POLICE. Richm on d, m as ter of the C Thetis, S o C f A N sE ew — ca C s u tl p e t:iri appeared to answer the complaint of his apprentice, Richard Wardel ) ag ej eighteen. It appeared from the boy's statement that vib e ° within two days' s a il of T assouc , a Turkish port, on the outwa r d-b oun d vo y age , t h e C apta i n l ost three pounds, and he susp ec t e d th e b o y, b ut not hi n g 'l .g :: found on him. Th e ca p ta i n t h en k ept hi m a t t he helm for tw en ty-f our h ours , w i t h out f oo d , and 1)e: cause, from exhausti on , h e l et th e vesse l go s lightu out of her course, he was severely flogged. In (Od er to discover the thief, a Maltese sailor got a key ands white handkerchief, the latter of which he tvvist e l round the former; the Lords' Prayer was then repeat!, backwards, after which the names of all hanu, g were called over, and at the mention of the bog : name the key fell on th e d ec k. Th e b oy was they believed to be g uilty by every one , an d a spiel" of great cru e lty was p ursue d aga i nst hi m t ill w e end of the voyage. The Captain admitted that, after the mumnleri alluded to, he became of opinion that the thre e pounds had been t a k e n awa y b y t h e b oy . He vi i r allowed to settle th e occurrence , b y g i v i ng boy 5/. COUNTRY CORN MARKETS DURING LAST WEEK. Wheat. I Barley: oats. s. to s. 51 49 36 Per Quarter. Carlisle Hexharn. Nforpeth Penrith Sheffield Winchester Per Bushel. Carmarthen Cowbridge . Newcastle (Staff.) Northallerton Stone--- Swansea Warwick s. to s. 27 53 25 29 47 25 28 53 27 50 32 53 24 20 s.d. s.d. 58 26 29 70 29 40 89 46 50 93 36 4 6 8 6 4 0 4 8 69 36 39 110 30 4 6 15 6 8 0 8 6 14 0 7 0 8 0 166 86 90 126 96 100 s. to s. 5. 40 '''_ 19 22 15 21 19 a 20 18 22 s. d. 8. d. 16 20 26 30 30 34 33 4 0 30 341 19 20' 20 3.3 30 — g 4 69 42 4 d, s a. d. 00 6 0 56 6 4 50 50 56 sq 60 00 0 " 56 6" 4 Per 8011. Barnardcastle Durham - Richmond . Stockton,— I 50 60 4 6 6 6 50 64 40 46 10 9 ,1 7 97, 0 1" 8 9 WAKEFIELD CORN MARKEL—Dec.I3. ...--- Wheat, Red, Norfolk and Suffolk —s. 445. to 525. fine MS. Lin. and Cam. —s. 445. to 51e. fine 53 0 . ----- Yorkshire —s. 435. to 50s. fine 5`2 5 . White —s. 50s. to 555. fine fill , Foreign, Red —s. —s. to —s. fine --- 46 , White —s. —a. to —e. one .... Barley, Norfolk and Suffblk Lincolnshire 3os. to 325. fine 03 8 4 Yorkshire Wokl 3ls. to 323. fine 33 0 . Foreign —s. to —s. fine --,. Beans, Old -- New -- 355. to 38s. fine 40' ...i..”.._ _ lne , Oats, Potato l9s. to 225. fine 2: 31 ' Poland —s. ISs. to 21s. fine V. , . Friezland and Small —s. 17s to 20s. fine 2 10 . Mealing Shelling 23s. to 265. Od. per Load; Malt 3.55. 395. fine 425. per Loa. Rapeseed SCOTCH MARKETS. Wheat. Barley Oats. Beans. Oatme al Aberdeen 33 45 24 28 14 20 21 8erwick,,,,,,,,,.., 30 35 17 20 12 15 18 21 26 Coldstream 35 42 18 19 13 14 20 22 l'upar 48 56 26 31 18 22 22 26 Dundee 50 60 30 33 20 25 30 31 Elgin 40 50 24 26 16 20 23 30 -- Inverness--.. 46 50 25 26 15 18 23 26 16 Kelso 33 36 10 20 14 16 23 -- 4 1 Kirkaldy--.. 48 61 23 29 16 20 45 48 43 Perth 50 56 23 26 20 22 22 25 -- The size of the measure varies throughout the countl; EDINBURGH CO. We had a large !Supply of all sales were very heavy. Wheat. Barley. Oats. First SS Od 32s Od 22s 84 Second s4s Od 30s Od 20s Od Third 483 Od 22s 6d 17s Od N MARK. kinds of G Et .—Dec. ;rani tada: and the Pease. Beans. 32s (V 32s 0,1 30s Od 305 1 : 0 _, 283 Od 29s OA PRICES OF PROVISIONS, &C. BeeF, per lb. Os. 4d. to Os.6d. Freshßutter, lb. 10d. to s. Nlutton 0 3 0 6 Salt 0 8 010 0 5 0 8 Ditto, per et; t. 72. 0 78 ° Pork---.. 0 4 0 6 Eggs, p e r d ot . 1 0 0 Lamb, per qr. 1 4 3 0 O a tSt raw( k p l . ) 6 6 7 ['allow, cwt.... 35 0 37 0 Wheat Ditto... 5 6 6. Quartern Loaf 0 0 0 8 B ar l ey Ditto —5 0 sti Potatoes, 1711 b. 0 5 0 0 H a y, per 5t.....—. 0 8 OJT EDINBURGH AMA] There was a good supply of and the sales were heavy, at last Per Sack of 2801 b. Imp. First Oatmeal Second ditto 1 8 6 Barleymeal 1 5 0 Peasenseal . 1 5 0 Pot Barley—No. 1, per cwt. 12s L MARKET.—Dec. 3. ' Oatmeal at this day's inarlat. t week's prices. Per Stone 01 14119. Imp. 8 I ~v First Oatmeal £0 1 ~ Second ditto 0 0 1 " Barleymeal 1 6 .-2d, 145.-3 d, 16 3 .—Paa 0 Peasemeal /11a* MARKET.—Dec 4. Train, and prices are steady. s. A Oats. per 2641 b. s. d. Irish l3 0 to In British l4O 1 7° Beans, per 2601 b. English - 6 !Scottish Pease, Scottish 16 0 17 0 Oatmeal, per 1401 b. 13 0 14 Flour, per 2801 b,„. 40 0 43 0 GLASGOW CORN We have a small arrival of 4 Wheat, per 2401 b. s. d. s. d British, old 269t0280 new Canada, free 28 0 29 6 Irish Barley, per 3201 b. English ......... 0 C Scottish 22 6 24 0 Irish CORNWALL. MARKETS. Tavao-Wheat (average) 206.3 d -Barley, Os. 9d.-Oats, Ss. 0 .-L ST. AusraLL-Wheat, -s. to 215.-Baxley, Os. to 10s.-Oats' 7Q. to 7s. Dd. PENZANCE-Wheat, 21s. to 225.-Barley, 9s. to 113,-Oath Os. to Bs. 6d.-Beef and Mutton, 50. to 6d.-Pork, Od. to 3d.'" Butter, 12d. per lb. LAUNCESTON-Wheat (average) 19s. 6d.-Barley, 9s. CkL.-Oath ss. 31.-Beef, Md.-Mutton, 6d. LisKEAtto-Wheat, -s. to 20s. 0.1.-Barley, 10s. to Os. 6d. 6d• BODMIN-Wheat (average) 215.-Barley, 10s. Od.-Oats, 6s HELSTON-Wheat, 21s. Od.-Barley, 103 6d. Bee r ' ST. CoLums-Wheat, 20s. to 215.-Barley, 9s. to 10e...-• and Mutton, 50. to 6d.-Veal, 0.1.-Lamb, Od. M I NINGJ N TEL LI G E NCB. Tons. Co t ' !uantity of Copper Ore sold - a Redruth last Thurday 2,8&3 ,verage Produce Puantity of fine 10 216 - o t t ,mount of Sale, 18,4331 13i. Od.—Average Standard, 1211. 1116 MEETINGS OF CREDITORS AT THE COURT, BASINGHALL-STREET• (From the London Gazette.) TO-MORROW, DEC. 10. M. ° g . J. Sayre, cheesemonger, High-street, Shadwell G. Stockman, linen-draper, Portsea••• 1 .. IVIN DS. R. Thompson and Co., mer D chants, DE Sun-court, Cornhill ..... A t :rg W. G. Clover, linen-draper, Holborn lO %V. Butt, linen-draper, Sheerness C. Thorogood, victualler, New Church-street, Lisson-grove 1 , 2 G. Carr, jun., Staffordshire warehouseman, Frid a y- s treet l/ H French, glass-cutter, Whitechapel R. Songhurst, box-maker, Budge-row, Watling -street H. Newark and Co., ribbon.Frianufacturers, Wood-street The first October packet, which a rrived at Barhadoes in the extraordinary short passage of 23 days from Falmouth, took out six magistrates destined fo r Jamaica—viz., a colonel, a major, and a captain of th e army ; tw•o lieutenants, R.N., and one civilian. BIRTHS. On the 30th ult., Mrs. Samuel Weatherley, of Bridge-stree t, Westminster, of a son. - On the 6th inst., at Camden-terrace, Ke.ntish.town, g rs ' Robert Fisher, of a son. On the sth inst., at Wimborne, Dorset, the lady of Hea r / Castleman, Esq., of a daughter. _ _ . . , On the 6th inst., the lady of Mr. Henry Nethersole, of Nell Inn, of a daughter. On the sth inst., at Bexhill, the lady of Richard SAY, of a son. MARRIED. On the 7th inst., at St. Peter's Church, Walworth, Charieh son of James Mansfield, Esq., of John-street, Bedford.roW, t° Sarah, only daughter of Wm. Gould, Esq., of Walworth. On the 7th inst., at Keston Church, Kent, the Rev. J 351e6 Kirkpatrick, eldest son of Geor g e Ki r kp a t r i c k, o f Hollycia le ' Kent, Esq., to Elizabeth Ann, eldest daughter of the Rev Joseph William Martin, Rector of Keston. On the kith ult., at St. George's, Hanover.square, Gilchri st Whisker, nephew of John Borthwick Gilchrist, LL.D., to CC cilia Somerville, only daughter of the late Captain Burt" , Hon. East India Company's Service, niece of Judge Burton, Ireland, and granddaughter to the late Dr. Burton, Canon of Christ Church, Oxford. On the 29th ult., at Rasharkin Church, John Robinson , o f Kitty-lodge, Esq., to Jane, youngest daughter of W. Reynold's of Portna, Esq. On the 28th ult., J. D. M'Dermott, Esq., son of the late M. M'Dermot, Esq., of Longford, to Mary, eldest daughter of D. O'Brien, of Clonmel, Esq. On the 4th inst., at Sherborne, Dorset, David Bate, Esq., of Torpoint, Cornwall, to Theophila Annie, only daughter of the late Captain John Nash, R.N. 1I DIED. On the 7th inst., at his house in Saville-row, Francis Squibb, Esq., aged 42. On the 3d inst., at Paris, aged 77, Wro. Steer, Esq., of Pall. mall. On the 7th inst., at Hastings, Richard Cancellor, Esq., of Cambridge.piace, Regent's-park, aged 33. aged 60. at S w inton -park, Yorkshire, age d 82,, WM On the sth inst., at Shooter's-hi ll, the Re v. Robert Dallin , On the 4th inst., Danby, Esq. On the sth inst., Ann, infant daughter of Mr. Charles Poore, of the Star and Garter, Whitechapel-road ; and on the 7th inst., Mary Anne, wife of Mr. Charles Poore, and second t i - New s tr e e t Ross, Dorset E - ii z square , abeti, in daughter her 19t h year. of .s W. v daughter cf Mr. Peter Emans, of the Strand. On the 4th inst., at Countess Weir, near Exeter, Miss Ellen I N 3 V .O h w i n t s e i et h hy e : a d 2BE , sh ofult., o ati PRINTED AND PUBLIPIIID BY MUR DO YOUNG, AT Tn 1: SUN Orrics, IW, Staarial VA to be LE T. ARTICL fashion, a P,etershan garringto Saxon clack y or Suit of Li The n TLENIE ING CI No, WM' 3f: T HI When ca l'w4iness. cnom, trum.eis Without kidder!' earpetti Ice. Ike. MI her SH an elegl 44c., at 'taste al aPprobi fo r the elastic dim e ii 'chose CHM E' ZETA' GLA; THE Wert : thopui IN comp deacri With eibilit Chins most Coun own tOriei gate• ....._ Ilion. desti road lease Situ