The Sun. — London, England, 1830-10-23 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC ,IQURNAI,S, We insert a letter signed " Plebeius," on the subject of Purliamentry reform. It is addressed to Mr. Brougham, and deserves attention. Among the objections made to the actual state of our re presentation, one of great moment undoubtedly is, that from the prodigious charges which have taken place in the condition of various districts of this country, towns or boroughs which in former ages had representatives assigned to them because of their opulence or population, have since declined in both below that point at which they could originally have put forth any title to the privilege; while elsewhere, spots unknown little further back than half a century, have swelled into greatnees of wealth and numbers, and are left to the humbug of virtual representation for the guardianship of their local iv tereste in Parliament. Unquestionably it Must ap pear nothing less than monstrous, that in a country where representative Government is not quite en acknowledged farce, one half-ruined house like Old Sarum should enjoy the power of choosing legis lators to coerce the free agency and fetter the in terests of more than half n million of Englishmen, inhabiting the immense commercial emporia of Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, and Sheffield, while thestlatter places cannot approach, but as petitioners, that house wherein the delegates of GP.lton and Old Sarum are seated in security and full legislative power. It is evident that the ancient maxims of British atm policy must all have been abandoned ere such a marvel lous contrast could have arisen between right without representation, and representation wholly de void of right. Plebeius affirms truly, that in former centuries " different towns ettioyed the privilege at different times,".--ttequiring, or being suspended in, the right of sending Members to Parliament, as they rose to prosperity, or sunk int o o b s c ur i t y an d meanness. The loss, however, of the right of re presentation h as not occurre d of late years as an ad judication by the Crown, but only, rind that in very rare instances, as a penalty inflicted by the Legisla ture. To the specific schemes of Parliamentary reform, where, as not often happens, a definite scheme has been proposed, objections have aug:ested themselves quite su ffi cie n t to i n d u c e tiny reasonable man to hesitate before he committed himself . or the country by their adoption. The plan for increasing the county representation was a nostrum for yielding to the aristocracy a large accession to their already irresistible power. That for coferring the franchise on certain great commercial towns, howeVer just and satisfactory so far as they were concerned, had the disadvantage of augmenting, by ten or a dozen votes, the gross numbers of an assembly, which, if convenience, usefulness, and efficiency had been considered, would long .since have been reduced by a hundred, or a hundred and fifty Members. A third project was for creating independence in the constituent body, and thereby rendering (in the unpin° minds of its a d vocates ) every other mode of Parliamentary reform unnecessary, by substituting the ballot for the vivd wee vote. To this we shall not repeat the objections which we have already, and more than once, described to be,,in our own judgment at least, unanswerable. But it all results in this.--that no plan of reform bits ever yet been publicly devised, which, let the Government have been inclined as it might, would have been regarded by Me nation as expedient. The author of the letter to Mr. Brougham aims professedly at restoring what he terms the " elastic principle" of the constitution, viz.—that which permitted the fluctuations in the state of the country to re-act upon the dements of the Legislature, by making the tight to send mem bers to Parliament depend mainly, though not too inquisitively or harshly, on the relative importance of the place pretending to exercise such franchise. Moreover, to obviate the remark that Parliament is already an assembly by far too numerous, Mr. Brougham's correspondent goes on to recominend that the place which newly acquires its franchise abaft indemnify the patron of the place which loses it, by the value ascertained in money. For the con stitutional character of this last proposal, not much, we fear, can be said, but we leave the author and his plans to make their own way with the reader.— Times. We have given in our extraeta from the French Paris, and i n our P r i vate C orrespondence from Paris, for the last two or three days, such minute and detailed accounts of the political tumults which have lately alarmed and disgraced that capital, that the reader will require no assistance of ours to esti mate their extent, or to comprehend their dangee- The rioters who crowd the courts of the Palt.is Royal to demand vengeance on the Ex-Ministers, and whose sanguinary vociferations have alarmed the King and bis Government, seem in general of the lowest description ; but, belonging to that class who fought the b a t t l es an d ga i ne d the triumphs of the glorious week, they pretend to the inheritance of all power which the people acOuired by the late Revolution. The sovereignty of the mob they con sider the same as the sovereignty of the nation, and because they expelled an ancient dynasty, they imagine that they may dictate to a citizen King who modestly addresses his fellow-citizens as " comrades." Their passions, too, have been inflamed by violent speeches, by incendiary pla cards, and inflammatory articles in the rept& lieAn journals. They have been assured that the King, the Ministers, and the Deputies, have formed a conspiracy to defeat the ends of justice, and that the dramatic scene hi the Chamber and in the Pa llas Royal, in which addresses were bandied be.; tween those parties, pledging themselves to mitigate immediately the penal laws, was a mere juggle to Cave the Ex-Ministers from merited •punishment.— With the unerring instinct of revenge, they turn from the snare laid for their humanity, to the de mend for blood ;—they denounce the anticipated pardon of the criminals by a law made in contem plation of their capital conviction, as an outrage on their rights, and Insist upon being the executors of that sentence which they see every disposition on the part of the Judges to deny, or of the Sovereign to remit. We have never joined the Paris rioters in calling for the blood of the state • prisoners of Vincennes, though we see nothing in their conduct to exempt them from the capital punishment due to their enormous guilt; but we cannot deny that the Ministers have committed it • fatal error by the mode in which they have at tempted to save them. They have 'roused all the suspicions of the people before their trial, instead of waiting the influence of time to cool their passions in order to pardon them (if they could be thought to deserve pardon) with safety after conviction. They have shown a determined purpose to hood wink their understandings, instead of courting their acquiescence in a mitigated punishment by frank ness and confidence. They have committed the popularity of the King, and the authority of the Chamber, to a resolution front which they have been driven by the menaces of a mob. They have exhibited to France end to Europe deplorable evidence of the weakness of the Government and the power of the populace. They have endangered the independence of the Chamber of Peers, and, though the ease of the Ex. Ministers were doubtful, have rendered it impos sible that they should have a fair trial. Even the Prefect of Police is obliged to impeach their judg ment 'in addressing his fellow-citizens, and to call their late proceedings an " untoward" measure.— The difficulties into which they have thus brought the Chamber and the King's Government are scarcely to be calculated. By their advice the Chamber addressed his Majesty, inviting him to propose t has immediately toebolish the punishment of deuth for offenc es similer to those of which the :XxsMinisters are accused. His Majesty, in reply • expresses hi s own personal and cordial sympathy with the object of the address, and e g sent the proposed Bill. Though the n ß a ill c l a ea t t o h P Z introduced, diacuased, voted,passed,aad "el it could not h ave carried with i t moreonfall°l l jetchi:, authoritative virt ue which constitutes' a law, tiutu . • this open and onentetions engagement to which the Legislature and the King are pledged. Cate they indict the punishment. of death on the .state criminals, after such engagement to save them without confessing that their change of purpose pro ceeds from their fear of danger ? Can they announce to Europe that they dare not exercise the preroga tive of mercy, from an apprehension of popular vio lence ? Has. a GoVernment, under intimidation from the populace, that character of stability and strength which can comtnand respect or maintain order ? Will the Victors in such a contest be satis fied with a single triumph; and abdicate their power when they have satiated their Vaigeance ? Should the King interpose pardon , are his advisers sure, that attid the excitement which they have paused, his authority would be respected or 'the objects of his mercy spared ? ere a few of the alarm ing questions which the fatal blunder of the Ca binet and the Chamber suggest. Even no* the pol pularity of the King is endangered, or his re putation fqr &annuli must be abandoned. The same tumultuous crowds who shouted under his windows " Death to Polignac," concluded every vociferation with the oboruh of " DoWit with the Ministers." The Ministers are said to have seen the embarrassit situation of the King, and to have tendered their resignations. If the tender is ac cepted, will not the dissolution of the Cabinet be ascribed to. popular Menace? If it is refused, will not his Majesty be accused of resisting the popular will? During the whole of these transactions, his Majesty seems to have displayed it presence of mind and a coolness of purpose, which shows how worthy he is of the Grown which he wears, and the post which he occupies. His speeches to the National Guard are appropriate and eloquent, and the manner in which they were delivered seems to have rendered them impressive. Nothing, too, Could be better than the conduct of this civic Force, whese intrepid courage in facing danger, to maintain or restore order, can only be equalled by its fidelity to the laws, and its , zeal to sacrifice domestic ease or profitable occupa tion, to the performance of military duties, or the exercise of gratuitous vigilance. Whatever may be thought of its organization in some circumstances of the country, when extending to great masses, or placed under certain commanders, there can be no question that at various epochs it has saved France from great calamities. In the invasions of 1814' and 1815, its beneficial influence was conspicuous in preserving ordery and without its prompt re establishment, the revolution of 1830 could either not have been accomplished, or would not have lasted a month.—lirnes. The 1031 number of The Edinburgh Rcvicw, published yesterday, contains two articles on sub jects which occupy the minds of most persons at present—namely, the late Revolution in France, and the General Election and the Ministry. The au thor of those articles may be easily recognised. In the article on the French Revolution, the part which some great men in power in this country took is particularly alluded to " That document, surely, (says the Reviewer, speaking of the statement drawn up and signed by the Ministry of Charles X.), is not so swiftly forgotten, which was hailed with so much rapture by the sycophants of despotism All over Enrope—and which even in England, gladdened a few of the most noisy but most despicable creatures, that are suffered by Providence to crawl upon tEe face of the earth. They have not assuredly forgotten that firm And manly document'—that ' highly statesmanlike paper' that vigorous and decisive instrument, so %veil Worthy of the great occasion which called it forth.' But if they have, others have not and its authors may not find it so easy to wriggie out of it, as its admirers now do to cast it into the shade." The Reviewer, like many others, is led to con trast the conduct of the French with what would have been the conduct of the English under similar circumstances t , In tasting our eye over the magnificent picture of which we have only been able to sketch a faint outline, we must again, as in reviewing the contests of the Senate which preceded the battle in the field, acknowledge the superiority of our neighbours over ourselves, It can hardly' ha doubted that were any marked attempts made against the liberties of this co u ntry, the English people would in some way resist, and would sooner or later make an effec tual stand against oppression. But it is to us equally ' clear, that despotism would have far too good a chance of being successful in the first instance. So many would go about preaching up prudence, moderation, peaceable mea nures ; so prodigious an effusion of cant would be made in favour of our immaculate Tribunals, that the tend ency would, we fear, be pretty general to have the ques tion between the government and the people brought to issue in a Court of Law. Yet who can pretend to doubt that almost all Courts of Law lean perpetually towards the ex isting government? Who can doubt that the Judges are, in their nature, well-wishers to what they term a firm or strong Government, and regard with a jealous eye all po pular feeling and popular rights ? Who is so ignorant of judicial proceedings as not to know that a little new law is always forthcoming for any pressing occasion; home times raked up - from old authorities or long forgotten cases, sometimes derived from • vague and common law principles —sometimes boldly, and even impudently, made to suit the purpose of the hour? Who does not know that the Learned Judges have a way of just grinding a little law for tie present use—so that, though you may not always be able to tell beforehand by what route they will arrive at their conclusion, you have a pretty good guess of the side they will decide for—namely, the Crown or its officers, against the people and their friends." 1 hat our Judges are here described by the hand of n roaster, no one can well dispute. But the beauty of the business is, that they can on occasions decide either way without impeachment of their integrity. In that store-house of iniquity, the English law, Mr. Justice Either-sides, us Mr. Bentham terms the functionary, can never be at a loss for grinding ma• terials to suit his views. But as to invasions of English liberties —attempts made against the liber ties of the people of this country, who is to make the attempt ? In Fiance there was a struggle be tween the King and the nation, and the king was defeated. But who is to make an attempt against English liberties? Will a boronghmonger Govern ment attack boroughmongers ? Dog, says the Turkish proverb, will not eat dog. Would borough mongers be such arrant fools as to cut their own throats by making the King absolute ? Why, they derive all their consequence from the Parliament. " The English people would in some way resist." Resist, hew ? Would the English people resist any encroachment on its liberties by the Parliament ? Because any person in this country would be insane to think of any attack on the people, except through Parliament. Ours is a Parliamentary Government. The Oligarchy names the Parliament, and the King is merely the head. Every thing • in England is different from what it seems, and this able Reviewer, while extolling the French for their promptitude in resisting encroachments on their liberties, still ex , erts himself to perplex the question, by epenking us if there was any resemblance between the po sition end character of the French Chambers, and those of the Parliament of England. The question in this country can never be between the.Govern merit and the Parliament, but between one division of the Parliament rind another, between the ins and the outs—between the shares of the loaves and fishes and those who seek to share them. From the top to the bottom every thing in England is fiction, and hence we find this able:writer constantly comparing realities in one country w►th what in another country have nothing in common with them but the mune. All that the writer says about the French Peerage seems to us liable to the same ob. jection—namely, that objects essentially distinct are contrasted with each other. " If nobility (be says) is to expire with each Peer that is created, what an enormous influence is given to the Crown over the families of the Aristocracy 1" Ile might us well say " what influence an American President has over the families of the Semite!" Where there is a real, and not a virtual representation, the Crown is necessarily identified with the nation, and no one would ever dream of the idea of seeking in a Peer age to counteract the representatives of the nation. The Peers, too, would have no motive for malting themselves obnoxious to the nation, by opposing the Deputies, for the sake of a King who thirst not re sist the Deputies. The prevailing idea in France is, that the elevation to the peerage should be alto gether is personal distinction, and the sons of Peers would no more think of succeeding to the peerage than the son of a Judge would think of succeeding ton Judgeship. A Senator in America never thinks that his son should succeed to a Senatorship. The English aristocracy are powerful in prOperty, and possess the Government ; and the people being their property, it Is natural they should think their sons ought to succeed to the property. But in France the people are every thing, and the aristo cracy a matter of history ; and the peopip, having only utility in view ; wish to have a Peerage in the sense of a Senate. The Peerage of England ought to be put out of the question when we are speaking of a country like France. What the writer says of the National Guards is also, we think, founded on a misapprehension of the difficulties the Freneli have to struggle with. The writer dreads the National Guard. But what security can there be for tran quillity in times of convulsion like that afforded by arming of all those who have the deepest interest - in the maintenance of it ? We cordially subscribe to the observation of the Reviewer that England and Europe will derive immense benefit from what has taken place in France. " Finally (he says) we take it to be clear that the honest and generous emulation which has ever made the two greatest nations of Modern Europe run the same race of rivalry in improvement, will now help in the amend. ment of whatever defects exist in our institutions. The people of England will not long brook any marked infe riority to their neighbours ; and especially will such an eclipse be galling if it be on the freedom upon which they have so long prided themselves as their distinguishing and exclusive excellence. France has now a freer Govern ment than England. This truth must be told."---Morning chronicle. The German Sovereigns are said to be affected with a panic at the progress of the Belgian insur rection. If their fears were to teach them wisdom it would be well for mankind. They have created the cause of their own alarm by governing, not in accordance with, but in contempt of, public opinion. They could not bear the language of truth; they proscribed it from their Palaces; they silenced it in the journals; but now they are forced to hear it when it speaks in a voice of thunder! It is clear that Sovereigns who are taken completely unawares by the present state of things in Europe had no foresight—no political sagacity whatever—neither they nor their Ministers ;—yet such a state of things, or something Ike it, had been often predicted by writers who wished Kings to understand that their own honour and security could have no lasting foun dation but in the happiness of their subjects. But this, which is the object of all good government, scarcely ever entered into the thoughts of those Continental Kings and Cabinets, who now find all their military barriers but feeble bulwarks against the flood of revolution. Like the Roman Empe rors, they impiously arrogated to themselves a Di vine title, while their mode of exercising power be trayed any thing but the attributes of divinity. They allowed themselves to be intoxicated with that insi dious poison which most deranges the understanding and corrupts the heart, and enjoyed the incense of flattery as the fumes of their daily sacrifice. Who can wonder that, in their vain notions of regal ex cellence arid contempt for the people, they lost sight of all those great duties which constitute the virtuous and wholesome efficiency of power ? —Who can wonder that they considered themselves exempt from the obligations of morality, and that they thought it neither crime nor dishonour to vio late the most solemn engagements when it suited their interests or inclinations? Some of them now hold their Crowns only in consequence of the pa triotic spirit with which, after their armies had been repeatedly beaten by Napoleon, their people rose and drove the invader from their soil, and which spirit was excited by Royal promises of Constitu tions and civil improvements, which promises have been most shamefully violated. It is because we are enemies to the subversion of order, nod every thing which tends to promote anarchy, that we tell these plain truths to those who, by hating and per secuting truth, and unjustly exercising power, have, with the exception of England, convulsed the whole state and elements of society in Europe. Could any policy based on the broad foundation of wisdom arid virtue—could any policy that did not contain within itself the principle of its own destruction, after an undisturbed growth of 15 years—be shaken to pieces by the events of three days ? Such is the stability of the policy which such a Statesman us Metternich, and his and to k eep .11 pupils, have built up to d overawe the mind of Europe, eter nal vassalage that most dreaded enemy of unjust power—opinion, It is time to try another course —not the course of war and desolation, with the vain idea of preventing the progress of political re formation—but the course of justice, of concilia tion, and of voluntary improvement, which it is yet in their power to do, and thereby render the revolutionary spirit harmless, before violence pro ceeds too fur to listen to the counsels of reason.— Morning Herald. All the accounts which have reached us from Paris, since our last, concur in representing that capital as having been restored to tranquillity. The National Guard had behaved with firmness and mo deration, in dispersing. the crowds which assembled in and about the squares and passages of the finials Royal—the most conspicuous of the ringleaders had been arrested and conveyed before the Magistrates, and the King, us w e ll u s G en e ra l Lafayette, h a d both - addressed the National Guard in a manner which cannot fail to produce a powerful effect on all but the wilful disturbers of the public peace and the factious creatur es o f th e E x -Ki ng . W e h o p e an d trust, in fact, that, if the Government do not too soon disclose its wishes again to save the lives of the Ex-Ministers, there will be no further troubles or tu multuou►s assemblages in Paris; but while we have some confidence that such will prove to be the fact, •we are, at the same time, far from thinking either that the presettt Ministry is one which will long maintain its possession of power, or that the French people will be satisfied with the ameliora dons which it would deem it necessary to introduce into the social- system. The revolution was strictly and truly effected by the people, more for the benefit of the middle and upper classes than their own; they learned, by effectin g it, t h e acquit of their strength, and they have since learned from the jour nail the secret of the rights and privileges which they ought to possess ; and it is not, therefore, to be expected either that they, or any other part of the population of France which conceives itself ag grieved by exclusion from privileges which are en joyed by others, will rest satisfied until the Govern ment has proceeded a step farther in the march of republicanism. Independently of those who are republicans in principle, and who hope in the course of dine to see not only it republic established in France, but in every other, country in Eu rope, there is n numerous class opposed to the restrictions with which the Pres s i s s till fettered, and a still more numerous one which desires that the elective franchise should he more extended than it either is at present, or than the Government or any of its members have signified an intention of making it. The great bulk of the people are, in fact, dissatisfied with t h e present state of things—one party, on amulet of th e exc l us i on o f the late Royal family from th e th rone —another, be cause there has been merely a cha nge o f d ynast y without an extension of the constitution—and a third, because it conceives that the present Govern ment does not thoroughly comprehend the situation of France or the wishes of Frenchmen, and will bound its labours to the mere task of preserving the Charter, and the freedom which it secures. A change of the present Ministry f or one o f a mor e liberal turn, would do much to allay the prevailing discontent, more especially if that Ministry, instead of attempting to oppose, went in some measure with the stream, and while it placed barriers against its excess, directed it through useful channels; sotnething of this kind be not done ere long, it k by no means out of the ran ge o f probability that still greater changes may be demanded and if refused, Mi enforced.---rning Advertis er , but if POLICE INTELLIGENCE. BOVV.STREET. Yesterday Isaac Rattan, the driver of the Cam bridge stage-coach, called " The Times," appeared before Mr. MlNsittm. to answer to a charge of fa lions driving, preferred against him by Jeremiah Harman, Esq., a Bank Director. The information having been read to the defendant, he at once pleaded guilty to the charge. The Magistrate convicted the defendant in the full penalty of lOs , which the defendant immediately paid, together with 10s, costs. A similar information has been preferred against the driver of the Walden coach, which will be heard next Tuesday. WORSHIP.STREET. Yesterday Thomas Pdtifor was charged on a war rant with assaulting William Watson. It appeared by the evidence that the defendant was a baker, residing at Hackney, and contracted to supply the poor of the parish with bread, It is customary to give tickets for bread to the paupers applying for relief instead of money : the complain ant was a pauper, and on Tuesday last went to the defendant's shop with a bread ticket, and requested that the loaf might be weighed, as he had received a loaf on the previous day six ounces deficient. The defendant refused to weigh the loaf, and instantly struck the complainant, and pushed him out of the shop. The other paupers corroborated the complainant's statement. The defendant denied the assault, and put up his maid servant, who swore that no blow was struck, but admitted that her master pushed the complain ant out of the shop. The Chief Clerk said the defendant was liable to a penalty fur refusing to weigh the bread. Defendant—That is when a purchaser requires it ; in this case the overseers are the purchasers, and not the pauper. Chief Clerk—There's the trickery of it. Defendant—l weigh the bread a hundred weight at a time, and of course the outside crusty loaves . weign lighter than those in the middle : the man was very insolent, and offered to fight me, Mr. TWYPORD—But that was after you had pushed him out of your shop; some allowance must he made for his feelings as well as yours ; the as sault is clearly proved, but if you choose to pay the costs, and make the man some recompense, it will not be further gone into : the case of refusing to weigh the bread i+ not the subject of complaint now. The defendant gave the complainant half-a-crown, and paid 35., the costs of the warrant: IVillium Waters was finally examined for a bur glary in the dwelling-house of John Pollard, No. 3, Wiltshire-place, near the Rosemary-Branch Hoxton. Evidence was adduced, which proved the find ing of a jemmy and several skeleton-keys, which the prisoner threw away, and corroborated the de termined resistance made by the prisoner. A clasp knife was also found near the spot where the struggle took place, which it is supposed he drew from his pocket to defend himself, but finding he was overpowed, threw it away. After the prisoner was locked up, he was ob served to write something with a pencil, and endea vour to conceal it. Attfield and Vnnn, who had been watching him, and suspecting it might give information, went into the lock-up-room, and asked him to show it them, which he refused, and resisted them when they took the paper from him. It was as follows : " Dear Girl,—l am sorry to say what the prosecutor has swore to will be sure death, but nothing grieves me hut parting with you and my child. You can tell Sam to let Dick and the other know how I have got on, and 1 hope they will do something for me towards getting a counsellor. Remember me to your mother. lam very much obliged to Sam for his kindness. Hoping to meet you in the next world, I remains yours truly till death, " R. WATERS." The prisoner gave his name William Waters at the &lice. lie was fully committed to Newgate for trial. 'OUTRAGES IN SURREY. In consquence of the outhouse. and stock of some of the homers residing at and near Oxted, in Sur rey, having been maliciously destroyed by fire, and information of the same having been given at Union. hall, Chief Constable Hall, and Curtis, an officer of that establishment, were despatched to that part of the county, for the purpose of tracing the origin of the outrages and apprehending the parties implicated in them. On the officers' arrival at Oxted, they ascertained that the barns, and other buildings at tached thereto, belonging to Mr. Thompson and Mrs. Ford, of that neighbourhood, were set fire to by incendiaries, and the stock of each, consisting of corn, hay, potatoes, and other articles, totally de stroyed. Mr. Thompson's premises, it appeared, had been attempted seven or eight different times, before the incendiaries succeeded in their object of burning the out-houses and property they contained, and, notwithstanding every precaution used on the part of the proprietors to prevent the destruction of their property, all their efforts were unavailing. The object the offenders had in setting fire to Mr. Thompson's premises cannot be easily accounted for, as it seems he neither used a threshing machine nor ever employed strangers to work in his employ ment,--two circumstances which might be supposed to have operated favourably for him, as it is well known that the employment of machines, and also of strangers, in that part of the country, as well as in Kenr, has given rise to much discontent amongst the labouring classes in these places. There is not of the men in th e o u trages mentioned, and it is the prevailing i t n he N 6 l l r i . glllt Thom pson ' sP suspicion ° fi n er v il i t e t e ne ll i a e v d i n t g o a b l e l en concerned opinion that an organized gang of fellows,—men disappointed of obtaining work in these parts of the country,—have, out of a spirit of revenge on the farmers, determined to do them injury by setting lire to and destroying their property. Chief Constable Hall and Curtis were apprised, on their arrival at Oxted, that a man named John Blakey bad been apprehended there on Wednesday. There were found amongst his papers several polls tical prophecies of his own invention, all of which prophesied that a revolution was at hand in this country, and other writings of his were found, all of a tendency to inflame the mind* of the weak.— In his examination before the Magistrates, he stated that he had one brother, a clergyman, in Upper Canada, and another held a situation under Government, in the West Indies. With respect to himself, it seemed that he had been leading a wan dering and vagabond kind of life for some years past. lie was born, he said, in Yorkshire, and was , apprenticed to a watchmaker in Lancaster, from which apprenticeship he ran away, and entered on board the Thunder bomb, Captain Pell, in which he served four years. He abandoned that vessel at Cadiz, and got hack to Liverpool, where he turned a uthor, and wrote a book on physic, which, how ever, did not turn out profitable, and lie then worked in the brick-fields to a labourer. After having un dergone many vicissitudes, he came up to London, and lived on his wits here for some time, but chiefly made out a subsistence by selling his prophetic writings in different public-homes. 'Phis trade, however, did not answer his expectations, and as h e cou ld not obtain relief either in London or at NVoolwieb, where he was known by an officer in the garrison, he determined on travelling into the coun try, to exhibit a harpoon and other inventions of his own , in order to keep him from starving. With t hi s intention he left London on Saturday last, and b e nt his way into Kent, and slept at Woolwich.— On Sunday night he slept in a barn within three miles of Woolwich, along with two ot h er men, stra ngers, with whom h e went to a fair in that s i sco aitfrtyer, having ne ighbourhood. In or d er to account f to r hi a f te r leaving K his way into Surrey, .Kent and bending or 114 time v ig ch ma de iie : e i b e said that a f ter h av i ng parted with the two strange m was until then a stranger, and got i nto O xte d , wt iie he was ei he e a taken nt d o custody tltem s ome disclosu res t o a countryman relative s e to an n• vention of his own for a n Improvement in fire. arms and other weapons. Chief Constable Hall having heard the account he had given of himself, ascertained that he bad left some implements be hind him at a new-beer shop in Deptford. Hither that officer repaired, and discovered that Blakey had left a brass weapon of curious construction with the landlord. It had several tubes to it, which smelt strongly of gunpowder, and appeared as if it bad been recently in use. Hull produced the weapon yesterday at Union-hall, the accused having been brought up to that office for re-examination; and in answer to the Magistrates, relative to the use for which such a weapon was intended, Blakey said that it was for propelling a harpoon, and would be of in calculable service in the whale-fisheries. Another long brass tube, with a touch-hole to it, was also produced, which he said was also of his own inven tion, and was intended for throwing shells into the enemy's flank. It was a portable weapon, and %%as intended for officers, who in battle would be enabled to throw small shells from it amongst the enemy, and create disorder. It was made so as to fit to the front-part, or crupper of a saddle, and, he said, might be used with great effect by cavalry officers. At this stage of the investigation, several farmers from Kent, whose property had been destroyed by incendiaries, came to the office, but none of them were enabled to say that they had ever seen the prisoner before. The Magistrates asked the prisoner whether he could bring forward 9riy person to speak as to his general character ?—The prisoner replied in the negative. The Magistrates told him, that independent of the suspicion entertained against him, he had ren dered himself liable to be committed as a rogue and vagabond. Prisoner—l am unfortunate,but I don't come under the denomination of a rogue. I am willing (added he) to give every explanation, and although, I confess, I described that one of my in ventions was capable of doing much mischief to barns and hay-ricks, yet I can safely affirm that I never went into the county with the intention of trying their effects by setting fire to property. It was here stated, that a man was in custody at Lewes, in Sussex, on suspicion of being concerned in the outrages; and that a woman, with whom he cohabited, had made some important disclosures. It was, therefore, arranged that the chief constable, Hall, should proceed to that place to obtain further confirmation, and in the mean time Blakey was re manded for further examination. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE. PLYMOVTIT, OCT. 22.—His Majesty's surveying vessels Adventure, Captain King, and Beagle, Capt. Fitzroy, arrived here on Thursday from South America, where they have been engaged for nearly five years in the survey of the coast from Chiloe, on the west side, to the River Plata, on the east. The harbours on the'coast are very numerous, and some of them goo 4 roadsteads, but the greatest part of the. country is a mere bog, visited with almost incessant rains. The last survey of the Beagle was from Cape Pillar to Cape St. Ciego, and to the eastern entrance of the Straits of Magellan. In this survey Capt. Fitzroy and Lieut. Kemp ascended to the summit of Cape Horn , on which they ere c t e d a pile of stones twelve feet high. The Adelaide schooner, tender to the Beagle, and under the com mand of Lieut. Skyring, of that ship, commenced a survey of the Gulf of Penes, and that portion of the land designated Tres Moines, which they found to be joined to the Main by a neck of land called the Isthmus of Offeui. They also surveyed the Guanacoe Islands, and found some traces of the wreck of the Wager; potatoes were growing, which led them to believe they were near the spot where that vessel was lost, that vegetable not being in digenous. From the Guanacoes they continued their course towards the Mesier Channel, which had never before been explored, in order to dis cover if there were any communication with the Otway and Skyring Waters, which were sur veyed the preceding season by Captain Fitzroy. This object kept them actively employed for six months; they discovered that there was a com munication between the waters, but could find no outlet from either into the ocean. The Adventure and Beagle left Rio de Janeiro on the 7th of August, leaving on that station the Warspite, 76, Capt. Burgess, with the flag of Rear-Admiral Thomas Baker, C.B. and the Lightning, 18, Captain T. Dickinson. The Adelaide was given up to the Admiral.—The Druid, 46, Capt. G. Hamilton, sailed for Bahia a few days before they left ; and the Opossum packet was to sail four (Jaya after their departure. The Beagle has brought home four of the natives, and both vessels has a number of animals and specimens of plants from the country surveyed. The Beagle came into harbour on Monday to be paid off, and the Adventure sailed yesterday for Woolwich. The Ariadne, the Royalist, and the Carron steamer, sailed on Saturday last for Liverpool, having on board the Depots of the 18th (Royal Irish) and 48d Light Infantry. The Pickle schooner was re-commissioned on Friday for the West India station. Lieut. Thomas Taplen (1802) is apppointed to command her. The Antelope tender, from the Downs, and the Arrow cutter, with supernumeraries from Ports mouth, arrived on Friday. The Arrow returned to Portsmouth on Sunday. In I - lamonze—Caledonia, Kent, Revenge, Race horse, Beagle, Leveret, Pickle, Antelope, Duke of York, Colombia. In Barnpool—Pallag. At the Island—Bramble, Vigilant. His Majesty's ships Briton and Undaunted, under the orders of Captain Markland, C. 13., were all well on the 20th ult. cruising off the Western Islands, and were expecting to return home about the begin ning of November. Lieut. John Batley, R.N. of the Coast Guard Service, crept up off the Start Point, on the night of Sunday se nnight eighty tubs of spirits. PROMOTIONS, APPOINTMENTS, &c.—Captain T. Huskisson is appointed to Greenwich Hospital, vice M'Kenley promoted. Capt. Hon. Frederick W. Grey is appointed to the Ariadne, vice Mar ryatt resigned. Capt. James Hillyar, C. 8., and his brother, Commander William Hillyar, are appointed to the Revenge, after she shall have been paid off and re-commissioned. Lieutenants J. W. Wait,- field, J. R. Driffield, J. H. Bellaniy, and Sir P. Parker, Bart., are also appointed to the Revenge, as well as Mr. John Wills, Purser. Mr. J. Cornish, of the revenue cruiser E ag l e , an d M r . Th omas Mackeson, late acting Lieutenant in the Hecla, are promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. Mr. R. J. M'Clare, of the St. Vincent, is appointed Chief Mate of the revenue cruiser Repulse. Senior Lieutenant Eyton, of the St. Vincent, is appointed to command the Lightning steamer, pro tempore. First Lieutenant Arthur Molesworth, of the Chat ham Division of Royal Marines, is promoted to the rank of Captain, and appointed to the Portsmouth Division, vice Halloran, who has been removed to this Division. First Lieutenant G. Lloyd, R.M. has been called in from reserved half-pay, and ap pointed to the Chatham Division, vice Molcsworth, taking rank at the bottom of the list of First Lieu tenants. Captain Robert Mercer, R.M. is appointed to the Ganges, vice Halloran. First Lieutenant Nepean, R.M. is appointed to the Portsmouth Divi sion from the supernumerary list, vice Fynmore, deceased. The following gentlemen passed their examination for navigation as Lieutenants, on ‘,Vednesday, at the Royal Naval College :—The Hon. Le Poer Trench, and A. S. Hamond, of the Pearl; It. Tryton, of the Royal George; A. G. Rothery, of the Rainbow; H. Cottrell, late of the Barham; John Dunsterville, of the Despatch ; B. Miller, of the Donegal; John F. Fanshawe, of the Pallas; Graham Gore, of the Mosquito; George Harper, of the Galatea; A. J. Paul, of th e G anges; Thomas R. Eden, and 11. 'l'. Ryves, of the St. Vincent. His Majesty has been graciously pleased to allow such regiments and corps as have ut present cm bgui the s ,nnahroniongoealddnitrde.pit standardGrt::: Marines, nrsoeestdd:is parties tans - Gen eral ib uniforms, ciayfy:r,i silver r,avi lace,it:eir,,cialo t 11 0 , vii alteration. it(ciaehirpt retain aepytnvei roaaetnsrhs. ordered fd that s: w n tehdei which hb sindeedabouta ci preset rctiai i has been issued to the different divisions of BeJ splendid dress of the o ffi cers of that corps will a A circular has been issued by the Deputt.Mil from mf f o the rt hreec differentrßu i o tg yal for Al t ahrie d ivisions,naebsati t a co ! all pi t ei n i nt itib l be raised forthwith one inch, viz., from fire feet I ven inches to five feet eight inches. . On a visit, a few days since, of the Lord Wut flint of Ireland to the Cove of Cork, hi" Exo linty conferred the honour of Knighthood en ijo tenant Witham, of his Majesty's ship Seininto (flag-shin) on that station. The officers and ship's company of his Majesty sloop Badger, have presented Captain Richard I Rowley with a handsome piece of plate, on his hl ing promoted to the Cape of Good Hope, as a last bl p he r e e ecy s n s ac i ap r x i i ing memorial of their esteem, and a mem o f il retire Morgan , on r o o f , o t a h y .: diviim d 11° Y 1 gratitude fur the happlotO Marines (lately Commadant at Fernando Ma l'i ill health. Notwithstanding the unfavourable reports whic have been made of Fernando PO l 6' 1 01 116d in servicesfli th e ro n owm edt h c t eo o forlulrsaoekt 01 e o li et f voi t i: c si v r li oaan division dd months ; eotaf e hi Inn enterprising o ffi cer, Captain Nicoll', of the nor hi consequence i Marines, will return to his command on that islaa rifles, he could raise two or three hundred unites of PN The Supernumertuy Aleistaot-fineons of th St. Vincent have been solicited to volunteer the' openings are expected eiantint,dathiltoeuimldloothohuregi.beivt with a no: nineshillings A naval expedition, under Capt. Fitzelaren ce, !' in preparation. Its bject into examine complittol the whole of the Eastern Archipelago, where mst . n a n T ot h i e ce, commerce. It goes first to New South Walm, ant will be ready about the beginning of the LeAr.7 [We believe their is no truth in the above Wl' --Eprroft.] froinilis to be found - for beneicia off Middleton, on the Shelly rocks, on the coast Sussex. Plymouth,Majesty'ssta tI C orporation g ta:yhai odi that a t ct h iwiu e oh: T li etEe r w i iciibii e' ate u t y oy li i rteohodu: fre ehp," l a i :on e : l e Idr lac e ui elf 6 heroi, , Captain John o e e jdnochtheoi ndrn under thei their i g s 20th Augur; the latter faded 211"pktootith Ste.—The Talbot arrived at Wei n!' "' ln i G oo d 21st August, and sailed for the Cape 0 Hope 24th. arrived al The Friede, Netzer, from this Pots ft , Memel Oct. 2. The Pearl, PA of thio gii, hg sailed from Gravesend, for Bilbos , 1 3 th in st '....s at Beer and Wingyett, ---, of this port, atV_T sa i Naples from Liverpool, Sept. 21.—..Plysitorrikim THE EX-ROYAL FAMILY OF A$C ' Ilia Royal Highness the Duke of Angouleres.noiLi expected here shortly , a c redit having bean alrelPliw". - with a banking-house in town fur his Wheat , ~e • . 1 1 We are somewhat at a loss to conceive why Sir Scott should have thought it necessary to Pr p{ , ', l civility of our fellow-citixens in favour of the Hsi*, France and his family in the way he her dond4,'' wi r d "0470 V01. not believe that there was a single individua(hi the assembly which met to esprees its approbitied ofrusi French revolution, whatever might be hie political Orl -00" who in any way approved of the violent: '1011,4, which one speaker expressed relative tattle 60P.L.A4ei, milY, with reference to the possibility of their fssr - :e7ynoct as nwde O sret u il r il illustrious townsman, if liir ° I P ° - ti him so, hu apparently attached greeter _ A j, , 0 ,1 this solitary expression of feeling than it 4007,:iauteil. t A h s e se y in tl b io ly re . The Royal Family of Prem.', whattlitiLrrur_lieiu before , lived quietly and inoffensiveir lic.i.iingaiiH'rr-whici halls of the only remnant of Rarlf'f b t alifu. " -- iireat4siiintu%tioTobteLlll46lniteetlert....ll:l;birberueentirithe4l4rivaribiti ciety, and continually cooed our '....5t..... -- -- s e :s r th' their presence. W e are eta enough to Row,. t..s . in —eorge.. ,-- tended as during their residenoe at Holyray-ji nelettivie: I . re seen them on a Queen's birth -nights W hen . t il lostited it :Artois, hi. two sans, and hie nuatereog etntei l o ier brilliant and redone uniforms,. ftWire d all * Ai V . constellations, amid the throng of the Edinbufw- why, which and Yeomanry, then in the her-rill,' ° ( ,_" 1 " . ,„,,, 00 02. 11 ht that time was to many of thew soo,r", importance. . h' b " Far be it from us to embitter thelfeelings ir - IC A" rooms in filled rfmtthan WereWe triunes:orb: Wt007111;51 fail to exist in the breasts of these capriole,' sr , pee consequence of recent events. Air old or a; Ir e joelil they h will be received here ; and if their prowl° och .ave the e ff ect of restoring i little of that g i sic iii WO since their time has been sadly on the Wire t a , sl it VIII (and which, if they should remain for - per l l - 1 ."." -' infallibly do), our shopkespers, at least, , W lll . ""i n g i son to regret the friendly consent which - b j or eir given to their inhabiting the Palace of 01""*" .. doniun Mercury. pc, rio,ui iT i rn e i l l hi r e b : hi -------------- tes. t ees E sritoma S tatla T elidlnn il : l ue, l m N b S e Tr ofE R prisoners,S SS 0 ....., N5,: 0r r i b I po. ---- ' bOlB/11° t i i l o ls n iltiladthbeeeunstu'oailinds:ayls:ertehediicrabantr j u ils ; fl e: r : ap w atittnielnelhalderiiineitertlnilli'diyaounfttdihteee:di:Cbu Jurymen, lu p l at a irbmefaoi: resolution, tthe l o 'a n t t tl i te i l e s er ilygstnulebedi were e cCb Court 1 le h o ri eti r l it i t h i l ' _ l r 04 1 evincedl ti c ig l e e : r e of the peace then read oe_ j uil—.4 :tu.tg t°ll moue 1 tlisanitt That l: v m hrtailecillgi::yaertr(dht eitlyfone:txolfileerereassteigliulbiliniihre:7l:lllo! good conduct of the new police. ...-ttily, in gw nie el undersigned)roafltalplturteVdelseeebrane r r o tifl i te r i g srsetshsh t aseni f ro o dno rs if l l ' l% a nt: r ap u lts;fira r eo O nna l Co, g ut! 1 1 1 l y e a tithr o e:sh b ii, r le , 1 1 14 : A i 1 1, 11 I t ti t i :i i ted to the exertions of the new p . C i te d or gentlemen haring thus expressed their 1 ."; ( 1 ROI t ot t r, eight of their brother Jurymen booltoped dissent in lobo from the commendation P—ld n ot upon the new police, and added that they , e fi l f or, but consider that body as On unconstittifid:P'i tirof and that besides being notoriously ine l6 ,l l l l s l be were dreadfully expensive They bor" ," that subject of the new police 'would be br ° „ 11 °, 11 : _ A Parliament, with a view to its total abor — ; sw- The COURT made no observation Whlte.th the Jury then retired. BIRTH. et Ills Clargel4:- qtr I l lidra(o)).tinniofift,trill'ilelMAßßlED. o ti mfor J, of :4 the latel earman, El. of a daughts Jr. J. J. MtooragtaELoi,ei:foil:relm7l:ll:rtlyPilotiffnrieuggde.g:aW.- 1:81.: - DIED. 44,4 On the 22,1 inst. in the 80th year of hie 4 6 ' Barclay, 1- 7 - , 49., of Bury Hill, near Dorking. ~.., , p ls. , On the 110th inst. at her house in allnl e.. 1 Portman-square, the Dowager Lady Simeon. 0411 toneK tilf t On the 22d inst. in Tonbridgellace, E 9ll- the et ageOda6sth.e 20th inst. at Bath, the Hon. Elissbelb Catherine, the wile of James Bacon, EA , I 4 la year of her ace. riaptorn *!'. On the 20th inst. at Springfield, Upper , E. Thompson, aged '77. 0f Wl' On the 20th inst. John Rankin, Egi'f Or D * aged 85. t t on On the 21st in,t. Ath.lph Henry, ynneBo- sir. Pfeil, Esq. of Dulwich o u l On the 20th inst. at Alitcham, Surrqf 'lt'lli in wife of J. Ranch, Esq. a ged 48. ~_ st ognis '- On the 21st inst. ut Ilammersintin, Mr. his 94th year. Roberto the Woodrow, i ritl. agedlst. , 6 i l ti l , Gdaersedreynet-rnoyw:eiSpeouttehottei.,:;: 22 Suffolk,l: Y. t i s loot,ip n t . a t his yo/g4 o i PRINUP AND PUBLISIINO by 1000 ?D M X SUN ° et , 1 1% RSA Nth LONPOPe