The Sun. — London, England, 1844-05-03 00:00:00

------------ cr tminal, and history told them how a predecessor in — ," aw was in such a state as required alteration. He had i office of the Noble and Learned Lord on the Wool s ack, • never used any political allusions in introducing the Lord Chancellor:Wriothesley, had assisted in stretching : Bill, and he was astonished at his Noble and Learned the rack. The .Istoble and Learned Lord who now fillet ' Friend's having done so. that office, might be accused of some peccadilloes, but be The committal of the Bill was negatived without a felt certain he would not act as Lord Chancellor Wrioth- division, and the House adjourned at Half-past Eight .e.sley had done. A practice also prevailed of never con- o'Clock. +Ms fronting the prisoner with the witnesses fur the Crowne— HOUSE OF COMMONS, May 2. their depositions were taken in private. The prisoner The SPEAKER took the Chair at the usual hour. who refused to plead Under all these disadvantages was NEW MEMBER. subjected to what was termed peine firrte et de,'e, so as to Mr. HunsT took the oaths and his seat for Horsham. make him plead. Weights were placed upon the unfor T tunate criminal, in the language of the law, "heavier t he Han. G ent l eman was i n troduced by Mr. J. A. Smith d the Earl of March. as than he could bear." It w further laid down that no The Bow Brickhill Estate Bill was read a third time witness "against the King" should be sworn, lest the and p assed. jury might believe him ; and this vile p ractice The Newbury and Basingstoke Railway Bill was read continued until after the Reformation. In their a third time and passed. own time, timid women, or infirm o ld men, The or persons ignorant et* tii: language, or deaf and dit:isb Lords' amendments to the No rwich and Brandon - Railway Bill were agreeette. persons who were tried tor their lives, could not employ The Lords amendments to the Great Western Railway counsel to defend them. lie regretted to say, that , Bill were read and agreed to. although the Noble Lord on the iveolsaek possessed Mr. BOYD presented thirty-six petitions from the much of the milk of human kindness, he - opposed North of Ireland, praying for an Act to legalise Pres the Prisoner's Counsel Bill. However it passed into a - byterian Marriage; in Ireland. law and worked We'l, and rensived disgrace from our Mr. S. CRAWFORD presented a petition from laws, and a scandal Irons the administration of justice. Bridgewater, against a continuation of the war in India; But to all these bad laws he had quoted, the pretext also a petition from Creditor, in favour of the extension might have been urged, that they had been borne by the . i of Parliamentary reform; also a petition from the Lei country without exciting nine's complaint. He was tester Complete Suffrage Association, for redress of happy to say that Sergeant Starkie and every other grievances. person to whom he had explained the principles of the , Sir J. Y. BULLER, presented a petition from a place present Bill, expressed their entire accordance in them. , in Devon against the grant to Maynooth College ; also lie hoped their Lordships would approve it. He trusted petition in favour of the abolition of th e dut y o n the Noble and Learned Lord on th e woolsack would : a foreign sugar ; also a petition against any alteration in approve of it, and that he would not act the part of Rha , ;the corn laws. damanthus. " Gnossius bloc Rh rn adainthus liabet cluriaiima I . Lord EBRINGTON presented a petition from twenty , nine solicitors at Plymouth, against the Ecclesiastical regna ; . Courts Bill. Castigatque auditque dolor, suhieitque fateri. - Mr. Bill. presented a petition for the aboli - The LORD CHANCELLOR slid his Noble and tion of the duty on policies of insurance against hail- Learned Friend who had moved the committal of the storms. Bill before their Lordships had sat in that Hous e for : Mr. YOUNG presented a petition from the north of now a period of three years. Daring that time he had , Ireland, praying for an Act to legalise Presbyterian shown himself anxious, on every occasion that presented marriages. itself, of introducing some measure or other to the s Mr. DUNCOMBE presented 'a petition from the House, partly for the purpose of occupying Maisel r, and ~ parish of St. James, Clerkenwell, complaining of the partly for the purpose of conveying inforinatien and in , employment of the police in the collection of poor-rates; struction to their Lordship's min,lS.---(Laughter.) And also a petition for the amendment of the Reform Bill ; yet it was most singular that during the while of this : also several petitions against the Masters and Servants' period it had never occurred to his Noble and Learned Bill. Friend's mind to suggest the propriety of adopting any Lord ASHLEY presented a petition from Glasgow, measure of this kin; and it • was only int the eve of , with 33,000 signatures, in favour 'of the Ten Hotirs' Bill; Easter term now progressing, when a case of some notoriety was depending in another part of the also several petitions from other places to the same : kingdom—(Hear, hear)—a case of the deepest ins- effeo. Mr. BECKETT presented a petition from Halifax portance—it was not till then, - when he supposed that : aga that case would come to a speedy terminetion, and that inst the Manchester and Leeds Railway Bill: Mr. BRIG HT presented a petition from Oldham judgment would be pronounced `upon it, that, his Noble 'cum-Fell praying that the 30th and 31st clauses of the and Learned Friend, for the first time. 113 , 1 thought it' Factory Bill might be expunged ; that children under right to bring forward this ineiteueea--(llear, hear.) eight years of age should not be worked more than eight Never had he (the Lord Chancellor) heard bins make , hours a day ; and that there might be no restriction on mention of the subject before. And he nth, , Lord Chan labour of persons above that age. cellor) did not hesitate directly to state that the Bill now : Mr. T. DUNCOMBE postponed the following return, before their Lordships was brought forward for the par- i of' which he had given notice for to - day, for a fortnight— pose of being applied to that caee.—(Hear, hear.) Ile (the Lord Chancellor was n , t, in the Thus° when the Return - of all moneys paid to Mr. Hodges, or any short llßill was brought in, and he knew that bid Noble and hand writer or writers, fur notes taken of the proceedings Learned Friend on that occasion hal protested that no in the Court of Queen's Bench, Dublin, previous to and during or since the trial of the Queen v. O'Connell and reference to the pending trial was in his mind when he others ; also, a return of all moneys paid for an y note s first concocted it. Of course he was b amil to believe his taken of the proceedings at Conciliation Hall, between Noble and Learned Friend's declaration ; but in dohs.. the Ist day of August, 1843, and the present time. so, it could only be by supposing that his mind had beau Mr. WYSE postponed the following motion , of which led away by its own enthusiasm and zeal, for he (the he had given notice for to-day, for a fortnight :—For a Lord Chancellor) was' quit t persuaded there was Committee to inquire into the allegations contained in not a single person in that House, or in the the petition, presented the 21st day of March, from the country, could come to any different conclusion than that to which he had come, namely, that the Bill the late membrs State pro se of the Repealcution Associ lre ati onlan and others, respecting e in was directed to the proceedings now -pending against Mr. GODSON, on the part of Mr. F. Kelly, postponed certain parties in Ireland. But his Noble- and Learned for a fortnight his motion for leave to bring in a Bill Friend would say it was impossible he could be so in to provide an appal in criminal cases. fluenced, and that their Lordships need not rely on his Lord SANDON presented a petition from Liverpool, professions alone, inasmach as he had introduced a against the application of any money for the establish clause into the Bill deferring its operation until the Ist went of a harbour of refuga at Holyhead.' of August next. But let their Lordships' look to that I UNION WORKHOUSES. clause, and say if it was possible for this Bill to pass Mr. WM. EVANS, seeing the Hon. Member for with it. Was there ever so thin and so ft i til sya veil i a ? Berkshire in his place, wished to kreew whether it was Why, was it possible that if this Bill should p ass i his intention to proceed with his motion with respect. to law that their Lordships could retain that cause ? 1 ! union workhouses ? Could they, as men of common sense, retain it ? What Mr. PALMER said it was not his intention to do so. would be the effect of it hut this—that their Lordships . would pass a law which they thought a proper one, ART-UNIONS. whilst at the same tiine they would pass another law, or i Mr. WYSE. seeing the Right Hon. Baronet the First rather a clause of a law, expressly against those indivi- Lord of the Treasury in his place, wished to ask him duals who, between this period and the Ist of August, i whether the opinion of Counsel, which had been deli might be found guilty of mialemeanours?—(Hear, hear.) vered to the Treasury on the legality of the Art-Unions, Was it possible to be supposed that their Lordships were could, without inconvenience, be laid on the table of the to be led. astray by such flimsy pretexts- as those ad- House ? vanced by his Noble and Learned Friend? For his own • Sir R. PEEL said he.had no objection personally to part, he declared if that Bill passed into a- law, he produce it, but the House - had generally felt an objection (the Lord Chancellor) would be the first to move the Ito have the opinions of lawyers laid on the table. Ile omission of that clause which, in fact, was put in merely I thought it a pod rule, and he should adhere to it in to. lead their Lordships to the conclusion that the ors- this instance.. He did not apprehend that the Govern -merit had any intention of instituting proceedings against . ginator of it was not thinking of Ireland, and Ireland the Art-Unions. It did not rest with the Government alone,. when lie drew it up. But let them not look only • to institute to the clause itself, but let their Lordships reflect upon such' proceedings ; but he apprehended that the Art-Unions were liable to be prosecuted by the com the history of the proceedings which had been going on and then say whether this Bill had not been brought in' mon informer. These bodies had received the earliest intimation as to the illegality of their constitution. for a temporary purpose, and for one single object alone. M But, atter all, what this Bill ? A more miserable r. WYSE. hoped that any measure for legalising the specimen of legislation it had never been his (the Lord Art-Unions would have the support of the Right Hon. Baronet. Chancellor's) fortune to have witnessed. Worse than all, it was a law for the rich, and not for the poor. The poor man who had been convicted had, by that convic tion, lost his character—with that he hail lost all pe cuniary means, and all friends—and therefore all power 1 of getting bail. The poor offender, then, woe condemned I to abide and suffer his punishment, whatever it might be. -But the wealthy mum—the rieh offender—had re sources. He obtains bail, either by the application of his o*n means, or the aid of his friends. Such would be the impartial operation of that Bill.—(Wear, hear.) Mark again how the Bill would operate. A man is convicted of a grave misdemeanour, which subjects him sal y to two years' imprisonment. Ile is advanced in life, and a few months' imprisonment may probably have the most serious effect upon him. Ile obtains a writ of error by means of his purse ; he crosses the water, gets out of the jurisdiction of the court ; if the judgment is reversed :he returns, aid it' it is confirmed, he con tinues on the Continent, living in luxury and ease, and laughing at the judgment; against him.—(Hear ' hear.) Suppose he was a political partizan, and had com mitted some crime about politics, but had many sup erters and friends, as was too commonly the case. ' What does he do ? Ile says " I will wait the course of events ; a few votes in the House of Commons just now are of importance, my influence will assist in this." He waits, receives a pardon, and returns In triumph, having set the laws at defiance. Take another case. A man commits a crinie which expels him from society ; he is tried and convicted, but gets his writ of error. He goes off, and, as a matter of choice, it is not very material where, so he also sets the law at defiance.. Such would be the effect of the indiscriminate a o ppeal h ere proposed. But there were misdemeanours 1, various character, some of them being liable to punishment of transportation. Peeing.; was, only in name, a misdemeanour, but it was visited as a ' ' • paniele- anent by transportation. Obtaining e r Istinder , e o a false pretences was a miailem, ' punished but it was it 1 • ‘quently, and most properly, transportation. But whet would be the effect o l f i t c his b la y w, supposing the mis demeanant had means at his p e t o l ' o nt s at u n i d r Why, he also would get free from all to livet in (ete preferring, us doubtless he would do, Paris rather than to go to Van Dienien's Land, er to lie (the the Lo :jocks of Nor , folk Island.—(Hear, hear.) Chancellor)i mentioned these as some of the instances r some of the consequences of the passing or this 8 3 711. here were many others he -could adduce, but he saw no cessity for so doing. The subject of appeal ina.a., the"e . hands of his Right lion. Friend the Secretery of the Home Department, who, with the assistance of the law officers of the Crown, had nearly prepared a general measure, which his Learned Friend the Attornef-Gene ral would submit to the consideration of Parliament within a very short period. Ile did not say this for the 1 purpose of giving an answer to the present Bill. He 1' objected to it because he was satisfied it was brought for I t 3 particular purpOse alone. As such, it was a vicious I principle; and upon such grounds he had now to move 1 ' their Lordships that the Bill be committed that day six months. Lord BROUGHAM said, in his opinion, legislation, to. be useful and sound, ought always to be grounded on a general principle, and not to -originate under the pressure of any peculiar circumstance or case. Their Lordships, in legislating, should never be induced to I look at any subject through one particular medium; and fearful ' that this was the case in the present instance, _ t h ough he was Sure wholly unintentionally, he thought it better the Bill should not be carried an • further. He wished it, h owever, to b e un d erstoo d that he was strongly in favour of som e soun d amen d men t of th e l a w up o n this subject, . As, hoatver, it was now understood from authority that the subject had been fully ente-tained by the his Government and as he was h;. and that a measure was all but ready; yesterday witwithPssof to say, front a personal interview Learned Friend, Sir William Follett, that his health was a y renovated as to enable him to andi attend to busines s ntroduce the subject at once to the notice of Pa. Nugent, he thought their Lord- . ships would be acthtiong present aresmeeist 'moment part to leave - the matter for His leisure would no doubt bemptrnoloest usefully- employed moment ae it was. for the public in digeSting a iftettstire npon the ' subject. He could not agree with Noble Friend that I ' the Attorney-General had the discretion he had stated I upon writs of error. He thought they course in this country which they did in Vtaadopt the have so excellent a Court as the. Court or ( 7)ce a 'o a e n „' which was one of the greatest benefits that I. l " a a s s i - ii' - conferred by the Revolution of 1789. The Noble Lord en would support the Bill. Lord COTTENLIAM supported the Bill. It was with • tutaisfaction that he had heard that this very measure was I under the consideration of the Government, because it ! showed that the measure was unobjectionable, as lied been • asserted, and that was an admission that the law ought to be altered. As the law at present stood it was most ' absurd, and required revision.—(Hear, hear.) Was it a • wholesome state of the law if, when a party was c in- Yicted and sentenced, and who questioned that sentence I in a superior Court, he was to be imprisoned during the time the propriety of that sentence was being discussed. • - The LORI) CHANCELLOR said that the subject tender the attention of her Majesty's Government tied law advisers, was an appeal in criminal cases. The Earl of WICKLOW o pposed th e committal of • the Bill. ' • The Marquis o i e H e CLANRICARDE supported the committal of the Bill. H had heard many speeches from the N o b' e and Learned Lord on the woolsack with great pain, b u t h e had_ never heard one Keith more than that which he hid delivered that evening. He had i • shown that the opposition to the entirely founded upon the chance of was mainly and 1 of not being able I wrongfully to imprison the individuals now under trial in . Ireland. Hear, hear.) Lord CAMPBELL replied—His Noble and Learned I , - Friend on the woolsack had not the courage to oppose - the principle of the Bill, because he admitted that the CHURL 11-RATES, Sir C. DOUGLAS put a question to the Hon. Mem ber for Finsbury, as to whether he intended to bring for ward any motion respecting the petition he had pre sented, impugning the conduct of two magistrates in Warwickshire, with respect to a process for church r►tes. The Hon. Member had got the petition printed and circulated, with the intention of making a motion ; and he had not done so, though he had an opportunity of doing so on Tuesday evening. He thought he had a right to complain, on the part of those whose characters were censured, that he had not done so. Mr. T. DUNCOMBE said the petition which he pre sented had impugned the conduct of the magistrates on the subject of church-rates. He (Mr. Duncombe) be lieved that the magistrates had acted most illegally in the affair. However, the present was not tile proper time for discussing the subject. The motion relative to the matter stood for next Tuesday week, when the Hon. Baronet would have an opportunity of vindicating the conduct of those magistrates if be thought fit. THE TARIFF. Mr. GISBORNE wishel to know from the Right lion. Gentleman opposite when it was likely the pro posed reductions of the duty cn coffee would come into operation. Mr. GLADSTONE said that, with respect to all the duties which it was proposed to reduce, they would all mate into operation on the same day, that was the day of the passing of the Act embodying the resolutions which had been proposed to the !louse by his Right Hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Those resolutions he was prepared to lay on the table of the House, and he took that opportunity of saying that they would contain the article of vinegar, because there were some inquiries requisite respecting the use of malt in the making of vinegar. Some time would be requisite for the necessary investigation on that point, and hence it was that vinegar would Jnot be in cluded in the resolutions. . Lord SANDON would like to know whether the rdt?ration of the duties would be passed•in ten days or a fortnight? Mr. GLADSTONE said it would be rather ha z:irdous to predict how long . the resolutions would take to pass through the House. However, frOm the disposition which he was sure existed in the Howe not to retard any measure affecting c,)mmercial . interests, he was of opinion that in the course of a fortnight, or the furthest three weeks, the re solutions purporttng to repeal the duties in question would have becoube the law of the land. COMMUNICATION WITH IRELAND. In answer Co a question from Mr. PENNANT. Sr R. PEEL said that the subject of the Hon. Gen tleman's question was of considerable importance, inas much as it related to the speedy communication between this country and Ireland. With respect to the relative merits of the ports of llolyhead and Port Dynllaen for the departure and arrival of the packets, the question had been discussed by professional men of the highest eminence, and the opinion of the President of the Institute of Civil Engineers, Mr. Walker had been taken upon it, and that gentleman's opinion was iu favour of Holyhead in preference to Port Dynllaen. • There fore, he (Sir H. Peel) might say that her Majes ty's Government, drawing their conclusions from the highest professional authorities, - were clearly of opinion that llolyhead was the preerable harbour, and as far as his own experience went, he (Sir R. Peel) would draw the same conclusion. With respect to the question as to whether the Government had decided to I sv out a sum of money in improving either of those harbours, be had to say in reply th3t they had coma to no decison upon the matter. The Government wanted first to know whether any railway company was inclined to make a railway communication between Chester and Holyhead. It should he remembered that whatever money they laid out for Holyhead Harbour, they were laying out for the ternfnus of a railway. They had a right, therefore, odemand that the railway should be perfectly construct ed. In his opinion it would be for the interests of any railway company to make that railway in the most direct, line. It would be much better for them to make a perfect line at once than to make an imperfect line, and have to amend it afterwards. He was anxious that the line lelected through Anglesea should be brought from Chester to Holyhead in the most direct line. He thought it would be good economy in any railway co:npany to make the outlay necessary for the forma tion of the line in the first instance. Then with ' regard to the Straits of Menai ; it would be a highly improper mode of passing° the Straits or Menai to take advantage of the present bridge. It I i was never intendei furrailroad communication. It a .1 . 71(1 be impossible to useit with locomotives. In p i opinion bridge r: a owwaise antioo:, l o t v oo e f r the Menai Straits, fit for a con l Zuc e t ° e ln d railway, interfere i m t h i might easi l y navigation.he It might have the same elevation ah as theLpresent bridge, end if they erected a railway-bridgeo. which he believed was 120 feet the level of the sea, there would not be any risk ofinterferinof those g se with the navi ual height gation. Unless they could en ableresiding in ' Dublin to answer letters from London by return of po they would do little to justify an outlay of public money. He wanted to see the day when a letter posted in London .. at 8 o'clock on Monday should be answered from Dublin by u letter received in London on Wednesday morning :—(Hear, hear)—when the party receiving the letter in Tuesday should be enabled to answer that letter by o by il a the return of the Tuesday's post—when thirty-four hours only should elapse between the depar atiairaewoefr the m le i t ) t u e h r i f i r a p . raLeL(t .London t a a n k d e t t the e h re o e u ei r p o t ft of f e the de parture from London at eight o'clock on the Monday. In fifteen hours the letter would arrive in Dublin. There would be four hours allowed in Dublin for the writing of the answer, fifteen hours for the transit of the letter; and thus the communication would take place in thirty-four hours. This would be a great public advantage. It was an affair of minutes almost. The object of the Govern ment was to make arrangements to secure the most expe ditious intercourse possible between the metropolis of Ire land and England, and he. begged that the House would not urge them too strongly to the expenditure of public money, unless by that expenditure they could secure the public advantage. NEW ZEALAND. In answer to Mr. I3ELLEW, Lerd STANLEY said that all the papers which were in the possession of the Government relating to New Zealand, would be laid before the Committee, and would be presented to the House with the report. SLAVERY. . _ On the motion for going into Committee on the glasS duties, Mr. M. GIBSON wished to ask her Majesty's Go vernment whether, in the Go - vernment measure which had been announced with respect to sugar, any distinc tion was to be drawn between slave breeding and slave importation. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said he would answer the question when the subject came on for discussion. THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY MORNING, MAY 3, 1844. SPIRIT of the. PUBLIC JOURNALS. FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY. GLOBE.—lmagine for a moment the effervescence — the Conservative indignation—if the actual breach be tween Ministers and the Directors'had taken place, int perante Melbourne!! It cannot be forgotten what a • handle against the late Cabinet was made of the paltry repuenancies of a Jamaica Assembly ; and bow uncon • stitutional it was repre'ented to think of over-ruling the interested resistance of a set of ex-slave-owners. On the strength of that storm in a slop-basin, the Melbourne Ministry in '39 found themselves in so slender a majority as led them to resign office. To be sure the Duke of Wel lington said that he could not conceive why they should have resigned; and therefore the veteran has the better grace in the military attitude he assumes at present. But it is very evident that the pretext on which Lord Melbourne was then pushed to resignation had not a thousandth part of the gravity of the " great fact" which has now transpired. We have here no faction of obscure planters, palpably biassed, and in the preva lent public mind of England probably in the wrong. Here are twenty-four gentlemen, the elect of the most important corporation in the world—nay, thirty—for it is understood that the six ex-directors concur in the same judgment—who, after exhausting time, and esa tience, and warning on Ministers, and this spoiled child of theirs, have at length employed the power which (known to all but Lord Brougham) had been always vested in them. Now, we repeat, if this had occurred under the Melbourne Ministry, how immediate and how impetuous the inference would have been. th-tt these Whigs could not act with any established and Conserva tive body in the State. This was _the notion propagated more industriously than any other; and the benefit of a doubt was never allowed Liberal" Ministers for a moment, whether they, or those who opposed their system of policy, m;ght be wrong. While the Whig Government was supposed to be estranged from the Northern Courts, then, of course, Nesselrode or Metternich were the sole hope of salvation fur Europe. When Northern Europe joined them on Eastern policy, and France held aloof, thee the all but irreparable ill became, of course, the lost friendship of France. The first demonstration the new men had to make was a very new one certainly for their party. They threw themselves into the arms of France and swore 'eternal friendship—to spite the Whigs—and entailed more loss of confidence and misunderstanding than ever with Europe. In like manner, the Whigs were to be wounded through the sides of Lord Auck land in India; and in like menner, the intended injury has had its recoil on the perpetrators. After boasting I f French friendship, regardless of inevitable invidious construction elsewhere, nothing would serve them, or the vain man of whose vanities thy have now assumed all the responsibility, but boasting of the glorious contrast his Indian policy was to exhibit to the Whig Governor's. When will these. men become duly sensible of the risk and ridicule attendant on all this swaggering? When will they become sensible that the effective, though unfair weapon, of Oppesition is the most unsafe and undignified possible fur handling in place? Dishonest or.:s had done all words could do for them ; honest deeds—deeds at least not in gross contrast with profes sions and policy—were now requisite to prove that superiority to their predecessors, the verbal assertion of which had ceased to have even the grace of faction. Above all, and first of all, what was required of Conservative Ministers was to work smoothly with the powers, already established and organised, which they had to work with. If the Whig Ministers, during the reforms public opinion expected them to promote, had fallen foul of Co-ordinate authorities, there would have been nothing so surprising. Brit Conservatives, whose great idol, Pitt, broke up the Whig party on this very ground of quirrel—whose whose traditions and ante cedents have led them to support the East India Com pany, as one of those great bodies with whose stability they were wont to affect alliance, and to set in contrast wish the ephemeral factions, and crude innovations, of popular assemblies—that Conservative Ministers should be the first to quarrel with the Conserva tive aristocracy of British India—this is indeed a most unheard-of and portentous occurrence. It is for Ministers to explain how such a breach could have taken place. The Duke of Wellington has committed them to the responsibility of the whole of Lord Ellen borough's conduct. The whole power of the Govern tnent has been exerted in his favour with twenty-four gentlemen, for whom even political malignity can not forge motives hostile to that Government. The whole power of Government, the whole expediency of Compromise, the whole ris'e of rupture (and that risk is announced by the Minis:erial hacks as political annihilation to the Company)—all this has been out weighed with the Directors by a sense of ditty the most imperative to themselves and their ccnstituents —for nothing short of such sense of duty can be sup posed for a moment to have prompted their act—an act so maturely deliberated. The plea for Lord Ellen borough (whose case Ministers have made so completely their own) put forth by the Duke of Wellington—that the Directors could. not know the instructions under. which he acted, is a plea Sir Robert Peel's caution would; scarcely have suggested.. So far as it goes, indeed, It may shift the responsibility for all . his- acts from his own shoulders to those of Ministers—but it leaves that responsibility a heavy weight where it rests. For, are' we to suppose that Ministers have kept systematically in the • dark the men who held co-ordinate power with their own—on the whole subject for its exercise ? To what purpose, then, have repeated Acts of the Legislature confirmed that power in the Directors ? Forsooth, that her Majesty's Ministers may mock them, and pooh-pooh its exer cise, by the cool assertion that the Directors cannot possibly know anything at all about the matters, which nevertheless the law and consti tution have given them uncontrolled power to judge ! STANDARD.—They who remember that, of all the London journals, the Standard stood alone in defending Sir Francis Head's measures in Upper Canada, will not suspect us of hostility to that gentleman or of any pre judice against him. The letter before us forcibly re minds us of the great difficulty against which, as his ad vocates, we had to contend, namely, his own proclama tions and dispatches. The ex-Governor is one of the many persons who, if they are ever wise, must lament the pains bestowed in teaching them to write. Gold smith describes the class pretty accurately. We have but to insert the name of the late Governor of Upper Canada to make it fit exactly. " Here stands good Sir Francis, whose heart is a mint, While the owner scarce knows half the good that is in't ; The pupil of impulse, it drives him along, His conduct still right, with his argument wrong; Still aiming at honour, yet fearing to roam, The coachman was tipsy, the chariot drove home.' The 'argument of Sir Francis, as he has expanded it suo more into a long letter, we understand to be this the labourer has a property in his labour, and his time is as much entitled to be respected as any other property. Lord Ashley's proposal to limit the hours of labour of women and children in factories is an invasion of this property. This, garnished with a considerable profusion of sarcasm arid illustration, we take to be the whole sum and substance of Sir Francis's argument. Now the first proposition is one which we would be the last in the world to dispute. The labourer's property in his time and labour is absolute and inviolable, resting upon the earlieSt and highest of proprietory rights. ilere, however, c loses our acquies cence w ith S' r Francis Head, who, like other manufacturers of cant, abuses, by misapplication, a sound principle. Lord Ashley's pro position does not violate this principle either in form or in substance; on the other hand, it augments the value of property in labour, and casts a hedge about it. As _respects form Lord Ashley's proposition inter feres in no rospect with the labourer's property in his labour. The labourer, whether man, woman, or child—and to simplify the m rtant a a tt s er t , he them, labourer of whatever sex or make i n s o i distinction r e a s m p eocrit gs—the age is left by Lord Ashley's proposition atperfect liberty to employ the whole twenty-four hours in labour, so long as the labour is prosecuted at the labourer's own diicretion, and not at the command of others ; and, in fact, one of the objects of the limitation of the hours of labour in factories is to give to the labourer more time to be employed at his own discretion—to return to him a • part of that property of which Sir Francis Head speaks, cf which he is deprived by the power of wealth, and the cupidity of wealthy men. The limitation dues not say "you shall not work more than ten hours," but, " you shall not be forced to work more than ten hours, as the alternative of not working at all, that is, as the alternative of being robbed of your, w hole property in your labour," so precious, and iustly.so pre cious in the eyes of the ex-Governer of Upper Canada. Lord Ashley's proposition then does not, in form, violate the right of property in labour. Let us next see whe ther it invades it in substance. The great function of the law of a civilised country is to correct the abuses of power, to protect the weak from the strong. There is, however, a notion propagated with con siderable industry by those who profit by abuses, that there •exists in society leo power but the power of the law on one side, and the power of mere knavery or brute force on the other hand, and, as a consequence, that the law has no legitimate antagonists but cheating and violence. The law, however, if it would equally protect the rights of all men, has other antagonists— honest, according to the fashion of this world; and meek as if they all wore drab, as many of them do. The power of money is certainly , not, a dishonest power, nor is it a violent power, but it is nevertheless, a power quite adequate to crush the poor, and to destroy the value of the poor man's property in his time and in his labour, which we suppose it will be admitted is the same thing as destroying the property itself. This, then, is a case for the law to interpose —not to restrain the poor man from employing h's labour as 'best he can, but to restrain the rich neon from compelling him to it in • • employ men, and uliimately to himself. As Sir Francis Head is fond of illusirations, we will give him one. lie has at least twice crossed the Atlantic and been Governor of a colony, and he probably knows something of the system of passage vessel. Now, let him suppose a passage vessel short of provisions, though with no more hands and passengers on board than are enough to work the ship, working at the usual rate of working. But the captain having taken a degree in the new science, and swallowed Sir Francis's doctrine of the right of property in labour, calls half-a-dozen hands aft, and address' s them as follows :---" Our provisions are short, and if I am to feed the whole crew, I must reduce your daily messes a trifle, but I will tell you how we may manage. I will keep good guard over the store, and you working each of you an extra watch or two, we may complete the voyage without any reduction of our allowances; as for the rest they may starve—and any one of you who will not consent to work the extra watches shal starve with them, for I warrant, in two or three days. I will be able to bring those starving cbaps to work as many extra watches as Iplease, aye, and to be thankful, too, for half allowance." How would Sir Francis Head approve of this mode of respecting " the labourer's property in his labour ?" Would _ he, condemn GLASS DUTIES. The House then resolved itself into Committee, pro forma, on the Glass Duties.; Mr. GREENE in the chair. • The House then resumed, r.nd leave was given to bring in a Bill. VINEGAR DUTIES. The House went into Committee on the Vinegar Duties, Old The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved a resolution pledging the House to the reduction proposed by him in the Budget, when Dr. BOWING expressed his regret that the mea sure of the Hcn. Gentleman would have the effect of encouraging the manufacture in this country of the in ferior sorts of vinegar—the greatest trash possible. The really good vinegar came from abroad, and it would have been well to have given every facility to its intro troduction into this country when dealing with that article. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER .said, if the Hon. Gentleman had been in the House when that part of the budget had been stated, he would have learnt that the duties on home vinegar fell under the Excise, and those on foreign vinegar under the Customs, which made all the difference, and justified the course he had taken. The resolution was agreed to ; the House resumed ; the resolution was reported to the House ; and leave was given to bring in a Bill founded upon it. • RAILWAYS—MARINE INSURANCES—AGREE- M ENTS. The House having gone into Committee, The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved the resolution for the reduction of the duties on Marine Insurances, as proposed in the budget. He had to add that in the same resolution he proposed to make a de duction of the duty on agreements from 1/. to '2s. 6d.— (Hear, hear)—and also on the duties on proxies for voting for railway and other compuiies from 11. 10s. to 2s. 6d. After some obervations from Sir. Hume, Dr. Bowring, Mr. Warburton, Mr. Foster, the Chancellor of the EX chequer, and Mr. Hawes, Mr. HUME gave notice that he should expect the Chancellor of the Exchequer to lay before them a table of the maritime duties paid, -and what were to be paid, before - they proceeded another stage, when he should move that the highest duty should be . 3s. on insurances. The resolutions were then agreed to, and the House resumed, when they were ordered to be reported to the House to morrow. INSPECTORS OF PRISONS. Sir JAMES GRAHAM hOped his Hon. Friend (Mr. Mackinnon) would consent to postpone his motion with respect to the inspectors of prisons, and the state of dis cipline in gaols ; otherwise, he should feel bound to oppose the motion. Mr. MACKINNON said, after the appeal made to him by his Right lion. Friend, he had no other course than to postpone his motion, which he would do until that day fortnight. SAVINGS' BANKS. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER rose to bring in a Bill to amend the laws relating to Savings' Banks, and to the purchase of Government Annuities through the medium of Savings' Banks. The Right Hon. Gentleman said the necessity for amending the law arose partly -from the circumstance that the high interest which was paid by these banks, in com parison with others, afforded a constant inducement to persons who were not their specific objects, to invest money in them. How unwilling the House might be to deal in any manner which might appear unkind or harsh to those who -invested money in, savings' banks, they would see that the public were under no obligation to pay them a higher rate of interest than - they could obtain in any other manner. He proposed by the present Bill, to reduce the rate of interest in • savings banks from 24d. to 2d. per day. Now various abuses having been alleged to exist in savings' banks he had felt it his duty last year to institute inquiry with respect to a number of those banks, and he was bound to say that the result was the diticovery that they were used for the purposes of private gain. —(Hear, hear.) Latterly there had been an addition to the depo sitors of savings, consisting of a class of persons for whose use those institutions were not intended. He therefore proposed, in addition to reducing the rate of interest, to introduce several other provisions in order to prevent the misapplication of those institutions. The House was aware that at pre • sent no person could invest more than 301. in any one year in a savings' bank. In looking over the • accounts of savings' banks, he found that only a • very limited number of persons availed themselves of that privilege. He therefore pro posed to reduce the amount which persons could invest in any one year in a savings' bank from 301. to 201. By the law as it now stood no one could have a greater amount of money in any savings' bank than 1501. ; he proposed to reduce that to 1201. A person who possessed 1201. was ,in such a situation as to be able to take advantage of other securities to invest his capital. The raw enacted at present, that when 2001. sboubT stand -in the name of any one person in a savings' bank, all interest should cease. He proposed to enact, that whenever the capital and interest together should amount to 150/, all interest should cease. Great abuses had existed in savings' banks, by persons investing moneys as trus tees of others. He. proposed that upon the passing of the Act no person should invest money as a trustee for any other person without the signature of all the parties interested, so that money could only be invested by parties as trustess with the sig nature of all the different persons supposed to be interested. There was another point to which he wished to call the attention of the House. Persons ignorant of business who had sums of money to invest, did not take it to the proper officer, and the officer to whom it was brought did not a2count for it at the usual time. Now lie intended to amend the law in this particular, and to provide that if any paid officer of the institution should receive money from a depo sitor, and should not bring it to account at the next meeting of the society, he should ,be considered guilty of a misdemeanour, and liable to be punishnd for fraud. There were other minor provisions which he would not then trouble the House with,. and which would be seen if the House gave him leave to introduce the Bill. Mr. GISBORNE wished to know whether there was any provision with regard to persons having money in several savings' banks ? The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER replied in the affirmative. _ _ _ Mr. HUME V said he had for three years past been calling the attention of the House to this subject, because he knew it was a fallacy to refer to the money in the savings' banks as a proof of the pros prong state of the country. The accumulation of, the money in those banks arose from the high interest which was paid. He was of opinion that all persons should be placed on the same footing, and that, persons having twenty shillings should be in the same situation as those who had thousands of pounds. Leave was then given to the Chancellor of the Ex chequer and Sir George Clerk to bring in the Bill. PENSIONS. Mr. HUME moved for returns of all officers to whom pensions had been granted for loss of limb, or wounds equivalent thereto, and whose pensions were subsequently purchased by the Government, stating the name.and rank, and the amount of pension of each officer ; also the dates when such pensions were purchased, and the amount paid by Government for such pensions ; of the number of non-commissioned officers aryl privates in the army and artillery whose pensions were purchased, and the number to whom the pensions were restored.—Agreed to. CHURCH TEM ?ORALITIES (IRELAND) BILL. The second reading of tit's Bill, which stood for to _ - night, was postponed — to, this day week, after a few ob- servations from Mr. Su kw and Mr. F: FRENCH. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER brought in the Savings' Banks Bill, which was read a first time, and ordered to be read a second time this day week. The House adjourned at a Quarter-past Six o'Clock. The Right Hon. the Earl of Lauderdale, Sir - G Warrender, of Lochend ; Sir Johnllall, of Dunglass ; Mr Saudilands, of Barney-hill, and other proprietors in the neighbourhood of Dunbar, have already made permanent ar rangements as to the indemnity to be received by the North British Railway passing through their respective properties. —Berwick Warder. ___ To LADIES.—The MO and universal celebrity which Rowland's Kalydor continues to maintain, as an active yet mild and soothing extirpator of all impurities of the skin, is, during the period of Spring, most pleasingly evinced. This preparation, eminently balsamic, restorative, and invi gorating, is equally celebrated for safety in application, as for unfailing efficacy m.removing all impurities and discoloura tion • and imparting a healthy freshness and transparency to the Skin and Complexion. Its universally great demand excites the cupidity of unprincipled shopkeepers, who give the title of " Genuine" Kalydor to compounds of their own manufacture, of the most deleterious character, containing mineral astringents utterly ruinous to the Complexion, and, by their repellant - action endangering health. It is, here fore, imperative on purchasers to see that the words " Row land's Kalydor" are on the wrapper.—All others are fraudu lent Counterfeits. [ADVERTISEMENT.] —MIRACLES OF TILE PRESENT DIY BY HOLLOWAY'S PILLS.—Tbe wonderful powers possessed by these extraordinary pills are such as to perform the most astonishing cures in almost every disease. hey remove comp'aints that the faculty pronounce incurable. All cases of debilitated con stitutions are . their use completely invigorated. The narrow., the delicateiermci'veak are made strong. The daughter centreing into womanhood, or the mother at t ueplit l ir i sca e.: )eilllnfotki rn sbva.yalyl o yt,sh f sio,c l l i tedi f firu e te( ,: asae e bl • sl o ttioos u l flh l t d mitb,he) a il lilie derive unspeakable benefit, or even, might be indebted for the pre,ervation of life bilious, u m a s 2 , i y g 4, ts h 4 liver,Oysitti O in t ment) medicine. ran a ne n dn d t )( s w t as a o ht m e l rp e t e c r h a oa l f s de c o s o vsi m oc er may be had gratis), and by almost all respectable vendors of medicine throughout the civilised world. the legislative interposition of some bluff lieu- ' tenant, who should happily step in from the gig of a chance cruiser, with a "No, no, mate, this will never do ; you must not over work half your people, in order to starve the other half. Divide the work and the food fairly irliong them, as far as they will go." Now, this is a very fair illustration of Lord Ashley's proposal. It gives a much more ample exercise of dis cretion to all labourers in the exercise of their right of property, and it gives value to that property in the case of multitudes of others to whom the property is now of no value whatever ; but of things the value of which lies only in their .use, the only real property is in the value of the use. Sir F. Head's argument goes upon the groundless and even ridiculous hypothesis, that every labourer is at - liberty to work or to abstain from working—the reverse is the fact, every man must work or die, and the care of the Legislature must' be directed to protect him from the necessity of working in a manner injurious to himself or to others. Let.men remember this, and the cant of the labourer's property in his labour will do little harm. There is an other cant much employed upon this question with which we wish to deal, but cannot afford the time, we mean the necessity . of protecting the profits of the millowners. Now we i , ll the millowners that they cannot protect their profits by any amount of cruelty to their labourers. Their profits are governed by a principle wholly irrespective of the labourer's time. The demand for their production is finite, the capacity of multiplying mills to meet this finite demand infinite. But the mills will go ou multiplying until the profits of mill . . working shall be reduced to something very little more than the common rate of interest for money. This is the enemy who is eating up their profits, and will destroy them altogether if they do not oppose him by the only effectual obstacle, a short time law. LAW INTELLIGENCE. HOUSE OF LORDS, Mar/2. The House sat to hear writs of error. The Peers present were Lord Cottenham, Lord Brougham, Lord Campbell, and Lord Kenyon. TAYLOR V. CLIMSAR. The arguments on this writ of error, from the Court of Exchequer, occupied their Lordships the whole morning. The facts of the case are of no interest except to the parties concerned. COURT OF CHANCERY, May 2. ABSENCE OF COUNSEL. On the LORD CHANCELLOR taking his seat this morning, very few counsel were in court, and, with the excep tion of Mr. Wakefield, not one Queen's Counsel was in attendance. The list of motions was called over, but none could be proceeded with for some time, in consequence of the absence of Counsel. His Lordship said that in fu ture he would strike out the cases in the paper in which CounSel were not in attendance. Parties were put to great expense coming there from time to time, in consequence of the absence of Counsel. In his Lordship's opinion Counsel ought not to take briefs in Courts if they could not attend to them in proper time. In . fature he would most certainly adopt strictly the rule of striking motions out of the paper where Learned Counsel *ere instructed and did not appear. He thought the adoption of such a course only right and just to the suitors. After this several Queen's. Counsel came into Court, and the cases in the paper were proceeded with. DI TILE CASE OF SUISSE. This case came before the Court upon the motion to dis charge an order for an injunction, and another order made: by the Master of the Rolls upon Mr. Suisse giving security to repay a sum of 1,5001. -It will be in the recollection of our readers, that the representatives of the late Marquis of Hertford filed a bill against Mr. Suisse, for the purpose of obtaining an injunction against him, restraining. him from transferring a sum of 3,000 L, standing in his name in the Three per Cent. Consols, on the ground that that stock had been purchased with the money of the late Marquis of Hertford, to whom Suisse was valet. The injunction was granted; but upon application to his Lordship, he reversed his order so far as to allow Suisse to take out 1,5001., but continued the in junction with'respect to the other 1.5001., and the object of the present application was to have that 1,590/. paid to Suisse, upon his giving security to return it, if on the final hearing of the cause, the Court should be against him. Mr. ScriomsEßG, on the part of the repre;entatives of the late Marquis of Hertford, had no objection to the order asked, provided Mr. Suisse also gave security for cost;. After some considerable argument, . . The Loan CHANCELLOR ordered Mr. Suisse to give security for the return of the 1,5001 - ., if it became necessary, and also for the costs and interest. VICTOR V. DEVEREUX. The arguments in this motion, which was an appeal from the Master of the Rolls on a point of practice, occupied the Court the remainder of the morning. VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT May 2. (Before the VICE-CHANCELLOR Of ENGLAND.) His HONOUR on taking his seat intimated that it was not his intention to sit after Wednesday next, the last day of Easter. term, until the first day of Trinity term. SCOTT v. EASCALL. Mr. STUART applied in this suit that it might be removed from the office of Master Wingfield, wild was exceedingly in disposed, to that of Master Lynch. The ground on which the Learned Counsel made the application was, that the case was an exceedingly heavy one, and that dispatch was neces sary for the ends of justice. The Learned Counsel, in order to show the heavy nature of the case, stated that the statement of facts &ontained no less than 10,000 folios, and but a small part of the interrogatories, upwards 1,300. The COURT made the order for the removal of the cause.— His Honour then proceeded with the hearing of motions. COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH, May 2. (Sittings in Banco.) CUSTOM FRAUD 3 IN LIVERPOOL.-TFIE QUEEN V. WILLIAM AND BROCKLEHURST. The defendants in this case were Liverpool merchants, who had been convicted at the last Liverpool Assizes of a conspi racy to defraud the revenue of certain Customs duties, by taking certain quantities of coffee out of bond without pay ing the duty. The coffee, it appeared, was the property of Williams, who endeavoured ineffectually to induce the Ous tom-house officer to connive at the transaction. The officer, however, had done his duty, and given such information as led to the conviction of the parties. The SOLICITOR-GENERAL this morning prayed judgment upon the defendants, who were on the floor of the Court. Mr. Sergeant MURPHY addressed the Court in mitigation on behalf of the defendant Brocklehurst. The defendant Williams addressed the Court in person, and denied that he had intended to defraud the revenue, as he had taken out the coffee with the intention of paying the duty afterwards. His account of the transaction was, that he had mentioned the circumstance to the officer, who said, " It is all right, von can take out the coffee, as you pay your duties quarterly." Mr. Justice ParrEsox, in passing sentence on the de fendants, observed, with regard to the defence now set up by Williams, the Court could not take that into consideration. No attempt had been made to show that such was the case at the trial, or if it had been, the jury had not been satisfied, or they would not have found the defendants guilty. This was a very serious case. In various cases, in Liverpool and elsewhere, temptations had been held out by persons in the situation of the defendants to officers, to induce them to be tray the trust reposed in them by the Crown and the public. Now it was necessary to make a severe example. The Court could see no difference in the relative guilt of the parties. They had been found guilty of conspiring to defraud the re venue, and the different parts taken by each in carrying out that conspiracy made no difference in their guilt. It appeared that Williams had been already nn prisoned for seven months, while Brocklehurst had only been imprisoned for one month, having been out on bail since the month of October. The Court took this fact into its consideration in awarding the punishment to each. The sentence of the Court was that Thomas Williams should be imprisoned in her Majesty's gaol at Kirkdale, in Lancashire, for six calendar months, and that Brocklehurst should be imprisoned in the same gaol for twelve calendar months, and that in the mean time they should be committed to the cus tody of the keepers of the Queen's Prison. The prisoners were then removed in custody. COURT OF EXCHEQUER, Muy 2. The Court took motions to-day. MANSELL v. lIEDGECOCIC. Mr. HINDMARSII, in this case, had obtained a rule nisi, calling upon the plaintiff to show cause why the defendant should be retained in the custody of the Sheriff of Surrey. Mr. JERVIS now showed cause. He said that 'en the 19th of January last, the defendant had been in attendance in this Court as a witness on a trial, and on his return home he was followed by a Mr. Bassett and the sheriff's officers, in whose hands there was a writ against him. They traced him out of the direct line home, first to the Windmill public-house, and next to the Surrey Arms ; and on his coming out of the latter, at about half-past ten at night, they took him into custxly. Mr. Jervis now contended that the sheriff's officer had acted properly, and that there was nothing illegal in his taking the defendant into custody under the circumstances alleged, and that, therefor., the conditional rule must be discharged. Mr.. lIINDIURSH contended. that the defendant, having gone to the Surrey Arms for the purpose of obtaining re freshment, was not liable to be taken into custody, particu larly as he had been in attendance on the Court from nine o'clock ig_the morning until seven o'clock in the evening; and it was therefore absolutelpAcessary he should have some refreshment. The COURT was of opinion that the conditional rule must be discharged.—Rule nisi discharged accordingly. AIL COURT, Mayll2. Mr. Justice C ge sa t in this Cow t this morning, but the business broug on was of a purely technical character, possessing no' interest for the public. COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, May 2. (Sittings in Banco.) STEAD V. WILLIAMS. The Court was occupied this day with an argument on a motion for a new trial. The question was whether the plain tiff was the real inventor of a certain patent wood pavement, or whether the supposed invention was generally known to the public. POLICE INTELLIGENCE. • (YESTERDAY.) MANSION-HOUSE. THE WILL FORGEDIES.—Mr. Cope, the Governor of her Majes:y's gaol of Newgate, waited upon the Lord Mayor, in consequence of his Lordship's desire to com municate with him on the subject of a report which had become very prevalent, to the effect that all the prisoners who had been tried with Barber repeatedly declared that delinquent to be innocent of the knowledge that, in the proceedings adopted fur getting the sums of money, sworn to as bequeathed to the different legatees, out of the hands of the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, there had been any unfar play tihatever resorted to. Alderman Humphery was sitting with the Lord Mayor when Mr. Cope attended The LORD MAYOR said it appeared from what had been represented in some publication, that there were several ridiculous stqtement4 afloat relative to the charges upon which Barber hal bk•en convicted, reflect ing upon the Magistrate who presided at the examina tions, as well as upon those who conducted the prosecu tionaagainst the persons accused of the offences in which that individual had participated. It had been said that. he (the Lord Mayor) had performed the characters of judge and jury on the occasion he alluded to, and the most positive assertions had been made that Mr. Barber was declared, by those with whom he was said to have conspired, to be wholly innocent of :he knowledge, or even of the suspicion, that the wills in which he had been professionally engaged by Fletcher and others, were not bona fide instruments. There were, it would seem, many who were influenced by the reiterated assurances of Barber, that he merely acted in his professional capa city, and by the apparently candid appeals which he made to the public, by referring to the whole tenor of his previous conduct, to suppose that he was a martyr. Thatimpression might have been easily communicated to those who did not take,the troub!e to read the evidence,; but nothing could he more fAllacious in the minds of all who had observed the proceedings ; and he would not have taken the slightest notice of the matter, if it were not that people who were endeavouring to excite sympathy in favour of Barber continued to assert that those who were charged as his accomplices most peremptorily declared him to be an innocent man. His Lordship wished to know from Mr. Cope, whether he had heard anything relatin g to the subject bef o re th e p r i soner h a d b een re movedfro m Nesvga te. - Alderman HUMPHERY—I think it necessary to inform your Lordship that I was in the gaol of Newgate yes terday, and, having heard that such reports as you have alluded to wera in circulation, I made very particular inquiries upon the subject upon the spot. I have learned that the principal persons concerned with Barber had told a a very different story to Mr. Cope and the Chaplain of the prison. Mr. COPE said—After the conviction of the prisoners, Barber expressed great dissatisfaction at the verdict, and expressed an anxious desire to see and communicate with the Sheriffs. I asked him for what purpose, being willing to do anything consistently with my duty. lie replied, I am desirous - that the Sheriffs should be pre sent while I read a declaration which I have drawn up, and which I want Fletcher, Saunders, Mrs. Saunders, and Mrs. Dorey to sign. It is to the effect that they all declare my innocence as regards these transactions, and that they believe I acted merely as a professional man. I said that I did not believe the Sheriffs would consent to be present under such circumstances, and that it was also my opinion that the Magistrates would object to agree to such a proposition ; and I sug ge.ited to him the propriety of ascertaining whether the other prisoners would be willing to sign such a declaration. Mr. Barber agreed to this suggestion, and Mr. Davies, the ordinary, and I accordingly asked each of the parties the necessary question. Mrs. Dorey, when I asked her whether she was willing to sign a declaration, that she believed Mr. Barber to have no guilty knowledge of the transactions of which he was convicted, replied " Certainly not, for Mr. Barber knew all about it. .1 cannot sign any thing of the kind." I also put the same question tb Fetcher, and, he also-de clined tosign any declaration of the kind, as Barber was well acquainted with every thing about this trans action. To the chaplain, who communicated with them, they spoke in similar terms, assuring him that they could not make any such declaration, as Mr. Barber knew every thing ~about the matter. When I went to Saunders and his wife, and asked them whether they would have any objection to sign an instrument of the kind, they replied that they had not. Mrs. Saunders stated, that she had been only concerned in one case, and that she had only seen Mr. Barber, and that in his prof,?ssional capacity, for a moment in the business ; and of course she could have no objection. Alderman FIUMPIIERY-HO the prisoners any op portunity of communicating with each • other ? Mr. Cope—Not the least opportunity of communicating with each other in the prison. They might have s: oken to gether in the dock of the Court. There was no possi bilityof preventing that. _ _ Alderman IlumPitEny—Mr. Cope has exactly stated what I hard yesterday. I will answer for the correct ness of his report. _ .The LORD MAYOR—It is, in my opinion, necessary to remove" wholly the impression that Barber, who was shrewd and. clever enough to take in all the r es t, was himself the dupe of any of them. I should not, how ever, consider myself bound to take notice of the falla cious reports if I had not heard that they were most per tinaciously made, and had obtained credence to a certain extent, for it has been added - .that ; injustice has been done to Barber by the alleged refusal t ? allow the de claration of his innocence to be made `by his :.fellow prisoners. _ _ _ _ _ _ - Alderman HUMPIIERY said, that what hail been just stwed would most satisfactorily set the matter - at, rest. He had felt very great astonishment at the prevalence of the report that Barber was innocent, but he confessed that that astonishment was much increased upon hear ing a brother Alderman positively declare that he was convinced of the innocence of Barber. The LORD AlAYon—Upon what did he found that belief ? ' Alderman HUMPRERY—I believe, upon the mere statements which Barber made to him in prison. The LORD MAYOR—It is not to be won iered at, then, that a report of such a nature should find people ready to support it, when a City Magistrate actually gives it currency. _ _ CIERKEN WELL. William Wetherall, a poulterer, in Newgate-market, was charged with the following assault upon Anne Morgan, the wife of a mechanic, living in Princes-street, Soho. The complainant, who seemed to be in a very weakly condition, deposed that, at ten o'clock on the previous night, she was returning home, with her infant in her arms. At the corner of Russell-square she stopped a moment, when the prisoner, who was talking to a female on the pavement, knocked her down, and kicked her. A police-constable came up. She did not. wish to prosecute. Sergeant Dodd, 9 E, said an attempt had been made to buy off the complainant, who was therefore reluctant to give her evidence. She had been severely injured. Police-eonstable 90 E deposed, that hearing female cries, he ran to the corner of Russell-square, where a crowd of five or six persons had assembled. The woman was standing by the railings,.and the prisoner was stand ing before her in a menacing attitude. Sergeant Dodd stated•that . the 'woman was t onveyed to a surgeon's house in Marchment-street, who recom mended her to be taken at once to the hospital. A stretcher was sent for to the station-house in order to convey her to the hospital. The stretcher and . two policemen were sent to the surgeon's, but the woman refused to leave her little- child, and she was conveyed home in a cabriolet. Prisoner—l was talking to a girl in RusSell-square, when the woman came up and used a disgusting ex pression. Mr. GREENWOOD (to the prisoner)—Did you use any bad language towards this man ? Complainant—l never said a word to him, your Worship. Sergeant - Dodd said that when the prisoner came to the station-house he stated that the complainant had used a filthy expression. (The sergeant then.wrote the word down on a slip of paper. and handed it to the bench.) The prisoner called as a witness Caroline Strickland, the person to whom he had been talking. She deposed that she was a servant out of place, and had been talk- . ing to the prisoner, when the woman came up and used a bad expression. At the request of the Magistrate she wrote the word on a slip of paper, and handed it to him. Mr. GREENWOOD remarked that the expression which the prisoner said she had used, and that which the wit ness said she used, were as different as black and white. He did not believe the woman used any indecton ex pression. He fined the prisoner lL 10s., or a fortnight's imprisonment.—The fine was paid at once. :John Bal nes was chargel with robbing his father, and a I)dginfi-house keeper with whom he reiided, was com mitted for' trial. The prisoner surrendered himself to the officer at the Featherstone-street police-station, and acknowledged the commission of the robberies, to which he said dis tress had driven him. He said he was anxious to be sent to prison, having been from time to time an inmate of different workhouses, and that. he had been recently starving in the streets.' Jeremiah Sullivan was charged with assaulting police constable Barker, 124 E. Thq constable 'deposed that, on the previous night, about eleveti o'clock, the prisoner and a crowd of ,others were standing in Great Coram-street. He was drunk. Witness desired them to go away. The prisoner cried "I will serve you out." Witness passed on, and took no notice of his threat. Witness returned on his beat in about half an hour, and saw the prisoner snd several disorderly characters in Little Coram street. Witness persuaded all the others to go to their homes except the prisoner, who again exclaimed "I will serve you out." He remained about the same spot until half-past twelve, when, on seeing witness again, he said " I will rip your b—y guts open." Witness then took him into cus tody, and, on his way to the station-house, he assaulted him. MAGISTRATE-Why did he act so? Policeman—l took one of his companions into custody about a fortnight ago, and lie has a grudge against me ever since. A decent-looking man, named Pearson, deposed that the prisoner assaulted him in a very savage manner on Saturday night, and that the complainant had assisted in removing him. He did not, however, press the charge against him. In answer to questions from the Magistrate, the policeman stated that the prisoner had not worked any for nine months, and ivas an idle, dissolute character. The prisoner was directed to find bail, which not being able to procure he was locked up. MARYLEBONE. John Lechland, a plasterer, was placed before Mr. LONG, charged with having stolen a silver watch, the property of. Samuel Lees. The complainant, who resides at the Bayswater :Coffee house, said that on the night of Saturday he placed his watch at the head of his bed, and on the following morning found that some thief had stolen it. He had not locked his bed- . room door, and therefore the thief found a ready access. James Mills, pawnbroker, 103, Edgeware-road, said that the prisoner pawned the watch produced in Court upon the Monday evening for 155., and another person (Townshend) brought the duplicate on Tuesday for the purpose of re deeming the article. Witness called in a policeman, and gave that person intocustody. William H. Townshend said he had bought the duplicate from the prisoner for the , sum of 38. He repeatedly assured him that the watch 'was his own. Police-constable 89 took the prisoner into custody. He then stated that he had bought the watch from a stranger on the preceding Saturday for is. 6d.—He was fully committed for UNION-HALL. Information was given by the police at this office, that an accident of a serious description toek place this morning, at a bone manufactory in Lock's-fields, by which the life of one of the workmen is placed in Thinainene danger. It appeared that at about ten o'clock this morning, a loud report was heard on the above premises, and a poli.•eman entering at the moment, discovered that the boiler of a steam engine, used for grinding bones, had burst with a loud ex plosiOn. One of the workmen who happened to be near the spot at the time was severely injured by a quantity of boiling water falling over his person, and scalding him in such a manner that he was obliged to .be conveyed in a state of great suffering to the hospital, where he remains in a very precarious condition. At present the precise cause of the accident has not been ascertained. BRUSSELS, APRIL 28.—The Mpniteur of this date and supplement, publishes (i 17 columns) a document which will be of great use in the discussion which the Chamber of Representatives has just commenced. It states the favours which the principal commercial nations of the globe give to their own flags. The system followed by Belgium is first stated, and then those of Holland, England, Denmark, Spain, the United States, France, Naples, Portugal, Prussia, Sar dinia, Sweden, and Norway. THE FEMALE SWINDLER.—This adroit personage, after staying a fortnight at the farmer's, near Wooler, per snaded his wife to accompany her to Scotland, to get her bills cashed. Upwards of ten days elapsed, when a letter was received from the dupe, mentioning her being at Inverary, where she was left by the swindler, without a penny to find her way home, and swindled out of a silk gown as well . as the expenses of their theottrheY:—.l3erivick W ard er. MARKET NE WS-YESTERDAY. IVIASLIEETS. SMTTIIFIELD.—Coarse Meadow Hay, 21 18s to 2/18s ; as 4": ful ditto, 3/ to 3/ 8s ; fine Upland ditto, 31 103 to 31 14s ; Clover Hay, 3/ to 5/ ; Oat Straw, 11 6s to 1/ Wheat Straw, 11 8s to 1/ lOs per load. Trade through out dull, at barely stationary prices. CUMBERLAND.—Coarse Meadow Hay, 2/15s to 3/ ;_ We' ful ditto, 3/ 3s to 3/ lOs ; fine Upland ditto, Si 12s to 31165 ; Clover Hay, 315 s to 4l 15s ; Oat Straw, 116 s to 1/8s ; Wheat Straw, 1/ 9s to 1/ lis per load. A moderate supply, and a heavy demand. WHITECHAPEL—Coarse Meadow Hay, 21 16s to 3 1 ;, useful ditto, 31 3s to 3/ lOs; fine Upland ditto, 31 12s it 3/ 15s ; Clover Hav, 3/ to 5/ 58; Oat Straw, 1/ 6s to 1 1 8s ; Wheat' Straw, 1/ 8s to 11 lOs per load. Supply good, and trade dull. IVLA RICETS. SountALL, MAY I=EAT1 =EAT .—Although the numbers of fat stock here this morning were tolerably good, the general demand was steady, at prices fully equal - to those obtained on this day se'nnight Beef, from 2s Gd to 4s; Mutton, 2s 8d to 45 4d; Lamb, 5s to 6s 2d ; 3s 4d to 4s 2d ; and Pork, 2s 6d to 3s 8d per Blbs. Supply—beasts, 40; Sheep and Lambe , 3,890; Calves, 50 ; Pigs, 45. RoMFoRD, MAY I.—We had an active demand here to for most kinds of stock, on the following terms : —Beef from 2s 4d to 3s 10d ; - Mutton, 2.s Gd to 4s 4d; Lamb, 56 to 6s ; Veal, 3s 4d to 4s 4d ; and Pork 2s 6d to 3s 8d per glbe- Sucking Calves, 18s to 27s ; Quarter A old Store Pigs, 16s to 19s ; and Mitch Cows, with their small Calf, 161 to 191 each., HAILSHAM, MAY I.—We had only _a moderate time -of - year supply of each kind of stock on sale to-day, while the demand ruled steady, at full prices. Beef, from 2s 8d to 4 6 ; Mutton, 2s 10d to 3s 10d ; Lamb,. 5s to 6s ; Veal, 33 4( 1 4s 4:1; and Pork, 2s 63 to 3s 6d per Blb3. I ARUNDEL, APRIL 30.—Prime Beasts and Sheep' 00 d „- steadily, at full prices. Otherwise the trade ruled. duo' Beef, from 2s 6d to 4s ; Mutton, 2s 10d to 4s 4d ; Lamb, 50 t ° 5s 10d; Veal. 3s 4d to 4s 4d per 81bs. CluctrEsTEn, MAY 1.--There was only a moderate amoant of business doin ,, here to-day, yet late rates were supported- Beef, from 2s Gd to 4s ; Mutton, 2s 8d to 33 8d ; Lamb, 451 0 d to 5s 8d ; Veal, 3s 4d to 4s ; and Pork, 2s 6d to 3s 8d per 81bs• Sucking Calves, 18s to 26s : Quarter-old Store Pigs, 16s to 1 91 ; and Mulch Cows, with their small Calf, 161 to 181 each. CORN AVERAGES. GENERAL AVERAGE PRICES OF SRL 11814 CORN, Fur the Week coded April 27, P4l, made up from the Returns tf! the Inspector: in the different Cities and roving in Englan , ii apd Wales, per Imperial Quarter. Y.; fit. Oats ..... 20;. Id.l 3ls. 44 B.trlry 32:. 7.t. IRy ...... 32, 2d Pease 30.5. Od AVERAGES OF TILE LAST $ll WEEKS. 'weeks ending. WHEAT. HARLIBIt.i OATS. . l sr BYB. l seams. v 10E' ............-• , ..---.,-- A Mar. 23.... . *, 56 5, 33 1 20 0i 34 1 .31 2 3f % C 0... .. "....*. 56 5 f 2 7 19 8 1 St. 3' 31 2 31 .`fl April 6 55 51 32 10 10 1t 33 9: 30 11 :31 i s i 13 55 1I 35 1 20 1 32 4131 2 52 IQ 27 15561327 , 20 1 • .:1 2i31 4 30_2 IMPERIAL. AGOREGATE AVERAGES OF THE SIX ver.. - XS Whz•ar ...... ... 55. Si. Oat •......... 20 , 0,4 B ean: .31 , 0 ',aria. 34 .. i A 10.1. Rye punts ON FORPIGI.I" CORN. Wheat 174. Oci. i o.4ts .... .. ... Si,: 1.),14 Beans..... „Us; 114 ,.,* Barlav 64 Oci. 1 Rye .. ... .... 10*. 6d.1 Pease .. ',JIG. • to`' • . DREADFUL SHIPWRECKS. '• • By the late arrivals from the Mauritius k , the most pa . l.- - f intelligence has been received relative to a dreadful gale wind that visited that island in the month or 'Janney , laa" during which, we regret to say, du Indiaman named th! Hugh Matthie, 538 tons burden, and two emigrant ships at two other vessels, were completely wrecked. Among v latter was the ship Amity, belongng to Liverpool, a very Pr i vessel, 600 tons burden, with 180 emigrants on board; beside the crew. The ship, which was quite a new one, sailed fral Liverpool in the early part of June last, for Bombay,. a n made a splendid passage. From Bonilty she proceeded ~t° the Mauritius,' with emigrants for the island, which place sa t l reached in safetyin the latter partof December, and reinaiae l ' in the harbo ur , in company with seven other vessels, the hurricane broke forth. It appears, from the letter° received, that the storm commenced on the morni l36 of • the 3d of January, and immediately the master; Captain Wrightson, observed it approaching, he appPed. the Pert-office to obtain a pilot, in order to run the ship ,_ ll `i the inner harbour, where she would be better sheltered; bu t none could be had, they, having been engaged for the ofb e i „, vessels. As the day advanced the wind increased great l .; with a heavy rolling sea, and by nine o'clock there iva! 4 o, violent storm. The Amity had both anchors out, with 14, fathoms of cable, in order that she might ride easily, but w violence of the sea worked her about in a most fearful Ol t ; ner ; and frequently, during the night, the waves rushed aloes the decks, sweeping everything before them. At 11 o'elt a large hip, which lay at the Amity's stern, commence firing minute guns and discharging rockets and blue iip b . for assistance. One of the vessels that left Liverpool at t o same time as the Amity did, unable to bear up against D , storm, broke away fiom..her anchors, and was burled ali ll e "; the rocks. Two other ships shared the same fate. r -0,, were driven from their anchors-and were carried with terry force on shore; and unfortunately, ,these were also laden 01 . A., emigrants, who had bee n s hipp e d a t Cal cu tt a f or th e Islaa7, The Amity weathered the gale un til 8 o ' c l oc k on the mo r ni ing of the 4th, when her cables were snapped by the force' vf a tremendous sea, and in an instant, in sight of thousands persons, crowded along the coast, she was thrown upon ti o ' nl reef of rocks near the inner harbour, where every 0 118 board would inevitably have perished but for the judgra - , and courageous conduct of the commander, Captain Wrig h ., fr o son. Having advised the emigrants to remain quiet, and act Under his directions, he ordered the masts to be cut al; which being immediately executed by the crew, had A effect of lightening the vessel, and the succeeding waves tb ll .l. her on to a part of the rocks where the breakers WT the least violent. The storm still continuingf . was found impossible for some time to .forla-,,' communication with the shore, but on the first favouray..„ opportunity presenting itself, Captain Wrightson. made 'P . : attempt to save the lives of the passengers and his roe': After some difficulty he managed to send a log, line asb °r l and, by the aid of a few circular buoys, which lie • Ila brought from Liverpool, he succeeded in having every woman, and child dragged from off' the wreck sa fe though in a deplorable state of exhaustion. Th e Hugh ; thie, Capt. Sparkes, was wrecked near the same spot. was lying at anchor near the Bellßuoy, in the outer bar with a pilot on board, wl:en the fury of the storm forced from her cables. An attempt was made to run her into 4„ inner harbour ; but the running tide carried the ship with great force on the rocks. Guns were fired for , sistance, but it was beyond all human power for the inht i ii tants to render any help at the time. In this dreaT.o. to s hore , . state,- with the ship full of water, part of her bottom be2g: beaten in by the rocks, did they remain for . lo hours at last, every soul (excepting one man) was saved. . 1 ;• unfortunate person lost was one of the emigrants, who, it l e ) , . pears jumped overboard in order to attempt to swim aa b.° ..o but was carried away by the sea.and was not afterwards ftt a alive. She had brought over a large number of emigr7 e from Calcutta, and had also a rich cargo of East India 11 0 duce on board. The last accounts state that the vesse l oo , l i i become a total wreck, and her fragments have been -snit' auction. Her loss, with the cargo, is. computed at 20, i n a portion of which will fall on several insurance compatt is a t. the City. • The loss of the other vessels—the Marion, L' i. B .s Rose; the Malay brig, Capt. Shaw, and the Bordeaux, w 1 .1 . 01 t. had all emigrants on board, took place under precisely I l he ir lar circumstances. They were severally . driven from . 4j , moorings, and were cast on the rocks adjoining the harboa...4, Providentially in these instances not a single life was' SW ficed. In the paragraph relative to the entertainnl El : given by the Lord Mayor on Tuesday at the hislisi Q L. house, it was mentioned by mistake that Mr. Crew :0 tended professionally as a singer. Mr. Crew was aniallb the guests of the Lord Mayor. SIGHT AND HEARING.-39, Albemarle street, ric e :: dilly. Newly •invented spectacles, telescopes, °P e sir glasses, microscopes, &c. Patronised by General s tpr , Edward Paget, Sir •Evan Lloyd, Frederick Igal?;t• Clayton, Galway, Grosvenor, Morrison, Dyott, R° hip son, and. Mackenzie ; Major-Generals Sir H. B I P,"; 9 ; stone, P. Fyers, I). Macleod, Hamilton, and Wein 2 o, Lieut.-Generals Sir Henry Bouverie, Sir J. Macdo a ro u Sir R. Barton, Sir T. Dallas, Lord John Hay ; Aclr?!' Sir George Cockburn, Sir George Monday, S' r ,of Martin, Sir James H. Whitshed, Sir D. Gold, to. tow - Ross. By the uie of these newly-invented spel - „ e tio imperfect vision becomes preserved and strengta%ht and very aged persons are enabled to employ their no at the most minute occupation, and can see with . 01 1 4 lenses of a much less magnifying power, nor will to so require the frequent changes to further helps . ; " ne s newly-invented achromatic waistcoat-pocket telesc ° , g fer and opera glasses. Every kind of telescope of l a Via , size with increasing powers, for shooting, sea Fo, rl) ,,tlle and, upon stands, for astronomical purposes, With the t he same celebrated lenses, the powers are so great, l' n ", aft lenses so bright and brilliant, that minute objects 6- t he extraordinary distance are brought completely und e cill eye. Sportsmen, tourists, and sea-side visitors . 0 1 have a great treat. Their invisible voice conductal e i&f . immediate relief to old standing extreme eases 01 : „ . 00 ness. •Caution—Messrs. S. and B. Solomons oPtw o oo and aurists, are not in any way connected with a Pa pot of the same name in their immediate neighbourhoa g be in any part Of the country. To prevent mistak e ta w cautious and observe, only to -be had at 39, Alb ea3 street, Piccadilly, opposite the York Hotel. BIRTHS. On the 25th ult., Mrs. Daniel Bax, Regent-stree t, Ply/ dilly, of a son. ftS So On the 27th ult., Mrs. John Brown, of Vassall-roe d, Brixton, of a son. "•• 0 I,sid''° On the 29th ult., in Doughty-street, Mrs. Georg° of a son. 1-g°ve, On the 29th ult., at Fountain-terrace, Cambervc°l Mrs. H. Koebel, of a son. On the 30th ult., Mrs. P. S. Ormiston, of a son. ag e ' On the 30th ult., in Lansdown-place, Brunswirk'sSts: Mrs. enry Ogle Holmes, of Muckleford, Dorset, of a &i l ; )10, On the 30th 'ult., at Devonshire-read, Wands ffort Warmington, of a daughter. MA RR IE D. 0 1° 1 On the 30th ult., at St. Martin's-in-th e -Fields9_, S . e ide Henry Wyatt, Esq., of Harrington-square, to Mani' daughter of Henry Wild, Esq., of St. Martin's -lane. 04' 0' On the 30th ult., at Trinity Church, Gray's Innal,oll to I ° :, Tomkinson, of Cheadle, Staffordshire, surgeo n, 0 plo .' youngest daughter of the late G. Hubbard, of t he sini solicitor. W el At St. George's Church, Hanover-sq uare , Charli 41 ~ Se Doyle, Esq., to Margaret, only daughter of the late Campbell. Gear' On the 25th ult., at Woodchester, Glouceatersbir(e.lholott. H. Holland, Esq., of Dumbledon, to the I,lo;ifford• Dorothy Gifford, eldest daughter o fthe: late Lord ( - 7 er _ s gue l :i On the 30th ult., at St. George's Church, Han°vD•shoP p Mark Saurin, Esq., youngest son of the late Lerd,,Alis O Dromore, to Margaretta Sutton; eldest daughter v• Rev. John Jones, of Fenian, Cardigan. ~_ DIED. bo On the 24th ult., at Niee, in the 21st year c )f . 1 ai .- 7 1 ' William Armstrong Martinez, Esq., only son °f W o li e l z l 3 ol.- Armstrong, Esq., and grandson of Sebastian Goni — , tinez, Esq., of Belsize Park, Hampstead. ' FrO ic ''' On the 22d ult., Maria, - only' daughter of the late Y. Rufford, Esq., of Prescot House, Stonrbridge: - . , i ll , RA On the 27th ult., at Brunswick -place, ( pity" d the Henri Moore, aged 93. - ow On the 26th ult., at Alveston Jesse geria9_,..„l /" 67. i f e Rev. Charles Holbecb, Vicar ofFarnborough_i R.: — the if On the 27th ult., at Frogual, Hampste2td, Kunns, _. of W. the erp,uson Esq On 27th ult., in Green-street, Lady George gurrgti• ,A. On the 28th ult., at Baldwin's-court, Cloak- Beach, aged 38. - 11(l, ' t London •. Printed and Published by 101:121)0 It"! lie. 11,2, Strand, Printer, at The Seix. pace,coon Strand, in the Precinct of tho AAVOy, tit° Middlesex, Friday, M 3, 1844. r It their tfo, littiti 2 7 11ei ' roPrie r ay be I $ G ; ?h e : WAX Will be W Btar. ?a n ?.tutr P p r iZA t oondu, ' , Quid 4 Yl}• .......___ .1) swtat Th, havi n The " teser wholf Ancti( Aro— teula Irish .04 4.10 1 , Is. goed Ex e4 lot du e Aboai prlc Ttro 41,e on Au D MA c orm Toil et 1,1 00 1 l lot A lot al A l2os tel II 0.1 1 . 1 kay 110 1 Table kktig, 43 4. 1 „ L. bit, 1., 44. A 4 .Pat, WA, Cut U at tt, V A, ,~ ,h ~, \~+