The Sun. — London, England, 1844-11-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY MORNING NOVEMBER 26 184;. SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS. FROM TUE DAILY PAPERS OF YESTERDAY. TIMES —Our readers scarcely need to be reminded of the ingenious mode of operation adopted by the authors of the Constitution of the United States fur the purpose of conducting the election of the President with the requisite order and dispatch. In the month of No vember preceding the actual election, the whole consti tuency of each state names as many electors or delegates as it sends members to Congre , s, who are invested with the function of electing the President, and are of course pledged to what is termed " the ticket" of one or other of the leading candidates. The votes of these electors are subsequently transmitted by sealed lists to the Pre sident of the Senate, by whom they are opened and counted in the presence of Congress ; so that, in reality, except in those cases in which neither candidate has a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, when the House of Representatives proceeds to ballot fur the President, the preliminary nomi nation of electors is the most important and tumultuous part of the proceeding, and when there are but two candidates in the field, the final result of the contest may thus at once be ascertained. This nomina tion of the presidential electors has just been completed, and it appears to leave no doubt as to the triumph of the Democratic party, and of their candidate, Mr. Polk. The surprise, and, we must add, the apprehensions and regret, which this event will produce in Europe, are in creased by the fact that it is the great States of New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, which have turned the scale. Far from exercising that moderating power, and, if we may so speak of anything in America, that Conservative influence which might seem to belong to their position, their wealth, their mercantile interests, and their exemption from slavery, Pennsylvania has in this instance obeyed the same influences which have already connected her name with bankruptcy and anarchy, and New York has followed her example. Of Mr. Polk we know nothing, except that he has achieved a triumph over the most able and respected man in the Union, although he was scarcely more known in that union a few months ago, than he now is in Europe. He has not been chosen for his past ser vices, or his political experience, or for civil eloquence, or for military fame; for these qualities would doubtless long ago have brought him within our notice, if he had possessed them or any of them. But the less of personal greatness or influence he could boast of, the better was he fitted to answer the expectations of his adherents. Whatever he may turn out to be hereafter, we can only judge of him at present as the delegate or instrument of the passions by which he has been thus strangely raised into this conspicuous position. As such, then, we must remark with no ordinary concern, that with the single exception of the tariff question, on which he is pledged to a more liberal commercial policy than his opponent, his election to this im portant office is the triumph of everything that is worst over every thing that is best in the United States of America. It is a victory gained by the south over the north—by the slave states over the free—by the repudiating states over the honest ones—by the partisans of the annexation of Texas over its opponents—by the adventurous and unscru pulous democracy of the new states, and the foreign population in those states, over the more austere and dignified 11 Tublioanisrn of New England, No one in Europe has tailed to observe the rapid decline of the United States in public morality and in public estima tion, in their policy and their principles as a nation, and in all that renders a people permanently strong and prosperous, during the last few years, and more especially du. in g the accidental administration of Mr. Tyler. The death of General Harrison was indeed in more ways than one a national, and more than a national, calamity ; but we lead nut ceased to entertain the hope that the party which .brought him into office four years ago would now be strong enough to carry Mr. Clay's election. It ap pears that the evil has already gone too far. By pander ing to the passions of the populace, Mr. Tyler has not only let loose, but instigated the worst tendencies of de mocracy. To his treaty with Texas, which drove Mr. Van Boren from the field, Mr. Polk may be said to owe his election. Until that question had been brought forward, the name of I'olk was unknown except at Almack's. The Whig candidate has perished in the attempt to stem this tierce current of misdirected popular excitement. The Whig party have been beaten, when everything depended on the possibility of restoring moderation and probity to the Government of the country by their in fluence ; and it is scarcely too much to say, that Texas has already gives a , President to the Union. If Mr. Polk a Ihrri; to the pledges under which his electors ere likely to raise bias to the chair, he is pledged to a foreign war. The grounds on which General Jackson and his friends have given their support to Mr. Polk are before the world ; and we have already combated their arguments and their assumptions. They amount to the strongest expressions of hostility against the sup posed influence and designs of Great Britain on the North American continent ; and either the means they have used to gain the popular suffrages are as insincere as they are false, or they hold that the acquisition of Texas, by arms, if necessary, is the first duty of a Pre• sident of the United States. They can hardly escape from the dilemma in which they stand between excessive rashness and excessive deceit ; but we cannot expect that they will have the energy or the power, any more than Mr. Tyler has had them, to resist or control the popular excitement which has brought them into office. It has been observed by the most judicious ob server of the institutions of the United States, M. do Tocqueville, that political parties in America rally round an individual as the symbol of their own theories ; and that parties are strongly interested in tho election, not so much with a view to the triumph of their principles under the auspices of the President elect as to show by the majority which returned him, the strength of the supporters of those principles. It must not be presumed that the success of the democratic party on this occasion is so complete as at once to have decided in their favour all the great questions of domes tic and foreign policy. If the election of a President irrevocably decided the policy of a United States Go vernment for the next four years, the country would be not only agitated but convulsed by such a contest. But the strict limitations imposed by the Constitu tion on the power of the chief magistrate. and more especially the control exercised by the Senate of the United States over his relations with foreign Powers, render the triumph less signal and the danger less im minent, Be the indiscretion of a President what it may, he can scarcely plunge the country into war or confusion as long as the Senate remains faithful to its trust. What, therefore, we chiefly deplore on the present oocasion is, the defeat of those men who were most able and most willing to have laboured to restore the financial and political credit of their country ; who, if they were unable to shako off the curse of savery, would at least have striven to prevent the consequences of slavery from becoming the guiding and general law of the public policy of the union ; who would have ab stained from rapine, maintained peace, and adhered to the doctrines which once shed honour on the characters of American statesmen. Clay and Webster are still en titled to that name ; but the time is past when they could guide the destinies of their country, and by casting them off in the hOur of trial, the people of the United States have only rendered the vices of their present condition more conspicuous, and prepared the way for the increas ing evils and excesses of their future career. CHRONICLE —The Government journals continue to devote a good deal of their efforts to the circulation of the fact that the Anti-Corn-law League is dead. There is quite an extraordinary degree of anxiety manifest in the repetition of the statement. Now and then, indeed, we find that " dead" is to be taken as a rhetorical ex pression for " dying," fur it cannot be concealed that the monster still moves, although, by all the rules of art, it ought to have been stiff and cold lone. ' ago. Thus we wore informed a couple of d a ys a g o, that the League was at the last gasp of its wicked existence, and might therefore be permitted to escape the legal punishment due to so foul a conspiracy. It so happens that this decaying association was then, and is at the present moment, carrying on a new and vigorous agitation in Lancashire, the spirit of which sufficiently appears in the proceedings at the Rochdale meeting, reported in the Chronicle of Saturday. Mr. Cobden and his friends are in the right track when they endeavour to make an im pression on the county constituencies. So far as opinion goes, an immense progress has been already made. The confidence of the farmers in the continuance of the corn-law, which was a main source of its strength, has been everywhere shaken, and in a large proportion of' cases wholly destroyed. Whether protection be good or had, men have ceased to rely on it. Nearly everybody thinks that sooner or later it must go. This uncertainty has provoked numbers to examine into the merits of the principle, who took them for granted before, and such examination rarely ends in confirming the errors which preceded it. The more clear-headed amorgst the farmers are persuaded in their heart of hearts that a clean sweep of the corn-law, and a corresponding adjustment of rents, would leave them infinitely better off than they are at present. But many things conspire to prevent such men from speaking out, and still more from acting upon their real opinions. The power of their landlords, the terms of existing contracts, Ira red with reference to supposed protection prices, and the disagreeable consequences of opposing prejudices in their own class, concur to prevent a direct movement amongst the more enlightened farmers in favour of free trade. Thus the faith in protection and the desire for its continuance may be, to a great extent, undermined without altering many votes at county elections, and, of course, without changing the character of the county representation. Under such circumstances, the question presents itself whether there is any necessity for leaving the county representation everywhere, as lit] is practi cally, in the hands of a class so dependent on the land lords ; and it is obvious that no such necessity exists in counties containing a large manufacturing population. The forty-shilling county qualification is within the reach of many who could hardly obtain any other Fran chise. Mr. Cobden has shown how this qualification may be obtained, and how, by means of it, a new and valuable class may be added to the constituences of such a county as Lancashire. It is not uncommon for indus trious operatives to accumulate enough for the purchase of a forty-shilling freehold, and if tney prize a county vote, there is no reason why their savings should not be so invested. There would be nothing illegal or improper in this, no creation of fictitious qualifications. The vote thus acquired would be acquired on the grounds origi nally contemplated by law. It would be acquired by those only who had that degree of industry, frugality, and interest in public affairs which the possession of a property qualification is presumed to indicate. A class of such freeholders, too, would have that deep interest in the preservation of peace and order and the stability ee sound institutions which is sup posed to arise from having large stake in the country," but which, in faetis " q a u r i t t as sure to be found Vi\rl, important in the possessors of small pro indirect advantages would thus tween different classes would be created, new w m links e industry and accumulation would be presented°atirvdsth° whole structure of society in the manufacturing districts would be improved by the influence of a body of humble but independent proprietors. That this scheme will be curried into effect with the usual energy of the League there can be no doubt. The Rochdale meeting shows how they are at work. They very properly begin at home. In South Lancashire the example must be sot. Success there is indispensable. The example of South Lancashire, however, will soon be followed. When that great constituency has been reformed Mr. Cobden and his coadjutors will have little difficulty in any other inane fa,cturing county. GLOBE.—The surplus revenue which is now at the disposal of the Minister, is regarded by the landed interest as a circumstance which may be rendered subservient to their own special advantage. The re peal of the malt-tax is now agitated by the land owners, and the aid of the farmers is invoked to press this relief to the agricultural interests upon the Government and the Legislature. Thus the surplus revenue which the income-tax has wrung from the community, and of which the agricul turists have paid a lesser proportion than the other classes, is to be at once swallowed up. The removal of a tax in which the agriculturists have an imme diate and special interest, and from the abolition of which the other classes of the community would derive only a remote and doubtful benefit, is sought to be procured by this enormous sacrifice of the general in terests. We must, however, guard against miscon struction and misrepresentation. We should be glad to see the malt-tax repealed, if the price to be paid for the repeal were not exorbitant in amount and unequal in its distribution. The income .tax—that iniquitous and unnecessary imposition, still oppresses the nation by its unequally-distributed weight, and insults it by the inquisitorial investigations into their affairs, to which it especially sub jec t s th e merc h an t an d the trader. The coming session will compel Sir R. Peel to develope his views and intentions respecting the modifications or removal of this odious tax—a burden for which, it is now made evident, there was no real necessity ; as the deficiency for which it was to provide would have been made up from other sources. That Sir Robert Peel would be quite willing to purchase an extension of the term for which the income-tax was originally imposed by a repeal of a considerable amount of taxation, there is little doubt. The income tax is prolific—is collected with considerable ease— and places at the disposal of the Minister so con siderable an amount of surplus revenue, on which he can rely, that there is good reason to believe that Sir Robert Peel would not be indisposed to relinquish the mal.eiax, or any other tax of equal amount, if he could obtain, as an equivalent, the extension or perpetuation of the income-tax. It is even probable tnat he would propitiate the agriculturists, and re enlist them in his support, by yielding to their wishes in this matter. For these reasons we deem it necessary to draw the attention of the public generally to this subject, and to state our objections to the movement among the agriculturists to obtain the repeal of the malt-tax at the present time, and at so great a sacrifice of the general interests of the cowl. try. If the surplus revenue—as it appears in the official returns of the quarter and year ending October 10, 1844—be referred to, it will be seen that the malt duty is nearly equivalent to that sum. Repeal the malt-tax, and the case of the Minister in his attempts to continue the odious income-tax is established. The surplus revenue is swallowed up ; and, as the re venue for the coming year would be minus the amount of the malt duty, the income-tax must be re tained to supply the deficiency thus created. The advocates of malt-tax repeal will remind us that the abolition of a tax is not necessarily a sacrifice of revenue. The sum remitted on one article of con sumption will, we shall be told, by reducing the price of the article to the consumers, find its way back to the Exchequer from other sources. The consumers of beer and British spirits, having less to pay for those articles, will be able to expend more on other exciseable commodities ; and thus the con sumer will be benefited, and yet the revenue will not sustain loss. That this argument is valid, and would, to a certain extent, be borne out by the result, we believe, and are willing to admit. But we must, in such a case, look not merely to sound financial principles, but to the general policy of the party in power. These princi ples were propounded by the late Ministry ; and, by successfully opposing their practical application, Sir Robert Peel managed to obtain the Government. Sir Robert Peel provides for present arid prospective deficiencies in another way. His plan is to meet financial exigences by increased taxation. The know ledge of this fact is sufficient to caution the public against indulging any expectation that Sir Robert Peel will relinquish the income-tax, and repeal the malt-tax. At all events, let the former be removed before any appeal be made to Parliament for the abolition of the latter. STANDARD.—WhiIe we have to lament the apostacy of a few fops and fribbles in our own Church, we are happy to know that we are receiving in profitable exchange some of the elite of the Church of Rome—men who abandon their profession not in a thirsty pursuit of suplice services, and an admira tion of absurd antics; but from an inward conviction that the faith and practices of the fallen Church are not the faith and practices inculcated in the Gospel. We lately mentioned the case of Mr. Macnaniara—a man to whom his neighbours, of all ranks and re ligious persuasions, give the highest character for probity and purity of life, and who declares that he has been led to the studies and convictions that caused him to abandon the Church of Rome by the beastly immoralities of the Irish Romanist clergy, and the protection extended to those beastly immoralities by the Irish Romanist bishops, one of whom sought to bribe him, Macnamara, to silence upon the point, by an offer of high promotion. This is not a proposition on a point of do :trine, upon which a man may be mistaken. It is evidence in the matter of fact, by a compe tent and an unexceptionable witnes3. We have seen no attempt to answer Mr. Macnamara's heavy charge. In Germany, too, "the straw begins to move," 9.4 will be seen by the following extract from the Journal des Debats of Saturday :—" A Catholic priest, rector of a village of the upper Province of Silesia, has published a letter on the subject of the tunic of Treves—this letter has ap peared in many of the journals of Germany, and an impression of no less than fifty thousand copies of it has been taken from one publisher of Leipsic in eight days. The Chapter of Breslau has cen sured the priest, who will be probably dismissed. It has been proposed to open a subscription for the compensation of Mr. Ronne, the gentleman in question, his parish is called Laura Mate." The Journal des Debats gives a translation of the letter which has caused this great sen sation in Germany. It is an earnest and eloquent protest against the exhibition by Arnoldi, Bishop of I'reves, of some rag which he offers for public worship, as part of our blessed Lord's raiment. The letter has a good deal of the plainness and vigour of Luther's earlier style, but with much more of classical polish. MISS MARTINEAU.—MESMERISM. The Athenaum of Saturday contains a long communi cation from Miss Martineau detailing the particulars of a wonderful cure which, she says, has been effected by mesmerism, after a serious illness of five years and a half. Of the character of the disease under which she suffered she thee speaks This is not the place in which to give any details of disease. It will be sufficient to explain briefly, in order to render my story intelli gible, that the internal disease under which I suffered appears to have been coming on for many years ; that, after warnings of failing health, which I carelessly over looked, I broke down, while travelling abroad, in June, 1839 ; that I sank lower and lower for three years after my return, and remained nearly stationary for two more preceding last June. During these five years I never :elt wholly at ease for one single hour. I seldom had severe pain, but never entire comfort. A besetting a'cliness, almost disabling me from taking food for two years, brought me very low, and, together with other evils, it confined me to a condition of almost entire stillness—to a life passed between my bed and my sofa. It was not till after many attempts at gentle ex ercise that my friends agreed with me that the cost was too great fur any advantage gained ; and at length it was clear that even going down one Hight of stairs was imprudent. From that time I lay still, and by means of this undisturbed quiet, and such an increase of opiates as kept down my most urgent discomforts, I passed the last two years with lees suffering than the three preceding. There was, howeveaa no favourable change in the disease. Everything was dune for me that the best medical skill and science could suggest, and the most indefatigable humanity and family affection devise, but nothing could avail beyond mere alleviation. My dependence on opiates was desperate. My kind and vigilant medical friend— the most sanguine man I know, and the most bent upon keeping his patient hopeful—avowed to me last Christmas, and twice afterwards, that he found himself compelled to give up all hope of affecting the disease— of doing more than keeping me up, in collateral respects, to the highest practicable point. This was no surprise to me, for when any specific medicine is taken for above two years without affecting the disease, there is no more ground for hope in reason than in feeling. In June last I suffered more than usual, and now measures of alleviation were resorted to. As to all the essential points of the disease I was never lower than immediately before I made trial of mesmerism." Miss Martineau then gives the following narrative On Saturday, June 22, Mr. Spencer Hall and my medical friend came, as arranged, at my worst hour of the day, between the expiration of one opiate and the taking of another. By an accident, the gentlemen were rather in a hurry—a circumstance unfavourable to a first experiment. But result enough was obtained to encourage a further trial, though it was of a nature entirely unanticipated by me. I had no other idea than that I should either drop asleep or feel nothing. I did not drop asleep, and I did feel something very strange. Various passes were tried by Mr. Hall ; the first that appeared effectual, and the most so for some time after were passes over the head made from behind, passes from the forehead to the back of the head, and a litle way down the spine. A very short time after these were tried, and twenty minutes from the begin ning of the seance, I became sensible of an extra ordinary appearance, most unexpected, and wholly unlike anything I had ever conceived of. Some thing seemed to diffuse itself through the atmosphere, not like smok e , nor - steam, norhaze--but most like aclear t ght, dosing in from the windows and down from the ceiling, and in which one object after another meltid , away till scarcely anything was left visible before my wide-open eyes. First, the outline of all objects was blurred; then a bust, standing on a pedestal in a strong light, melted quite away; then the opposite bust; then the table with its gay cover; then the floor, and the ceiling, till one small picture, high up on the opposite wall, only remained visible, like a patch of phosphoric light. I feared to move my eyes, lest the singular ap pearance should vanish; and I cried out, ' 0 1 deepen it I deepen it!' supposing this the precursor of the sleep. It could not be deepened, however; and when I glanced aside from the luminous point I found that I need not fear the return of objects to their ordinary ap pearance while the passes were continued. The busts re-appeared, ghost-like, in the dim atmosphere, like faint shadows, except that their outlines, and the parts in the highest relief, burned with the same phosphoric light. The features of one, an Isis with bent head, seemed to be illumed by a fire on the floor, though this bust has its back to the windows. Wherever I glanced all outlines were dressed in this beautiful light; and so they have been, at every seance, without exception, to this day; though the appearance has rather given way to drowsiness since I left off opiates entirely. This ap pearance continued during the remaining twenty mi nutes before the gentlemen were obliged to leave me. The other effects produced were, first, heat, oppression, and sickness, and, for a few hours after, disordered stomach, followed, in the course of the evening, by a feeling of lightness and relief, in which I thought I could hardly be mistaken." The second application of mesmerism was made by Miss Martineau's maid. " Mr. Hall," says Miss Mar tineau, " was prevented by illness from coming over, too late to let me know. Unwilling to take my opiate while in expectation of his arrival, and too wretched to do without some resource, I rang for my maid, and asked whether she had any objection to attempt what she saw Mr. Hall do the day before. With the greatest alacrity she complied. Within one minute the twilight and phosphoric lights appeared ; and in two or three more a delicious sensation of ease spread through me—a cool comfort, before which all pain and distress gave way, oozing out, as it were, at the soles of my feet. During that hour, and almost the whole evening, I could no more help explaining with pleasure, than a person in torture crying out with pain. I became hungry, and ate with relish, for the first time for five years. There was no heat, oppression, or sickness during the seance, nor any disorder afterwards. During the whole evening, in stead of the lazy, hot ease of opiates, under which pain is felt to lie in wait, I experienced something of the in describable sensation of health, which I had quite lost and forgotten. I walked about my rooms, and was gay and talkative. Something of this relief remained till the next morning, and then there was no reaction. I was no worse than usual, and perhaps rather better. " Nothing is to me more unquestionable aid more striking about this influence, than the absenoe of all re action. Its highest exhilaration is followed, not by depression or exhaustion, but by a further renovation. From the first hour to the present, I have never fallen back a single step. Every point gained has been steadily held. Improved composure of nerve and spirits has followed upon every mesmeric exhiliration. I have been spared all the weaknesses of convalescence, and carried through all the usually formidable enterprises of return from deep disease to health, with a steadiness and tran quillity astonishing to all witnesses. At this time, before venturing to speak of my health as established, I believe myself more firm in nerve, more calm and steady iu mind and spirits, than at any time of my life before. So much in consideration of the natural and common fear of the mesmeric influence as pernicious excitement—as a kind of intoxication." Miss Martineau mentions several incidents.—" An• other striking incident occurred in one of the earliest of my walks. My mesmerist and I had reached a headland nearly half a mile from home, and were resting there, when she proposed to mesmerise me a little—partly to refresh me for our return, and partly to see whether any effect would be produced in a new place and while a fresh breeze was blowing. She merely laid her hand on my forehead, and in a minute or two the usual appear ances came, assuming a strange air of novelty from the scene in which I was. After the blurring of the out lines, which made all objects more dim than the dull gray day had already made them, the phosphoric lights appeared ; glorifying every rock and headland, the horizon, and all the vessels in sight. One of the dirtiest and meanest of the steam tugs in the port was passing at the time, and it was all dressed in heavenly radiance— the last object that any imagination would select as an element of a vision. Then, and often before and since, did it occur to me that if I had been a pious and very. ignorant Catholic, I could not have escaped the persua sion that I had seen heavenly visions. Every glorified object before my open eyes would have been a revelation, and my mesmerist, with the white halo round her head, and the illuminated profile, would have been a saint or an angel." LAW INTELLIGENCE. COURT OF CHANCERY.—Nov. 25. THE DUKE OF LEEDS V. EARL AMHERST.-JUDGMENT. The LORD CHANCELLOR gave judgment to-day in this case, which was argued about a week since. Our readers will recollect that the case came before the Court upon appeal from the judgment of the Vice-Chancellor of England, deciding that a full length equestrian picture of the great Duke of Sohomberg, who was killed at the battle of the Boyne, and who was the maternal ancestor of the Duke of Leeds, was a portrait, and that it passed as such under the will to the respondent. On the part of the Duke it was contended that it was a picture and not a portrait, and as such belonged to the person who was the owner of Ilornby-hall in the Great Hall of which it was placed. His Lordship this morning gave judgment, affirming the judgment of the Court below. corpus in the custody of Mr. Cope, the Governor of Newgate, in which prison he was sentenced to be im prisoned for twelve months, for the publication of libels on the Duke of Brunswick and Mr. EL W. Valiance, the term of which iiiiprisoninent will expire to-thofrow. The defendant's health seemed to have suft-red severely from his-imprisonment, he looked exceedingly pale and emaciated, and walked with the feeble tottering gait of an old man. W. WORDSWORTH prayed the judgment of the Court upon the defendant on en indictment for libel, which had been found by the grand jury at the Central Cri minal Court, had been removed by certiorari into this °suet, and to which the defendant pleaded guilty. Mr. PUTT, on the part of the defendant, moved for a rule calling upon the prosecutor to chow cause why the indictment should not be quashed, or why the judgment should not be arrested. This indictment had been pre ferred at the Central Criminal Court, a Court which had been created by the 4th and sth William IV., cap 36. By the 13th section of that Act it was enacted that no bill of indictment for any misdemeanour(other than per jury or subornation of jury), which can or may be presented to the Grand Jury at any sessions of the peace for the city of Westminster, the borough of Southwark, and counties of Middlesex, Essex, Kent, and Surrey, respectively - , in which such misdemeanour was com mitted or alleged to have been committed, shall be pre sented to the grand jury to be summoned under the authority of this Act, unless the prosecutor or other person presenting such indictment shall have been bound by recognizance, to prosecute or give evidence at the Sessions to be held under the authority of this Act, against the person or persons accused of such misdemeanor, or unless such person or persons accused shall have been committed to or detained in custody, or shall be bound by recognisance to appear at the said sessions to be held under the authority of this Act. Now, from the record before the Court, it would appear, , that the prosecutors had not entered into recogniaances to prosecute, until after they had been before the grand jury. They had been before the grand jury on the 14th of November, and had not entered into the recognizances until the 2d of December, eighteen days afterwards. lie therefore submitted that the Central Criminal Court bad no ju risdiction in this case whatever. Lord DENMAN having read the section referred to, Mr. PLATT, in continuation, urged that looking at the matter in a strictly legal point of view, the Duke of Brunswick, the prosecutor of this indictment, had never entered into any recognizances at all, for the recognizances bore upon the face of them that they were recognizances to prosecute for a libel— not for libels, whereas the indictment was for eleven libels. The proper course for the prosecutor to have pursued would have been to have gone before the grand jury at the Middlesex Sessions, or at the 'Westminster Sessions, so as to have had the matter investigated by a jury, of the inhabitants of the county in which the al leged libels had been published. He therefore moved for a rule nisi to quash the indictment, or to respite the judgment. Lord Dle:NMA.N— , Brother Talfourd, do you propose to show cause now? Mr. Sergeant TALVOURD—I cannot complain of the courig which has been adopted ; but I certainly am not now prepared to show cause against an application of which I ha►e had no notice. Lord DENMAN—(to Mr. Platt) —Then I think you are entitled to a rule.—Rule granted. The defendant was then removed in the custody of Mr. Cope, to Newgate, from which prison he will be discharged to-morrow. Counsel for the prosecution Mr. Sergeant Telfourd and Mr. Wordsworth ; for the defendant, Mr. Platt. The Duke of Brunswick was in Court and sat among the Queen's Counsel within the bar. PARTRIDGE V. Till DANK OF ENGLAND. In this case, in which an application had been made to the Court by Mr. Justice Erle, Lord DEN MAN said there would be no rule. THE QUEEN V. MOON.—QUO WARRANTO. The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said, that in this case he had obtained a rule in the Bail Court, calling upon the defeadant to show cause by what authority he claimed the right to exercise the office of Alderman for the ward of Portsoken, in the City of London. It was necessary that great care should be taken in drawing up the rule, and it was only to-day that he had fixed the terms of it. lie therefore prayed that he might now be per mitted to hand in his papers, and that the rule might be drawn up as for to-day, so that it might come on for ar gument next term.—Application granted. LAKE V. THE DUKE OF ARGYLL. This was an action brought against the defendant for goods supplied and work done for an association for the promotion of emigration to the British North American colonies, of which the Noble Duke was President, and the proceedings in connexion with which created great public sensation about twelve months since. The action was tried at Guildhall, and the jury found for the plain tiff. During the present term an application had been made for a rule nisi to set aside the verdict and for a new trial, on several grounds, and the Court took time to consider the matter. Lord DENstAN this morning announced that the Court was of opinion that the application must be refused, and that the verdict must stand. THE QUEEN V. ALDERMAN THOMAS WOOD. In this case Mr. Gray had obtained a rule calling upon the defendant to show cause why an attachment should not issue against him, on account of his neglect ing to comply with a rule of Court, ordering bim to de liver up certain papers and documents belonging to the parish of St. Mary, Newington. The SOLICITOR-GENERAL showed cause against the rule. It appeared that Alderman Wood had for eighteen or twenty years held the office of solicitor to the parish, and the last: year a Mr. (ledge had been appointed to the office—that the Alderman had, on payment of his bill of costs, handed over to Mr. Gedge all the documents belonging to the parish necessary for the transaction of business, and that Mr. Gedge had all the papers re lating to parish business for the last six years. There were various useless, dusty old papers, belonging to the parish, which Mr. Wood had promised to look out and deliver to Mr. Geddye, who was not content to wait until Mr. Wood's clerk had had time to look them out, but had applied to the Court for this attachment. The papers were, however, ready to be deli vered over. It was evident that a great deal of temper had been exhibited in this matter, and it was sworn to that the papers had been demanded in a very insulting manner. They were perfectly useless. and he trusted, under these circumstances, that the rule would be discharged with costs. Mr. Justice WILLIAms—Do you want their dirty old papers, Mr. Gray ? Mr. GRAY—Every one of them, my Lord.—(A laugh.) The Learned Gentleman then proceeded to argue in sup port of the rule, the obtaining of which bad marvel lously quickened the operations of Mr. Wood's clerks in making the search, and without which he believed th papers would not have been produced. Mr. Justice WILLIAMS gave the judgment of the Court, which was, that the rule should be discharged without costs. The Sommon GENICRAL—I hope the other party are they are in Court. ‘ p v re h p a a t re a d re to wtaeketoawd,aoy withthe papers ; They are perfectly useless ; some of them are old backs of briefs. Mr. Justice WILLIAMS — Hand them to Mr. Gray. Lo rd DENatAN—In my time the custom used to be to change old briefs for new, not new for old.—(A. laugh.) The box containing " the musty records" was then solemnly handed over to the attorney for the parish, and taken out of Court. BAIL COURT, Nov 25. • (Sittings in Banco.) THE QUEEN V. THE JUSTICES CE YORKSHIRE. Mr.. PASULETOII moved for a rule fora mandamus in this case directed to the three Justices of Yorkshire, commanding them to issue a distress warrant to enforce the payment of a poor-rate for the township of Hud dersfield. The rate had been made and duly published, and a demand had been made on the lluddersfield Philosophical Society. They did not pay and did not appeal to the Quarter Sessions, but wont before the Judges in Petty Sessions, and sub mitted that they were not liable to be rated under the statute of the 6th and 7th of Victoria, c. 36, which exempted all societies for the purposes of science, litera ture, and the fine arts ; but the object of the society in question was to instruct all classes of the community in every branch of science, literature, and the fine arts, which the Learned Counsel contended did not come within the exception of the statute.—Rule granted. COURT OF EXCHEQUER, Nov. 25. (Sittings in Banco.) THZ MARQUIS OF BUTZ V. THOMPSON. The Court p gave judgment in this case. The question related to the working of certain coal-mines ; and the Court were of opinion that the plaintiff was entitled to their judgment. COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, Nov. 25. (Sittings in Banco.) At the sitting of the Court this day, being the last of the term, their Lordships proceeded to give judgment in several cases which stood over. The following were the only ones of any interest. into your case, and we are unwilling to say anything more at present than that the rule nisi will be granted. Mr. WALCOMME, who now appeared for the plaintiff, attic] that his client wished to put in two affidavits re- SOcting bids lie Had st,,tcd at the time of his ap plication, but which had not been supported. The Court granted leave to put in those affidavits. LIOLIIES V. EADDELET. MS LORDSHIP also pro judgment in this case which was an appeal from the Master of the Rolls. The Court ordered the judgment below to be affirmed. MARQUIS OF HERTFORD V. LORD LOWTHER. The remainder of the day was occupied with the fur thering this appeal, in which a question was raised whether certain money and bank notes in th© testator's possession at the time of his death passed by his will devising real estates. Sir James Graham was present a greater portion of the morning, and sat on the bench. This was the last day of term, and it is generally un derstood that his Lordship will not sit again till this day week. VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT, Nov. 25. This being the last day of term, the Vice-Chancellor of England took motions, none of which were of any in terest. (Before Sir K. BRUCE.) LYON V. COLVILLE.—JUDGMENT. His HONOUR gave judgment in this case this morning. The circumstances were exceedingly complicated, in volving the claims of creditors on the estate of the tes tator, the liability of the property of the widow and ad ministratrix to part of tho,e claims, the settlement of the accounts of the executors, and the question whether certain estates in the island of Jamaica, were, by the construction of the will and the statute law of the colony and of England, converted into equitable assets for the benefit of the creditors. With respect to the first point his Honour grounded his decision on the case of Eland v. Eland, and said, though it might seem a hard case, yet if that decision was rightly given, it would be wrong to award the plaintiff what he claimed. With respect to the question whether the funds of the testator in the island of Jamaica were equitable assets, he thought, considering the Acts of the Colonial Legislature, and the British statute' the 37th of Geo. 111., that those funds must be treated as personal estate, and there fore becam e l ega l assets. 'This principle ap peared to him to be clear of doubt. With regard to the lands in Jamaica—the Prospect, Paradise, and Retrieve estates—he thought there was not in the will any devise or disposition by which they were con stituted, a real estate for raising a fund for the payment of equitable assets. Though he had come to this con clusion he had not done so without much doubt, as it was a question of much difficulty. But if any part of those estates was to be held to be equitable assets, it must be by some other authority than his. He directed the case to be mentionedagain on Thursday week, and the minutes which would require much care, to be drawn up in the interim. (Before Sir J. WIGRAM.) PRY V. FRT. JUDGMENT. In this case Frances Maria Burn by her will dated the 28th of June, 1832, gave all her leasehold estates at Newington, to J. J. Taylor, Esq., and T. W. Fry, to hold as her executors upon trust, and manage them for the benefit of the purposes of her will. The trusts were declared to be out of the rents, issues, and profits to accrue from time to time from her estates, to pay, first, ber debts, funeral and testamentary expenses, and legacies, afterwards, given ; secondly, to pay the ground-rents, taxes, Sze., of the property ; thirdly, to pay certain annuities, which were given principally to near relations of her late hus band ; and also other annuities subject to certain special provisions. Subject to these incumbrances the property was to go to Mrs. S. C. Fry and her husband, for their lives, afterwards to their children, with a proviso for their maintenance in the event of their surviving their parents ; if there were no children of Mr. and Mrs. Fry who could take the property, then it was to be disposed of, according to the joint appointment of both those par ties, to the next of kin of Sarah Fry. Subsequently, by a oldicil of the 15th day of September, 1834, the testa trix revoked so much of the bequests of her will as re lated to the whole of the leasehold estate, and by that codicil she gave one-half of that estate to Mr. and Mrs. Fry, and the other half to Mr. Charles L. Gee. The question then was, according to the construction of the c what was the subject of the revocation, and what was the subject of the new disposition. For the children of Mr. and Mrs. Fry it was contended that nothin- , was revoked but the beneficial interest of Mr. Fry, determinable by his death ; also that the sub ject of the revocation and bequest commenced with the gift of Mr. Fry, and that the whole of the estate was sub ject to the charges mentioned in the will. F or M r . G eo it was contended that the whole of the disposition of the will had boon revoked, and that Mr. Gee took one moiety of the estate, discharged of all the debts, charges, and incumbrances, stated in the will. His Honour over-ruled the first point contended for by the children, and, with regard to the other two points, he decided that the case must be considered as a bequest of the leasehold estate, after the charges thrown upon it, and that, subject to those charges, one moiety should go absolutely to Mr. Gee, and the other moiety to Mr. and Mrs. Fry and their children, ono half of the charges to be borne by each. With respect to costs, he would hear counsel on a futnre occasion, if there was any objection to throwing the costs upon the general residue. COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH, Nor. 25. (Sittings in Banco.) THH QUEEN V. BARNARD GREGORY. The defendant in this cue was brought up by habeas CA(.DICOTT V. .7011NSON. This was an action of ejectment, which was brought to try a right claimed under a will. The verdict was taken for the defendant for the purpose of having the opinion of the full Court upon the point of law, which was, whether Michael Mason, jun., under whose will the defendant held possession, had not granted more than he himself derived under the will of his father, Michael Mason, sen. Their LORDSHIPS were of opinion that the will of th• son was not an execution of the father's will, and ruled the verdict be entered for the plaintiff: GRINNF.LL V. WELLS. It will be recollected that in this case the plaintiff, a schoolmaster of respectability, recovered damages, in a large amount, for the seduction of his daughter, against the defendant, an opulent farmer, in whose family the young woman lived as governess. A rubs was subse quently obtained to bar proceedings on the ground that the father had no action for the expenses of his daughter's maintenance, and that the action ought to have been brought for loss of services. The COURT decided this day that the father had no action for maintenance. In a case of seduction his only claim was for loss of services.—lttile to bar proceedings made absolute. THOMAS v. DUNN—THE CHINESE COLLECTION. The plaintiff, formerly agent to Mr. Dunn, who is pro prietor of the Chinese Collection, brought this action upon a contract, to which the defendant pleaded that the document was a forgery. The jury found for the defen dant, and in the course of this term the plaintiff applied in person to the Court for a rule to show cause why the verdict should not be set aside, when their Lordships took time to consider judgment, On that occasion we gave an adequate statement of th e f ac t s . The LORD CELLE/ JUSTICE, this morning, seeing the plaintiff in Court, acid—Mr. Thomas, we bays looked CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT. The first session of the present Mayoralty was com menced yesterday ate he Old Bailey. Precisely at ten oclock, the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor, attended by his chaplain, Michael Gibbs, A.M., vicar of Christ Church ; Aldermen H. Hughes, Kelly, Hooper, Marshall, Sheriff Sidney, and Under-Sheriffs Martin and Atihurst entered, and the Court was opened in the usual form. . The names of the grand jury were then called ova, and they being sworn, 'The REconnsu then proceeded to deliver his charge. He said that the charges in the present calendar, although not numerous—it containing only 118 names—at the same time, comprehended several charges of the most serious and important character. Many of them Were charges of violence to the person. No less than ten for cutting and wounding with intent to do some grievous bodily harm ; seventeen of larceny from the person, ac companied, more or less, with violence ; two of man slaughter, and one of murder. All these cases were of a serious character, but the facts connected with them were in general clear and sufficiently distinct, and not involving any quest'on of law on which it would be necessary for him to address them. Their attention would be princi pally directed to the question of fact, what credibility should be given to the witnesses, and how far the con flicting evidence should be believed. With regard to the charge of murder, he did not think it convenient, nor would it answer any useful purpose to advert to it, or examine its details. They would give it their due and cautious attention. With regard to one of the charges of manslaughter, which was involved in considerable ob scurity—a charge against a husband, a pro'essional man —it behoved them to sift the evidence well, and before they returned a verdict of manslaughter, to feel assured that there were really good grounds for their so doing. There were two other charges to which it might be ex pected that he should allude—he meant those which re lated to offences of a foul and unnatural character ; but he was sure they would spare the Court any reference to such infamous cases, as the great pro bability was, that the facts themselves would be amply sufficient to guide their opinions. The remaining caws in the calendar did not require any par ticular notice, but it was with regret he stated that there was one case of manslaughter, to which he could not properly refer, as the depositions were transmitted just before the sitting of the Court that morn ing. The proper officer to have sent them in might have done so several days before, but he, with a culpable procrastination, had deterred the transmission of them till the last hour allowed by law. Hid they been delayed a little longer, the Court would have felt it its duty to impose a fine upon the offending party. The Learned Recorder then adverted to the general duties of the grand jury, and concluded thus— With these remarks he would leave the gentlemen of the grand jury to the discharge of their duties, but he would add, that if anything should arise, in the course of their proceedings, to call for the assistance of the Court, it would be readily granted them. They might always re fer to the officer appointed - to assist, and with these few words hu would dismiss them. The grand jury then retired. OLD COURT. The morning was principally occupied in disposing of caves of petty larceny, which were of the most unin teresting ch*racter. Thomas Robinson, a sailor, aged 17, was indicted fur haring, on the 30th of October, attempted to steal from the cabin of the schooner Mary Ann, lying in the River, a watch and chain, the property of William Gordon Brown, a Custom-house officer, who was asleep there. The offence was clearly proved. The RECORDER said there could bo no reason to doubt that the prisoner was there for the purpose of com mitting the felony. He was: a stranger on board the vessel, and had boarded in the middle of the night. He had no account to give why he was there, excepting that he wanted a night's lodging. The jury found him Guilty, and The REcortomt, after informing him that the offence was punishable with fifteen years transportation, and if transported at all, the least term was ten years; but there wasa power,of mitigation, and in consideration of the prisoner's youth, the sentence was, that he be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for one year. Isaac Iliygs, aged 28, a paper-stainer, was charged with having assaulted Robert Collins, a City policeman, in St. Paul's Churchyard on the night of the 21st of October. Mr. WILKINs appeared for the defence, and said that by his advice the prisoner threw himself on the mercy of the Court. The RECORDER said that it might be as well to hear the evidence. The policeman having been heard, The RECORDER, in addressing the jury, said that this assault could scarcely be of that character contemplated by the statute, as of "intent to do some greviuus bo dily harm ;" but it was left to their discretion to say whether the assault was such, or whether it was an un premeditated blow, induced by some premature exertion of power on the part of the constable. The jury found him guilty of a common assault, and he was, after a severe admonition from the Bench, sent to the house of Correction, to be kept to hard la bour for six calendar months, LITERARY PROPERTY. The last number of the Phrenological Journal con tains the following letter from Mr. Combe, " On the Law of Copyright," which places the subject in a new light:— _ _ " Sir,--During the whole period of the recent con troversy regarding the amendment of the law of copy right, I preserved silence, being aware of the ten dency of self-interest to bias the judgment; but now, when the question is settled, and is not likely to be revived during the lives of th e e x i s ti ng generation of authors, I am desirous of placing on record the views which occurred to me on the subject, and which are in some respects different from any which I saw stated by the learned and able writers who took part in the discussion. As the result at which J have arrived seem to be directly, and, I hope, logically deducible from the principles of phrenology, they may, perhaps, not inappropriately find a place in your pages. " With the view of avoiding details, which now possess no interest, I shall proceed at once to the main point in dispute between authors and the public. The former claimed a perpetual property in their works ; while the advocates of limited copyright opposed their demand, as unfounded in justice, and detrimental to the public interests. The oppo sition was maintained chiefly on two grounds, via., Ist, That property is the creature of the law ; that authors, therefore, have no inherent right of property in their works; ant that any extent of exclusive privilege of publication conferred on them by the Legislature is a boon fur which they should be grateful, but which they had no right to demand ; and, 2dly, That the public interests require that a limit should be set to copyright, otherwise authors, or their representatives, might capriciously withdraw the most valuable and useful works from the circulation, or sell them at a price so extravagantly high that only the affluent could procure them. " The first argument, that authors have no inhe rent right of property in their works, appears to have been drawn from an opinion of Bentham, expressed in his Theory of Legislation. Property and laws,' says he, are born together, and die together. Before laws were made there was no property : take away laws, and property ceases.' Phrenologi cally and philosophically, this dictum will not stand investigation. t he organ and faculty of acquisitive ness are inherent not only in man, but in many of the lower animals, and give rise in both to an instinctive sense of property. Lord Kaimes justly remarks that man is a hoarding animal, having an appetite for storing up things of use ; and Chancellor Kent, of the State of New York, says that the sense of property is inherent in the human breast, and the gradual enlarge- ment and cultivation of that sense, from its feeble form in the savage state to its full vigour and maturity among polished nations, forms a very instructive portion in the history of human society.' (Kent's Commentaries, ii., 318.) I need not enlarge on this proposition, because it is admitted by phrenologists in general, and is, besides, placed in the clearest light, and very ably supported, in Mr. Hurlbut's excellent lecture on the Right and Moral Relations of Pro perty,' published in vol. xv., p. 97, of your journal, to which I beg leave to refer. "Co-existent with this sense of property, we find in man organs of conscientiousness, benevolence, and intellect, and the corresponding mental powers, evi dently intended to serve as guides to his general con duct, and, consequently, to the proper exercise of his acquisitive propensity. Human laws are, or, at least, ought to be, simply transcripts of the dictates of the latter faculties, enlightened by knowledge and expe rience- Laws may regulate, but cannot confer, any just rights. They may legitimately expound, define, and protect them ; but the moment human legislators assume the power of creating rights which nature has not previously bestowed, they commit injustice, and prepare the way for the introduction into society of insecurity and suffering. " Mr. Locke observes, that the labor of a man's body and the work of his hands are properly his ;' and it seems no undue stretch of the proposition to affirm that equally should the labour of his brain, embo lied by the work of his hands, be his. The man who procures from nature, or obtains by purchase, certain raw materials, and by his own labour and ingenuity works them up into a machine or piece of furniture, is recognised by all civilised nations as the exclusive proprietor, in perpetuity, of the article produced ; and I am at a loss to discover on what principle it can be maintained that an individual, who, from ori ginal invention, or the current science and literature of his age, composes a book, should not possess the exclusive right, in perpetuity, to this product also of his labour.and ingenuity. " But it is agreed in the "Second place, that the public interests require that limits should be set to copyrights, otherwise authors or their representatives might capriciously withdraw valuable works from circulation, and thereby retard the progress of pociety in virtue and civilisation. It is a very ancient and a very sound maxim, that nungwan aliud natura, aliud supienta dicit in other words, nature is so constituted that it is never neces sary to rob an individual of his just rights, in order to promote the real advantage of society. The rights tht! one, and the interests of the other, are in all cases compatible ; bccatts. the same great Being who laid the foundation of society in the nature of man, also conferred on the individual his rights; and He is too wise and powerful to have rendered the two con flicting. A few elucidations will, I hope, show that the csse of copyright forms no exception to this general rule. "Books may consist, Ist, Of new ideas never be fore published to the world; 2dly, Of the science and literature of past and present ages, mixed up with the fA4t h or's own observations and reflections; or, idly, Of the expressions of fancies, emotions, and passions, common to the human race, but invested with a peculiar charm by the author from the man ner in which he embodies them. Newton's Principia, Ilarvey's work on the Circulation of the Blood, and Sir Charles Bell's Dissertations on the Functions of the Spinal Nerves, all of which communicated dis coveries, may be selected as a specimen of the first class ; Dr. Neil Arnott's Elements of Physics, of the second; and Campbell's Pleasures of Hope, of third. I aslc, then, what does a perpetual copyright in such works imply ? Not an exclusive proprietorship in the ideas and reflections, in the fancies, passions, or emotions, embodied in them ; but simply in the author's peculiar mode of expressing them—in that combination of words which he employs in order to convey them to the world. The ioe",:s themselves, with all their consequences and applicatiosh; are left free as air to the public, although the ssopyright the work in which they are embodied be preserved inviolate to the author and his heirs. In our own day, Sir Charles Bell's discovery of the nerves of motion and feeling is transferred to every systematic work on physiology in Europe and America, although the copyright of the special essays in which he an nounced it still belongs to his representatives. " In regard to this class of works, then, there is no reason for maintaining that the public interests require that the discoverer's copyright should be limited. " In regard to the second class of books, I trust that I do no injustice to Dr. Arnott in saying, that all the principles of science which enter into his treatise, pre-existed in the works of his predecessors, and that the peculiar merit of his compositito, in my opinion, consists in the clear arrangement and perspicuity of elucidation of his propositions. If a perpetual copyright were granted to Dr. Arnott, it is clear that the whole principles, or, in other words, the entire raw material of the work, would be left as free to the public as they were before he wrote. The only thing of which it would then be in his power to deprive them , would be the advantage of that curiosa felicitas docendi, in which his peculiar merit consists. But the talents which produced those results were conferred on him, as an individual, by the Creator, when He gave him a peculiar conformation of brain, and a temperament characterised by fineness and activity; and it is difficult to discover on what principles of justice society can consistently deprive him of the advantages of that gift, or limit his en joyment of it, while they respect the right of property in perpetuity in tables and chairs, made by the hands of far less talented and less accomplished men. " It is argued, however, that were the law . to recognise a perpetual copyright in this work, Dr. Arnott, or his heirs, might capriciously deprive the public of the instruction it contains. In so far as re gards the author himself, nature has given a pretty effective guarantee against such an unreasonable course of conduct; because a brain in which the organs of benevolence, conscientiousness, love of ap probation, and reflection, were so deficient as to render the individual capable of acting in such a manner, ceuld not compose such a work. It is an extreme supposition that his heir or assigns might be so in fatuated—it is supposing them to be insane, and, nevertheless, at large ; but as such an occurrence might happen, I shall, for the present, assume that it actually does present itself, and inquire into the means which nature has provided for the protection of the public interests in such an emergency. They are simple. " The ideas contained in the work are public pro perty; and all that is wanted is a re-expression of them in such a form as may supply the void occasioned by the withdrawal of Dr. Arnott's treatise. The power of composition depends on temperament and cerebral development, and nature has not confined those gifts to Dr. Arnott. She has ushered into the world other brains and temperaments capable of running the race in which Dr. Arnott has conquered; and if his work were withdrawn, and the public needed his ideas, other individuals would speedily appear to supply the desired information. In point of fact, every author on science knows and feels that he holds his place only until an abler brain appears to wrest the laurels from his brow, and the bread from his mouth. He stands in a situation similar to that of the champion of England in the barbarous age of pugilistic combats. From the first hour of his pub lication to the last day of his fame, he is exposed to the challenge of every rival who chooses to enter the field with a view to occupy' his place ; and as the public never fails, sooner or later, to award the prize to the highest merit, he holds his supremacy only while . he is able to distance every competitor. The law which limits his copyright may despoil him of his bread, before such a rival has appeared. It may wrest from him and deliver over to men of infe rior capacity, the profits of his genius, at the very time when these men acknowledge that they cannot, by the exercise of their own powers, rival him in the career of public usefulness. If they could do so, there would be no need of infringing his rights ; for the publication of a treatise of higher merit would extinguish his work, and bring it to an end by natu ral dissolution. Even assuming that it might be cen turies before a writer appeared capable of producing such a clear, eloquent, and instructive elucidation of the principles of mechanical science as the work in question, this would only present stronger motives to Dr. Arnott's representatives to enlarge its circula tion ; but if they were so insane as not to do so, the inherent rights of all authors should not be violated because the representatives of one happened to be mad. " This argument applies to works of every kind, the substance of which consists of useful and practical ideas. The law which regulates patents for mecha nical inventions denies to ail individuals the exclusive use of principles ; and, in like manner, no author claims, or can justly pretend to, an exclusive right to particular ideas, facts, notions, or scientific postulates or inductions. All that he contends for is the right of property in his own special combinations of the elements of thought—leaving to all the world the free privilege of making similar, or better combinations of them, at their own discretion, and to the buyers the right of preferring the works which they find to be most instructive. " The third class of publications embraces novels and poetry ; in short, all works of fiction and fancy. What would a perpetual copyright of such works imply ? It would confer no exclusive property in the emotions, incidents, and ideas, which form their sub stance; but solely in the special combination of the words by which they are expressed. On one occasion Mrs. Siddons happened to read one of the sulyhmest passages of Shakspeare in the presence of the late Mr. Sotheby, the translator of Oberon and other wcrks. When she paused, he exclaimed Fine words! Gramd words!' and, after a few moments, added Now, these words would not have occurred to me !' This remark renders the thing which would be covered by the copyright of such works as clear as the noonday sun. It would be, as in the other instances already cited, only the special combination of words by means of which the ideas and emotions are expressed; and the power of making this combination is a gift so pecu liarly individual that no species of property . can surpass it in sacredness. It depends on a particular size and combination of cerebral organs, and a par ticular temperament, which impart strength, fire, re finement, and sublimity, to the products of the pen. If man can be said to create anything, it is such works as those of Shakspeare, Milton, Byron, Scott, and Campbell. These are pure luxuries to the public ; they cannot justly he viewed as articles of necessity, because the ideas and sentiments contained in them may all be applied to general use. It is only the magnificent forms in which the inspired sons of genius have embodied them that are claimed 11: sacred and it appears to me to be a mere wanton e; ercise of power in the public to appropriate these, while a "- presentative of the author is to be found alive on earth. The first and grand motive to the composition of such works is the conscious delight of creating them ; the second, the love of fame ; the third, the hope of doing good, directly or indirectly ; and the last and least, the expectation of pecuniary profit. Every age produces its own sons of genius ; and if, by such incredible suppositions as I have already allowed, the representations of a Shakspeare or a Milton were to step the sale of their works, no substantial interest of the public would suffer; for, even could the copies already issued be recalled, new minstrels would arise, who, writing under the same inspirations, and guided by the lights of science and of a more advanced phi losophy, would, in all probability, sing new songs of emotion and fancy, not inferior to those of their pre decessors in fire, energy, and refinement, vhile they might surpass them in purity, truth, and' all the grander elements of thought. " With all deference, therefore, to the able indi viduals who have controverted the title of author s to a copyright i n p e rpetuity, it appears to me that jus tice supports their claim, and that the interest: of society are not exposed to the least danger in grant ing it —I am, &c. " GEO. COMM " The London and St. Katharine Dock Companit 's have given the sum of 100/. each towards the fund now raising for building baths and waohhousee for *he 14, bouring elaesee in the metroPolbt. „. 1 MARKET NEWS.—(YESTERDA Y CORN EXCHANGE. 1, of During the past week rather :.n extensive supp.; t English Wheat came to hand from Lincolnshire. but from Essex and Kent the receipts of that article 0' grain were only to a moderate extent. Of other kin di of grain the arrivals were by no means large. FershuP the supplies of Wheat coastwise, as %tell as by land or: riage and sample, were only moderate, yet we had rebel an extensive show of parcels of both red and whit e, ow' in g to which the demand for all kinds of Wheat of 11011',; : produce was in a very sluggish state. However , tv finest qualities were mostly disposed of at fully 10 week's quotations, but all other kinds were a mere ‘ l l at barely late rates. The general condition of tut samples was inferior. The imports of foreign Wil t have been small, and we had very few samples he" today. Generally speaking, holders were firm. ~h j finest qualities commanded a fair inquiry, at ve r y' prices. In.other kinds, next tr.) nothing was doing. tew speculative sales took place in bonded Barley 141 other Corn, under lock, was almost nominal in 0 1 . 116 The show of Barley was tolerably extensive. Fino parcels sold at a decline of Is ; other kinds, I s to 25 per quarter, and a large portion remained over for Wedue s : day. The Malt trade was very dull, and, in so of instances, the rates were somewhat easier. The show Oats was good, while all descriptions met a slew inqui r ; at barely last week's quotations. In Beans very fit was doing, at an abatement of is per quarter. G, 11 , 1 . and Maple Peas were Is per quarter cheaper. 1-I°u ' and all other artieb s, were very dull. CURRENCY PER IMPERIAL MEASURE. sy WHEAT—Essex & Kent, (11s red 4Ol to 21; Oars—Yorkshire and to 01 Ditto, white Norfolk and Lin- I Potatoe coin, red ..... 3fis to 465 , Youghall and Cork, to 49s Dittowhits... ....... 42s to 50st black . 2 1 . Irish, red —s to —s, Cork, white " ,..... ... .. ..22s to Ditto, white ... Rra—Old 308 to 34s BRANS—Tick .... . 3 14 "" .....».»......• 3ss to 36e, Pigeons ails t ° 9 7l nding 27s to: 18Pzes— Grey ....—. ..... ms' s BARLRY—t.;:: MA to 38s Map's 36 6 ." 961 Halting ..... . att, to kv 3Ss to Ws White .... .. .. .... Chevalier ..... . "'' to 3S• MALT—Sutiblk and Nor- —• ~u s—Town made ... 44 1 N 45 1 folk 546 to 621 Brawn 566 to 6011 Sun.. ... t 0 g5l • ...... sis to 3 ' Kingston and Ware 63. to 64s' Stockton Norfo lk FOREIGN GRAIN AND FLOUR IN t 01 9.! WltßAT—Dantzie 32s to 368IBEass ..... Hamburg h yes to —1 Paa5........... „„, A BARLEY Oars—New Feed ..•..»....»....« lss t0.17s SMITHFIELD. Compared with that exhibited on many previot° Mondays the supply,of Beasts on sale was but mod erate, while its general quality was very inferior. Owing t° , the favourable change in the weather, the increased lit tendanee of both town and country buyers, and to Ih ..i dead markets being well cleared of their last we e° arrivals of country-killed meat, the beef trade this rnot n A ' inewas active, at an advance in the currencies obtained on this day se'nnight of quite 2d per Sibs. ; the bei ; Scots, &c., readily producing 4s 2d per Blbs., and s t which improvement a clearance was effected with difficulty. During the week the imports of live st c ' e n. at Hull have amounted to 96 Beasts and 40 Shefr„ by steamers from Rotterdam ; while in LOU we have received seventy-two Oxen and Cows f ret° the above port, exclusive of 40 Sheep. At SoutharnP l°ll , three Oxen have come to hand from Vigo. GenerSl,7 speaking these imports have come in fair average NO' Lion. To-day we had only five Beasts and 20 Sh el) offering from Holland. The whole found buyers alp,lt trifle more money. The arrival of Beasts from Lin ci shire, Leicestershire, and Northemptonshire amounted ti about 1,400 Short Horns. From Norfolk, Suffolk, Es se , and Cambridgeshire, we have received 300 Scots, 6;° ': from the Western and Midland Counties, 600 P 2/° " - i Herefords, Runts, Irish Beasts, &c. ; from other parlsoo° England, 500 of various breeds ; and from Scotland Horned and Polled Scots—the remainder oft be supPv being derived from the neighbourhood of the metror ilt i The supply of Sheep was only moderate for the tame, year. but quite equal to meet the wants rlf the buyers. Ft l° , 3 old ',",;•.wns commanded a steady inquiry, at an adv ane in the q u 0 ,,,....j011s of 2d per Sibs, the highest figure ne l , l l ; but fhb value of other qualities no vernal, 4s 2d was noticed. As is usu,LilY the case at this season, , 1 4 business doing 10 t Inactive, at nominally I`ll', Veal trade was extremely figures. There was a steady - primest Pigs ; but other qualities wer"R a mere drug. Per 81bs. to sink the offal I. s d. to s. d. t• '' 0 Inferior Beasts ..... .... 2 6 2 8 Secondqualityditto.« 3 3!- Second quality ditto... 2,i10 31 2 Coarse-woolled ditto 3 Prime large Oxen.-- 3 4 3 6 Southdown Wethers 4 0 Prime Scots, &c....... 310 4 Ditto out of the wool •"'" ; 6 Large coarse Calves... 3 0 3 6 Large Hogs Prime small ditt0...... 8 4 0 Small Porkers 3 3 9 0 Suckling Calves, each 18 0 30 u Quarter old Pigs,eactl6 0 haferior Sheep SUPPLY AT MARKET. Beasts. I Sheep. Calves. I re , 8,138 I 27,240 . 81 I 441 NZIVGA.TII AND IMADENNALX. I ,ot The arrivals of country -killed meat up to these niar'for during the week have been seasonably extensive, but the most part of very middling quality. With 13171 killed in the metropolis we have been well supplie d, the demand for the primest Beef and Mutton has 111 0 active, at full prices. All other kinds of meat ha ve 0 heavily, at, in some instances, reduced figures. A ; o il , carcases of foreign Beasts and Sheep have sold at quotations. At per stone, by the Carcase. s 4 ' a. d. Los. d. • J . to ic Reef, Inferior 2 4 2 6 Mutton, inferior midiling ..... .... 2 8 2 ill --....-- middling 3 u 5 0 prone 1arge..,.., 3 1 3 2-- prime..„.„ 3 6 5 I prime small ...... 3 4 3 6 Pork, large..„ 2 I ',, 4' 0 Veal.,„.-------- 3 0 4 0 —small ......... ARRIVALS DURING THE PAST WEEK. Beast.. Sheep. Calves. PiAl• Scotland ........-................- ..... 10 250 20 0 Yorkshire Norfolk Suffolk 7 20 —.1 60 20 Cambridgeshire Essex 50 220 Surrey 3O 200 40 1 Devonshire Wiltshire ............. 100 Other parts ...... ........... 1,0 140 1 : 19) 940 60 00 T0ta1......................... 1 4 1 Previous week's arrival ........... 73 ----- Difikrence since our last. bB 290 ;,89 Sli) BOILUUGH AND SPITAZMIZtDS. Rather an extensive supply of Potatoes has been re ceivt d at the water side since Monday last, y( t very little effect has been produced upon the demand, tithing from several of the large dealers being short of stock . The trade, however, is by no means active. ZOROUGX HOP MARXZT. The supply of Hops on offer here, since our last re rort, has been only to a moderate extent, yet, as tb ! declared duty has somewhat exceeded ptevious estimate'' the demand is inactive at our quotations. WOOL TILISSULET. In the past week the imports of Wool have been lib e : rat, they having consisted of 159 bales from Hainburf" 288 ditto from Callao, 60 ditto from Rotterdam, 42 0 " ditio from Taganrog, 289 ditto from Port Phillip, s v „ d , ditto from Sydney, and 275 ditto from Odessa. 13° ' foreign and colonial qualities are a dull sale, yet ,t 1 1; rates may be considered about stationary. In EDO' next to nothing is doing, and prices are not maintaine u ! TALLOW. The price of Tallow continues very steady, and fro t the circumstance of many persons having an interest 5 ,„ the market, the price is not likely to decline, at all eve n r, for the present. For the spring the price is firm tit for January, and 41s 3d for February and March. 'I", season has closed at St. Petersburgh. The total q uart , tity shipped off is 113,509 casks, against 121,78 7 l i , year, to the 30th October, when the winter had set „5 The vessels, with one or two exceptions, will, no duo' get away. Town Tallow is 41s nett cash. PUBLIC WHIPPING .—Aaron Walker, who was sel l ,: tenced at the Folkestone Quarter Sessions on the 1 61 , of July last, to six months' imprisonment in Dover t'. l ,.r ° 5 and to be twice publicly whipped, for picking the poes' e , of William Till, at Folkestone fair, underwent one tion of his corporeal punishment, at the hands of rl ;,'" t gaoler, in the market-place here yesterday forenoon. - a half-past eleven o'clock. The culprit, who was lash to a pillar, received twenty-two lashes, and is to re ceil t twenty-two more another day. He bore his punishin erl with much firmness, and without uttering a single e° 113 ,i plaint. A considerable number of persons had assemb le to witness the degrading exhibition, which seemed. 11°/ 7, ever, to induce only a feeling of disgust and indign atl 2, at its savage barbarity. The individual who suffered ri'.`ta, infliction is, it seems, one of the metropolitan lig" t fingered tribe, who had been plying his avocat ion Folkestone fair, some six months since.—Dover Ora' 111:-Ie. BIRTHS. On the 19th inst., at the Grammar School, LlngV rt ' Sorners.st, the lady of the Rev. E. D. Green, of a son. On the 18th inst„ at Lark Hall-lane, Mrs. Sidney Johow' of a daugDter. On the 20t1.1 inst., in Nottingham-terrace, Regent f"P the wife of F. Dawson, Esq., of a daughter. T. On the 21st inst., at Hatcham Lodge, New Cross, grs- T. Fawcett, of a daughter. On the 21st the lady of Charles Main Worthire E sq., of a daughter. On the 21st inst., at Titchtleld-terrace, Regent's-For k ' the wife of Joseph Needhu m, Erq., of a son. gt°' On the 21st inst., at Park-square, Regent's-park, Francis Cook, of a sou. On the 22d inst., at Clapham. Mrs. Wit Browny or daughter. II- On the 22d inst., Mrs. Howell, Berns/I-And , I" - square, of a son. MARIED. On the 15th inst., at Wardle ß Lodge, near Edinburgh, cat; tain James Alexander Duncan Fergusson, Bengal CaYs!r t Y;; to Margaret, daughter of the late James Hope, Esq., the Signet, Edinburgh. • se cond , On the 16th inst., at St. Mary's, Islington, Naomi, 0 the daug2iter of the late Mr. George Robins, engraver. 001 Mit City of L Tondon, to William Martin, o f Wells-street , G e orge st., at the Perish Church, 00•17.11, Bar' rue O rc n h t a le L lß!' 1 . 2 Reade, Esq., o f n t :tton Locras . Cleveland , to life %.! o dge, Brighton. bars, second daughter or; ohn Watson. E. of Witic S h o e r n ri t n h g e , 2 a B g t e i cl l 0 6 f 8 0 . D/E.: ) . „, On the 21st inst., at Sherlmne, vorsetahire, lir. Wi lli° ERq., of Lona ct i o 3a b y er c , a a : i b ie l Lord, of Wrotham, Kent. 1 10 11 On the sth inst., • in Jermvn-street, Loth lon, Samna i, t ra Jaln ed On , altj ßa 9 :d n oes r. the 16th inst., at Rodney-terrace, Olea n— ' David Potts, Esq. , a ged SI Onl6th • the lust ,at Rugby, Miss Martha Si de " ell ;r f Ja in On the 20t1 v.Bu.ttartabaer,E24.9 1 inst., at Brighton, Caroline, ,r ife ° Windo • E v,,Esq ,of Craig's-court, London. ~, W . ,icl• On the 21st inst., in Wimpole-street, Adam AS' . .. ' of Redheugh, Durham, aged 86. olds " On the 21st inst., at Clapham-rise Frances W."' 1 , daughter of Holdsworth Hunt, Esq., of the Inner 11010. On the 21st inst., at Hall Place, near Canterbury', a . Ellen, relict of Colonel Webb , of th e Coldst uilro:ogeat ream On the 22d inst., at Kensington, Mary Adeline, Y daughter of W. Rea, Esq. .., 1 Webb Bicha On the 22d inst. , Sarah , the wi:e of Mr. Jupp, Carpenters' Hall, London. s ,or London: Printed and Published by MURI3O 1f°140..11 nice' o tf No. 112, Strand, Printer, at Th e Bl ' in 4 Orio Strand, the Precinct a the Savor, itthe Middlesex, Tueeday, No-ember 26,1 E' no] aqd /1 ,., ,orldon