The Sun. — London, England, 1844-02-03 00:00:00

IEr T o oa r 'bat d egis" o ( stoi i ? ° 0 ino° ll .4 d s I t J ed ' o at 0 )hil d J. I:. F. e, J. n. 1 1% $ 11 011 * e i rn, , tiot Coleso ert I. 1. j. '00 01 1: lobe`" so , . W. S• ,sOP l ' rt of llich°ll MS n o ;Cn t ; THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 0 2 IM4. SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS. FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAY. GLOBE.—The House of Commons was last night principally occupied with a debate on the outrage upon decency, and - contempt alike of the law, its Judges, and the dignity and duties of his high office. which the Attorney-General of Ireland showed on Tuesday last. If the conduct of the chief law officer of the Govern ment in that country has provoked universal con demnation, the defence set up for him by Sir Robert Peel—followed, of course, by the subordinate mem bers of the - Government—has drawn down upon the Ad ministration, whose servant he is, a similar ex pression of public disapprobation. The Attor ney-General for Ireland is a fortunate man. He escaped committal for contempt of court from the Judges; and he is now kindly screened from dismissal from his post by the Premier. The former would have consigned any other individual to the prison of the Court for contempt ; and have directed the Attorney-General to prosecute for the high offence, in order that all per sons might be warned against a similar interference with the calm and dignified administration of the jus tice of the country. The latter ought to have merged party considerations in what the public interests impe ratively demanded at his hands. The offence committed was of no ordinary description. To incite to a breach of the peace, which may involve the commission of a capital felony, is invariably treated by the Court as an offence that calls for severe punishment ; more es pecially when the alleged provocation has refe rence to . any act which the party challenged has performed in connection with his public duty. In the Irish Attorney-General's case every imaginable ingredient heightens the enormity of the offence. The challenger is the highest Law-officer of the Crown ; engaged at the time he pens and transmits the chal lenge, in prosecuting a number of parties for conduct tending to disturb the peace of the country. The party challenged is one of the counsel for these defen ants. At tl e time he is challenged he is in the midst of his address to the jury in behalf of his client. That he may be able to discharge his anxious duty with effect, it is requisite that his mind be unem barrassed, in order that he may apply himself with unclouded judgment and fervid zeal to the cause he has undertaken to defend. At such a time, in such a place, under such circumstances, the Attorney-General —taking personal offence at something which the advo cate had uttered respecting the mode in which the pro secution had been conducted—pens, and causes to be conveyed, a challenge to the Counsel so engaged. He * thus necessarily distracts the attention of the gentle man he challenges, and diverts it from the subject-matter of his argument, to the obvious injury of the party whose conviction the Attorney-General has employed all his professional skill and power to secure. The cir cumstances of the country, out of which the prosecution has arisen, called for the most careful abstinence from everything which could detract from the cool and im partial administration of the law. The Government has deemed it necessary to impress the public mind with a conviction of its determination to put down agitation. The majesty of the law was to be exhibited—its autho rity was to be upheld. With, or without, sufficient cause, the Government had determined to teach this great lesson to the Irish people. Intemperate speeches had been delivered at the Repeal meetings ; and, as intemperate words may incite to intemperate acts, and thus the pub lic peace be broken, O'Connell and his co-defendants are indicted, and are put upon their trial for this alleged offence. The Attorney-General is instructed to conduct the prosecution ; and; to say nothing more, has stretched his prerogative to the utmost of its limits—we think beyond them—to carry out the purposes of the Go vernment. In the exercise of his functions, this functionary evinces a temper the most irascible, and adopts a conduct the most illiberal, towards the prose cuted parties. Restrained at length by the st ictures of the press, he for a time conducts himself with pro fessional decorum. But he has only " nursed his wrath to keep it warm." At length it explodes. The concen trated violence of his irascibility is discharged. A three cornered note is the missile emitted from the volcano. The counsel, who has applied the match to the combus tible matter pent up within the brain of this irate func tionary, is required instantly to apologise for some thing lie has said in his speech, or to " name his friend," and vindicate the Attorney-General's fame and feelings by reciprocal perforation with pistol-bullets ! Brought under the notice of Parliament, the Prime Minister, if he does not positively justify, so pares down the offence as to represent it as a mere accidental ebullition of ill-temper on the part of his Attorney-General—a peccadillo so trifling as to be unworthy of notice. The Attorney-General is a man of warm temperament. He is easily excited, and ought therefore to be excused. " The Attorney-General for Ireland had, it was true, been betrayed, by a momentary irritation, into the act which the Hon. and Learned gentleman (Mr. Roebuck) had referred to, and which could not be justified ; but for this he had been reproved by the Court." Reproved by the Court ! The reproof was of the gentlest cha racter. A fond and foolish mother endeavouring to soothe a wayward child could scarcely have expressed herself more mildly. The Chief Justice really seemed as if he feared he should draw down upon himself the ire of the Attorney-General, and become the next victim of his passion for pistols. The whole scene was scarcely more creditable to the Judges than it was to the At torney-General. The Chief Justice descended from his dignified position, and actually suspended the admi- ' nistration of the high functions of his office, out of tenderness to the delinquent before him. Without solicitation or a single expression of regret from him, he positively coaxed and fondled the offender into a qualified admission of error. "His Learned Friends told him (he never once admitted that he concurred in their view of his conduct) that he had been betrayed into something wrong !" And then this venerable and thus easily propitiated Chief Justice "trusted that the proceedings would be carried no further." Sir R. Peel says that which is scarcely borne out by the facts, as reported. The Attorney- General did not " withdraw the letter." It was "tossed back" to him by Mr. Fitzgibbon. The only circum stance by which Sir Robert Peel's assertion can be explained, being, that the Attorney-General did not " toss it back" to Mr. Fitzgibbon, and thus intimate his continued determination for " trial by battle" with that gentleman. The close of Sir Robert Peel's speech en the occasion is decisive in favour of the Attorney- General's retention of his office, for which he has given such irrefragable proofs of unfitness—especially in the perturbed state of the country in which he is the first law officer of the Crown :—" As to the suggestion of the Hon. and Learned Gentleman, he (Sir R. Peel) begged at once to say that the Government had taken no step for the dismissal of the Attorney-General for Ireland, and had no such step in contemplation." This declaration was received by loud cries of " Hear, hear !" from every part of the House. We also say, " Hear, hear !" "He that hath an ear, let him hear " the practical lesson which the Premier has given to the country, and especially to the people of Ireland. By them it will not only be heard, but understood—and, we fear, acted upon in a way by no means likely to im prove their civil and social state. STANDARD.—A foolish motion of Mr. Sharman Crawford, to the effect that the House should abstain from offering any opinion upon the inviolability of the union with Ireland, and thus leave the question of the integrity of the empire an open question, gave occasion to Mr. Roebuck to allude to the late correspondence between the Attorney-General for Ireland and Mr. Gitzgibbon, the counsel for one of the traversers, Doctor Gray. Now, we do not pretend to know or to guess the motives which urged Mr. Roebuck to dis tinguish himself from the other 658 Members of the House to whom the subject was open, by coming for ward upon this occasion. Perhaps it was a burning zeal for the Constitution and the integrity of the British empire that has " grown with his growth, and strength ened with his strength ;" perhaps it was an ex cessive devotion to the interests of the profession of the law—such as is apt to grow upon men in the case of a profession in which they are very eminently distinguished ; perhaps it was an in tense horror of the possible resort to personal encounters, such as we may expect to find in a man who has through life studiously avoided them, and eschewed all occasions of offering personal offence. We will suppose any good motive rather than imagine that he was imitating the party journals in an attempt to obstruct the course of justice by " abusing the prosecutor." But whatever the Learned Gentleman's motive, we must think that his zeal carried him a little too far, in his reprehension of the Irish Attorney General's conduct—carried him the length of pro pounding (unconsciously we are bound to believe) two fallacies ; first, that the Learned Attorney-General delivered a challenge ; secondly, that he delivered this challenge (we quote the Morning Chronicle's report). " In the presence of the chief judges of the land, the ad ministrators of the law, the maintainers of the peace, there had been one of the most gross—he would use no harsher word, for this reason, that the English language did not supply a stronger one for the purpose—one of the most gross violations of common decency perpetrated by the Attorney-General for Ireland, that had ever been perpetrated." Now we deny that the Attorney General delivered any challenge, although we are aware that Sir Robert Peel, Lord Eliot., Lord Stanley, Sir James Graham, and the other speakers who defended the absent gentleman with a generous fidelity worthy of them, and one which we respectfully assure them attaches even their humblest adherents by new ties, seem to have admitted that the note to Mr. Fitzgibbon was a challenge. The whole history of the affair will be found in an article which we have borrowed from our excel lent contemporary the „Dublin Evening Pachet, and whoever reads that history will, we think, agree with us that no challenge really was delivered. We not deny that a man of a very high but perverse spirit, and of more sensibility than discretion, might read the note as a challenge, but we certainly should not inter pret such an address to ourselves as a summons to the field, and we are not willing to yield to Mr. Fitzgibbon either in the :sense of honour or respectability of station. We sometimes get such notes—we consider calmly the sub ject of them—and "if right we smile, if wrong we kiss the rod." It would be a most dangerous doctrine to lay down, that every demand of an explanation, thongh expla nation through a friend should be suggested in it, must, be treated as a cartel, a fatal Gematria, that would extract the word pistol from every combination of letters in which complaint of a gross insult should be made. Let us rather adopt the - benign rule of 4tII.IRDER or LORD IN oktM AN BY'S KEEPER.--- assee that proves the inefficacy of the present game-laws hap. Edon Tuesday last, the 30th instant, at two six., at Mulgrave Castle, the seat of the Marquis of Normanby. It seems that the 141 1 of Mulgrave has been entertaining a party of gentlemen at that mansion, and that after shooting on Monday, the keepe r, at *ended by six watchers, went to watch the woods, as is customary. It " Perhaps a better view of the case may be attained by our readers if we give the evidence taken before two magistrates who l 'aPPened to be staying at the house at the time :—Charles Low. Met', thirty.seven, for the wilful murder of William Moffat, keeper IQ the Marquis of Normanby ; and Matthew Pierson, nineteen, as FenOry to the fact. Before T. Bell, Esq., M.P., of Thirsk, and -rAlraund Turton, Esq., of Kildale Cleveland, two of her Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the North Riding of Yorkshire.—William 24 0 frat deposed—l am a gamekeeper to Lord Normanby, and pro. seeded, as is my custom, to watch, accompanied by six other men. 4 thoUt two o'clock, I heard some shots fired in the direction of South-lodge, and we went thither. After concealing ourselves for come time, the prisoner and another man came up, and I went forward and said to him, " Halloo." He immediately *tapped back and fired at me, the shot entering my abdomen. • (At this stage of the evidence the prisoner kept crying out, •s ` 0 Lord accept my soul ;" " 0 Christ, save him.") I imme. diately fell, and cried out, " I am murdered." One of the Watcher, then rushed forward, and he knocked him down with the butt end of his gun. Two others then succeeded in capturing - btre. The others escaped. By Mr. Turton—Were you armed With guns t—No, we had only sticks. Did you say anything but 4 ' halloo ?"—No. No words of intimidation Y—No ; when I was lying on the bank ho said, " 0, forgive me, and shake hands." I said, '• I will, if you will tell me who was the other man ;" and • -he said " Matthew Pierson, of Eskdaleside." This witness gave • %is evidence in great agony, and lingered on till Tuesday evening, When be died in excruciating pain. Three watchers then substan tiated this evidence. Matthew Pierson said. he would give vo hoMary evidence :—He was a farmer's servant in Eskdaleside; that Charles Lowther had taken him out poaching twice before ; that `tut night they bad shot four pheasants when the sad catastrophe baPpened. They were both committed to York Castle for their trial at the Lent Assizes. The murderer is the son of respectable IParepts, large farmers in Cleveland, but has long been a notoriously 'bad character, and has repeatedly been convicted of poaching, and . I was taken up on suspicion when Mrs. Robinson was murdered, wear here, two years ago. PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARY.—On Thursday the 'Rouse of Lords nominated a Select Committee to "consider certain Matters relative to the library of the House, and to the papers and doeuments delivered for their Lordships' House," and the Lords -following were named of the Committee—Archbishop of Canter bury, Lord Chancellor, Lord President, Lord Privy Seal, Dukes 'of Richmond, Buckingham, and Chandos, and Sutherland, Lords - Lansdowne, Salisbury, Devon, Wynford, Brougham, Denman, 'Campbell, &c. Their Lordships will meet on Monday. ST. GrRoRGE-IN-THE-EAST. — Yesterday a meeting 'frhe parishioners of St. George. in-the. East, was held in the Vestry. Cannon.street.road, tor the purpose of making a church-rate. rate had not before been called for since 1840, and the sum at Present required was about 5301. To meet this a rate of a penny sae pound was proposed, which was carried by a majority of 63 - A poll, however, was demanded. FRENCH PLAYS.—Her *Majesty and Prince Albert, ' %ttunded by Lady Dunmore, Lady Caroline Cocks, the Marquis of E . - ';e"f, Lard Hawarden, Lord George Lennox, and Colonel ; their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cara bridge, the Baroness Ahlefeldt, Count Kielmansegge, the Duke a nd Duchess of B eau fo r t, the Earl and Countess of Chesterfield, the Baroness Brunnow, Lady Pollington, Lady William Pa ul e t, L ad? Sinclair, Sir George and Miss Talbot, Lady and Miss Quen LordLo, Alexander Lennox, the Baron Talleyrand, and many other distinguished personages, honoured the French plays w ith their presence last evening. BRITISH AND FOREIGN ItilaTlTUTE.—Last evening t b h . is_building, s it uate i n Ge o r ge . s treetAllanover.square, was opened I V a ltrand dress soi l *, and it having been announced that his Highness Prince Albert intended to honour it .with his IPreYsenee, the attendance of members and their friends was very ur g i • Some ti me b efore nine o ' cloc k , t h e su it e o f rooms was terosi t ded with ladies and gentlemen in full dress, and at a quarter. • tetert nineareed o'clock, his Royal Highness, attended' a by the Marquis of 4,0 Council' of , and was received at the entrance by the President thron e the . Institute, who conducted his Royal Highness • h the room with :which he appeared to be much pleased, :Lung tim ' es, to examine the various works of art which ,icorated Oe walls or were scattered through the apartments. He an l h it i e . . , 1,,0ya 4 2 ° PPed nearly an hour, and entered into familiar conversation with - " an ) . of the Reiss a n d d hadarYladi Hleisgzelahi os stay,gentlemen present. A concert took p s i i ac an e o d r uri n sg in which Madame Dulcken, R Sign ora ' Lablache, Benedict, Goodbau, Ella, and ° the hone kir to perform. Amongst the numerous per. .o'"'Pliesent during the evening were the Marquis of Exeter, Lord tte__ Le nn ox, Chevalier 23unsau, Gil' E. Codrington, the Earl of 11 : Sir George Staunton, Baron Andl au , Lords Courtney, • 11 _ d Uor, and and J . Stuart, ,Admiral Sykes, Miss Strickland, the Sici. Brazilian Ambassadors, Sir R. and Lady Hunter, Mr. keragill R sc A c ., Count Wenaietoski, Sir A. B. Faulkner, Lady Ca mpbell, AT AR . I st j ust RIAGE •IN HIGH LIFE.—On Thursday, the t ant, at Titehtield, Hunts, by the Rev. Wm. Thresher, !lyk. Sir et. Edward Butler, son of the Right Hon. Lord 4 17: 4. !IYI) Urania Elizabeth, daughter of the late Vico tho Right Ho n. Lord Henry Yaulet, legal interpretation never to presume a crime where there is no express evidence of guilt. What passed in the mind of the Attorney-General when he wrote his note, within three minutes •after some months' baiting with systematic and premedi 'fated insult had been consummated by that gross per 'sonal outrage which, as Mr. Wyse has very properly sug gested, was probably put by some of the traversers into Mr. Fitzgibbon's brief—what was passing in the learned Attorney-General's mind during this agony of intellictual torment, it is impossible to say. He probably then re flected—Human forbearance cannot endure this longer, if it go on I shall be betrayed into some unbecoming violence of language in the face of the' Court ; I will seize this interval of adjournment, and use the opportu nity of this retired place, to put a stop to it sine stopiut. I will call upon Mr. Fitzgibbon to retract his insults, or at least to hame a friend, with whom a friend of mine may remonstrate against such an intolerable persecution. There is not a syllable in the note of the Attorney- General which will not bear this interpretation ; and why should we presume that a gentleman, unpractised in the affairs of duelling, must have designed a challenge in writing it ? We, indeed, are happily ignorant of the "conclusions" of "the code," and little read. in Caranza or Pareccio ; but though we have never shuddered at a "three-cornered note," Mr. Roebuck's acquaintance with the signification of the ill-omened rectilinear proves that he is aware when men are " tremera murmure Trinacria," and a Con naught friend assures us that he is altogether wrong in presuming a challenge, for that to write in such a case as the Attorney-General's, would be the most irregular thing in the world. In all such cases, says our friend, the gentlemen of Galway. Mayo, and Sligo, always proceed in the first instance by the voie de fait, of course with all considerate delicacy—or if the practical retort be not altogether proper by reason of the place or any presence, as in church, a drawing-room, or in the company of a man's wife—they always send a friend to apologise for not having ap plied the usual remembrancer, and to arrange a comfortable meeting ; but they never write, for a written note is open to a written reply in accommoda tion, and this of course is not what a gentleman wants. It is not our province to pronounce an opinion in such delicate matters, but we must think that the Attorney- General, who may be as ignorant of etiquette in these affairs as ourselves, has had hard measure in having his note considered on all sides as a challenge But, a challenge or no challenge, it is untrue to say that it was delivered in the face of the judges of the land. It was not delivered in Court at all, but in a room many yards distant from the Court ; and the Court was ad journed at the time when it was delivered. FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF . THIS DATI '.!•• TIMES.—The debate on the Royal speech has passed off quietly enough. In spite of two amendments which were proposed, and one which was withdrawn—in spite also of two or three attempts to involve the House in a discussion' of general politics, Irish, continental, and domestic—the more convenient plan was taken of staving off discussion upon points of controversy until they should be submitted to con sideration in the shape of substantive motions. Yet, not withstanding the almost unanimous assent given by the House to the sentiments expressed in her Majesty's speech, the partial comments which it elicited have not been with out their value. The Minister has taken his course. He has announced his resolution to preserve the sliding-scale of duties. He has reduced the elements and narrowed the ground of the controversy, at the cost of a hazard which we can hardly suppose him not to have appreciated. " Either a graduated duty, or no duty at all," is now the watch word of the Treasury benches. If the former is aban• cloned, then repeal is to be embraced. That this declaration is a bold one, we freely admit ; but that it is a wise one we, with our known opinions on the principles of commercial policy, cannot affirm. It will doubtless give high satisfaction to those supporters of the Cabinet who are employed in cutting away the scaffolding on which they stand from beneath their feet ; it will give great encouragement to the energetic spirit, and ambitious perseve rance, of the ultra free trade party; but to the more tempe rate and discriminating of the Conservative party it is likely to suggest every other feeling but that of confidence or cheer fulness. We think that no one can look at the condition of England at the present moment without being convinced that the time for making a proposition which should reconcile the two conflicting parties by which the country is divided will soon have passed away. The passions of the people have been roused on one side • they have been be witched by the deceptive cry Of " cheap bread." All the ad captandum fallacies by which the feelings of large multitudes are swayed have been prodigally brought into play ; every imaginable artifice has been dexterously and repeatedly employed •, there has been :so much truth mixed up with much falsehood, as to render the absorp tion of the latter at once easy and pleasant ; and so much of sincere and disinterested principle blended with a mass of pretence, hypocrisy, and exaggeration, as to give force and impulse to the efforts of bad or unthinking men. On the other side are ranged men whose opposition is grounded on different but not irreconcileable motives—some claiming pro tection as necessary to agriculture ; some denouncing any concession, as a system of timid truckling to a confederacy which is fighting the battle of democracy under the standard of free trade ; others deprecating the notion of raising a re venue from the chief article of consumption ; but none making those professions, and lavishing those generalities, by which multitudes are charmed, and popular enthusiasm is inflamed. Nor has this party, respectable indeed, and influential though it be, that authority which is given by the approbation ofJudicious and the assistance of wise men. Those who have studied the'philosophy of commerce and the perplexi ties of finance arc not indeed with their antagonists, but still less are they with them. The experienced and the judicious revolt from multitudinous gatherings of financial speculators, and suspect the clamours which greet virulent personality and intemperate invectives ; but men of experience and judg ment are not enamoured of the sliding scale. Least of all, we fear, can the agricultural party reckon upon the cordial co-operation and sympathy of their own immediate depen dents. Had the sentiments of the rustic population been more favourable to the lords of the soil, the success of the League emissaries in the rural districts would have been far less even than it has been. But for this coldness -they may thank their own infatuation. Looking then at the state of parties at the present day, we cannot but regret ;the occasion on which the Minister has chosen to. display the virtue of con sistency ; still less are we disposed to approve the validity of the reason by which he defends his policy. "If you seek to raise a revenue from corn," lie argues, " you should raise it from home-grown as well as from imported grain, as you do from malt." Strange argument for a Minister to use; but most strange for one who so well knows the feelings of his own party. Is not every Excise duty more objectionable and unpopular than a Customs' duty ? Is it not always levied with greater trouble, and paid with greater unwilling ness? Is it not always more difficult to impose an Excise than a Customs' duty ? And has not the malt tax always been obnoxious to the odium of an Excise duty? Has not its continuance been a subject of unceasing complaint with the landowners? And yet the Premier cites this as a felici tous illustration of the propriety, or the possibility, of raising a revenue from home-grown corn. We have averred our regret at the course taken by the head of the Government. We think that we can now discern indications of a readiness to neutralise the particular differences of the free-trade and the agricultural parties by a scheme of mutual concession. We believe that there are many on both sides who would willingly terminate the unhappy dissensions which rend the country by a temperate compromise. But the same signs which indicate this tendency also tell us that ere long the season for making advances will have gone by, and that the alternative reserved . by the Government will then hang on the will of an expectant people—" the present duties, or no duties at all." The terms in which Lord Morpeth's recent address at Wakefield was received will typify the answer which the people will give when their sentence on this last proposition is demanded of them. But the Minister looks at his dense Parliamentary' phalanx. Ho sees there present strength and confidence. He trusts, too, perhaps, to a continuance of prosperity, arising from brisk trade and renewed commerce, which may charm the grum blings of discontent into silence, or even change the growls of opposition into the melodious accents of applause. lie knows, that with Englishmen abstract theory is of secondary importance to present prosperity; and lie trusts that when our marts of commerce are again thronged with the train of fortunate enterprise, and our seats of industry again resound with the din of awakened traffic, then the cry of "cheap bread " will be no longer heard, and the denunciations of the mob-leader will have lost their power. We would fain hope that this belief might be realised. The revival of trade cer tainly does hold out great encouragement for future hope. But, for our own parts, we think that the best use which a Government could make of it would be, to seize the opportu nity which it affords for settling a vexatious question, and ending unhappy differences. POST.—Our readers are aware that Sir Robert Peel's de claration against any alteration of the existing corn-law is no more than we expected, though we cannot say we felt as little anxiety upon the subject as sonic Ultra-Mmisterialists either felt or feigned. But we expressly stated, some time ago, when certain writers who pretend to great considerate ness in all they say, were proclaiming that, from the state of public sentiment, it was clear that something must be done, either of an immediate or prospective character, for the alteration of the corn-laws—we say we then expressly stated that we did not believe any such alteration would be proposed. But we then feared—nor are we yet free from that fear—that though no direct alteration of the corn-laws would be proposed, there would still be wanting that genuine and hearty support of the prin ciple of protection for native industry, without which, in our opinion, the Administration cannot be faithful to what were supposed to be its principles when called to office by the voice of the country, and by the favour of the Crown. Sir Robert Peel has declared, and, we are happy to say, with more em phasis and less reserve than is his wont, that he has not contemplated, and does not contemplate, any alteration of the corn-laws. Without going so far as to say that the nu merous meetings, which have taken place in the country, have made any alteration in the Ministerial intentions in regard to this subject, we yet think it highly probable that it was the tone of these meetings which furnished the inducement for the emphatic, decisive, and unquali fied disclaimer on the part of the Minister of any contem plated alteration of the corn-laws. It is of importance to observe, however, that so far from the Minister making any declaration in favour of the principle of protection, be avowed a concurrence in what was laid down by Lord John Russell on the subject of that principle, namely, that it was in theory utterly erroneous, and that it was only on account of the danger which attends sudden transitions, oven from wrong to right, in national affairs, that it would be impolitic to adopt the principles and the practice of free trade. It is of importance to observe, that notwithstanding Sir R. Peel's emphatic declaration that he does not contemplate any al teration of the corn-laws, yet his abstinence from interference with them is not based upon any- degree of respect for the principle upon which these laws are founded—namely, the principle of protection, but from a sense of the inexpediency of interfering, under existing circumstances, with laws which are supposed to have, in reality, no sound principle to sup ' port them. We should be very sorry to misrepresent the views of the Right Hon. Baronet ; but, after the best con sideration we can give to the various points of his last speech, so far as it regards the corn-laws, we believe that what we I have stated is a fair account of the views which the Minister appears to entertain. do LONDON, TUESDAY, FEB. 3.1 Dividend per Amount ,Names of Com panies. Paid. Price. Aiinum. Share. 5i per cent. 4/. Canals. Ashton and Oldham... Ashby-de-la-Zouch..av Basingstoke ....... Bi eeknock & Ahergay. , Birmingham, I.l(ith sh. Do. and Liverp. June. Chelmer & Blackwater Coventry Crom ford • ......... ........ Dudley Derby . ..... ...... nube and I),lavne Ellesmere and Cliester Erewash .......... Forth nd Clyde Grand Junction,,...... Grand Union ..... Grand Surrey Grand Western Glamorgansh., ay. coat Gloucester & Berkeley Grantham ..... Huddersfleis! ...... ....ay Kennet :aid Avon m ay Lancaster av Leeds and Liverpool... Leicester Leicester & Northamp Loughborough ...... Monmouthshire .... Montgomeryshire Melton Mowbray Mersey and Irwell Macclesfield Neath Oxford Peak Forest av Regent's (or London). Rochdale av Shropshire Somerset Coal Do. Lock Fund Stock Stafford and Worcester Shrewsbury Stourhridge Stratford .on. Avon...av Swansea Severn & Wye & Rail Trent & Mersey, ;i sh Thames & Medway..av Warwick and Binning. Warwick and Napton Worcester & Binning Wilts and Berks av Wisbeach Wey and Arun X s. 61 100 0 0 41 13 4 4 pc r cent. 41. 401. 81. 153. 100 - 0 0 105 31 4 13/ 12s. Sd. 301. 3% ,7s. 6d. 6 percent. 20:. IL 10s. 524 10s. 101. Si. 10s. 41. 11. 4s. S per cent. 31, per cent. 4 per cent. 4 per cent. Si. 10s. 5 per cent. 5 per cent. I per cent. 4 per cent. 4 per cent. .% per cent. 1. N. Bd. 18s. Id. per cent. 11. 7s. 3. les. 4 percent. G per cent. 6 per cent. 51. s s. 4 per cent. Is per share 6 per cent. 3/. 5 per cent./ & 30s. bds. 5% per cent, 5 per cent, 5 per cent. 6 per cent. 5 per cent. 4s. 2s. 6d. 12 per cent. 198. 1/. sh. & bds, 1/. ss. 5 per cent. 5 per cent. 5 per cent. 11. ss. 5 per cent. 63 per cent. 11. 5 per cent. 10N per cent 51. A per cent. 6 per cent. 5 percent. 5 per cent. 6 per cent. Q per cent. B per cent S per cent. 6 per cent. 21s per share 66. per share 10 per cent 5 per cent. 165. 11. ss. 11. 7s. 51. and be. 4 IV. and bs. 10 per cent. 4 per cent. 8! per sh 3158 per sh 6 per cent. 5 per cent. 6 per cent. Docks. Commercial ......... East and Wort,lndia London Ditto Bonds Bristol ...... av Do.Bnds, var. amounts St. Katharine Ditto 80nd5........ Ditto Bonds Southampton Bridges Hammersmith Southwark, new Subs. Ditto New of 7 pr c Waterloo Ditto Old Ann. et 84 Ditto New ditto of V. Ditto Vauxhall av Assurances. Albion Alfred Life Alliance Brit. and For Ditto Marine... ...... Atlas Birmingham Fire British Fire British Commercial Cler. Med. & Gen. Life County Eagle Economic Life ...... European Life Ditto New Freemasons Globe Guardian Hope Life Ditto Fire Imperial File Ditto Life Indemnity Marine Law Life Legal and General Life London Fire Ditto Ship National Loan Fun , Palladium Life Protector Life Provident Rock Life R yal Exchange Sun Fire Ditto Life....... University Life Universal Life Union Fire and Life Joint Stk Banks Australasi' Ditto New Brit. North American Commercial of London Colonial London & Westminstr Ditto New....... London Joint Stock Metropolitan Provincial of Ireland Ditto New National of Ireland Nat. Provincial Englnd Ditto New Gloucestershire Union of Australia Union of London Gaslight & Coke Bath British Ditto Provincial Birmingham Biro ing. & Staffordsh Bristol Brighton Ditto General City of London Ditto New 19 S 100 0 100 0 78 8 67 10 105 0 110 0 100 0 0 Stock Stock 147 9 0 Stock 50 0 0 50 0 63 2 50 0 100 0 70 10 3 100 0 0 A 11—paiel 00 0 0 40 0 t 50 0 5 • 11 0 5 • 5 • 55 0 50 0 2 10 0 10 0 0 5 0 0 250 0 0 All paid 2 0 0 3 0 0 100 0 0 100 0 0 20u 0 0 40 0 0 50 0 0 20 0 01 40 • 0 20 0 0 77 10 0 50 0 0 20 0 • 20 • • 20 0 0 100 0 • 100 0 0 75 • • 50 0 0 50 • 0 50 • • 25 0 0 30 0 0 50 0 0 100 0 0 50 0 0 50 • 0 50 0 0 50 0 0 5 percent 6 per cent. 4% per cent. 31. 21. - 10 s. 2/. 10s. 2/. 10s. bper cent. 41 16s. 11. 14s. 4 per cent. 21. 10s. Continental Consoled... Ditto New Equitable Imperia Isle of Thanet Independent ......... Phcernx Ratcliff South Metropolitan.... United General .... Westmins. Chartered.. Ditto New ........ Water Works. Birmingham East London Grand Junctron.......av Kent Nw Rtv Lon. Bridg An Manchester andSallord Vauxhall, late S. Lona. West Middlesex av Yrk BuldgCo.Les.Prop Iron Railways. Birmingham & Derby Birming. Sr Gloucester Bristol and Exeter Cheltenhm & Gt. West Clarence Eastern Edinburgh & Glasgow Ditto New. Grand Junction Great North of Engind Gre t Western Ditto Half Shares Ditto Fifths ....... Hull and Selby ....... Leeds and Selby •••• Liverpool & Manchestr Ditto Half-Shares...... Ditto Quarter-Shares London and Brighton.. Ditto Loan Notes London and Bbckwall London and Greenwich London and Birmingh. Ditto Quarter-Shares Ditto Thirds... London and S. Western London and Croydon Manchester and Leeds Ditto New Shares Manchstr and Binning Ditto Extension Mid'and Cou..ties North Midland Do. %-Sh., iss. 10 dis Northern and Eastern Ditto Scrip, iss. 51. dis Paris and Rouen Stockt. o & Darlington South East. and Dover Ditto New, iss. 25 dis. York and N. Midland Ditto New Shares. Ss. per sh. V. ss. per sh is 10d per sh Ms. per sh In per cent. 2}4 per cent. St. ss. per sh 2341. per sh. Pls. per sh. 4 per cent. 3/.per share 3s 4d per sh S/.175. pr sh Ilas per sh BANK OF ENGLAND. Quarterly Average of the Weekly Liabilities and Assets of the Bank of England, from the 4th day of November, to the 27th of January, 1844, both inclusive, published pursuant to the Act, 3 and 4 W. IV., cap; 98. LIABILITIES. ASSETS. Circulation .......£ 19,611,000 Securities £21,937,000 Deposits .. 10 per cent. 10 per cent. 10 per cent. Nl. per eh 101. per sh. 11. 146. £32,783,000 Downing-street, Feb. 2,1 E IL 10s. 11. 55. U. 10d, cent. Or cent. per cent. 10 per cent. IL 11. Si. 178.6 d. .7ce. 36 10 0 2 10 0 2 10 ( 50 0 • 10 0 0 5 13 0 10 0 0 2 0 0 12 10 12 10 0 2 10 0 2 1 0 • 10 0 0 10 0 • 5 1 0 6 5 0 20 0 • 10 per cent. 10s. per .h. 1/. 1% per eh. 1200 155 100 117 WO 40 0 • 40 • • tl • 0 200 • 0 25 0 • 20 0 0 0 0 1) 0 • 7 10 0 25 0 • 10 0 • 17 10 • 35 0 • 10 • • 10 e 25 0 • 10 • • 25 0 0 180 0 0 41 13 4 100 • • 90 0 0 100 0 0 63 12 9 100 0 0 £35,870, Taunton was on Tuesday evening last Visited by a violent storm, accompanied by vivid lightning. A deal of damage has been done to property. In the neighbourhood of watt we hear the damage has been Wilgus, 100 0 0 100 0 100 0 I 100 100 0 0 25 0 50 0 0 12 10 IP 100 100 0 0 100 0 0 50 0 0 20 0 0 51 0 0 100 0 . 0 100 0 0 50 0 0 25 0 0 50 0 10 0 0 16 13 4 I 12 15 4 100 0 0 • 0 • • • • • • 21 • • 100 ,500 31 5 0 t.ti 50 0 • 50 • 0 20 • • 30 • • 39 • • 80 0 • 25 0 • 48 • 0 32 0 • 41 6 10 13 15 9 100 0 0 50 0 0 70 • 0 70 0 • 100 • 0 100 0 50 • • 50 • 0 MI • • 20 0 • 100 0 0 50 0 0 25 • • 50 0 0 25 0 0 5 o • 15 0 • 100 0 0 151 0 0 is • 0 QS 0 0 105 101)4 21% 3V, 17Y¢ 3% 24 2O 17M, 514 1534 6% 6% 5% 400 11.10 s. 194 46 1 62 184 le; 15.4 2% 40s. 20s. 4% 170 205 12% lbo 35 0 0 25 0 • 20 0 0 100 0 0 21 0 0 45% 43% 40 130 16% 13 34% 25 27% 1()% Q 5 '205 81 5$ 60 100 • 0 100 0 0 170 o 0 s 0 • 0 100 • 40 2:3 0 0 50 • 0 12 10 0 100 0 • 1011 0 • 15 • 0 50 • • 12 • • 58 0 0 1100 0 0 100 0 0 150 0 • 21 • 0 50 0 0 1 10 0 0 112% 72% lg% X 314 iio 4C4 11% C ' 5 4 g 243 ‘29 3 ,4 42 100 0 0 2 9 0 3200 10 0 0 30 0 • 40 0 0 7 0 0 100 0 0 100 0 • 40 • • 45 0 • 15 0 0 20 • 0 100 0 0 50 0 0 23 0 • 50 0 • 1 20 0 0 20 6 0 55 0 6 20 I 0 50 • 0 10 0 0 00.0. 25 0 •j 50 0 0 25 0 0 40 0 • 31 I 13 10 0 100 0 fi 0 150 0 - 1 75 0 0 :00 0 0 25 0 0 10 0 0 100 0 0 SO 0 0 100 0 0 100 • • 15 0 0 5 9 0 5 0 • 10 • • 10 0 0 50 0 0 110 48if 40 32% 265 21 0 0 25 0 0 15 0 0 75 8 0 7 10 0 7 10 • 40 8 0 13 0 0 55 0 1 20 0 0 II 10 0 3 1 0 59 0 0 7 1 1 150 • 0 50 • • 10 0 • 40 0 • 2 10 I 100 - 0 A 100 • e 149 9 I 30 0 49 35 19 0 32 10 0 20 2$ 1 14 6 11' 4% 118 104 I 25 0 5e 0 20 0 3 • • 14 • • 1 10 • 5 0 0 3 • 0 7 • • 75 • 0 PS • • b 0 • 0 0 'lOO • 0 0120 0.0 0 50 0 0 0 8000 PANIES' PRICES, 844. 0I 2 P.O.I.CES OF SHARES FRIDAY NIGHT'S GAZETTE. ► N CANALS, RAILWAYS, BANKS, ASSURANCE At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 31st day of Jarru ary, 1844 , present the Queen's Most Exaellent Majesty in iaND OTHER COMPANIES' STOCK. Council. lier Majesty having been pleased to appoint the ! Right lion. John Edward Cornwallis, Earl of Stradbroke, to be Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulornm of the county of Suffolk, his Lordship this day took the oaths appointed to be taken thereupon, instead of the oaths of allegiance and supremacy. Her Majesty in Council was this day pleased, upon the re presentation of the Right Hon. the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education, to appoint the Rev. Henry Moseley, A.M., Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, and the Rev. Frederick Charles Cook, A. M., to be two of .ber Ma jesty's Inspectors of Schools. THE PRINCE OF WALES' COUNCIL CHAMBERS, SOMERSET Housa, FEB. 2, 1844. Henry Lewis Stephens, of Tregenna Castle, in the parish of St. Ives, has been this day appointed Sheriff of the county of Cornwall for the present year. WHITEHALL, JAN. 30. The Queen has been pleased to present the Rev. David Ross Master of Arts, to the church at Tobermory, in the island of Mull, in the pari-hes of Kilninian and Kilmore, in the prtsby te y of Mull and shire of Argyll, vacant by the trans portation of the Rev. Donald Stewart, late minister thereof, to the parish of Fortingall, in the presbytery of Weem. WHITEHALL, FEB. 2. The Queen has been eased to present the Reverend Angus Logan to the church at Berriedale, in the parish of Latheron, in the presbytery of Caithness and shire of Caiihness, vacant in consequence of the Reverend Samuel Campbell, late minister thereof, having ceased to be a minister of the Church of Scot land. The Queen has also been pleased to present the Rev. Donald M'Donald to the church at Kilmenny, in the united parishes of Bowmore and Kilmenny, in the presbytery of Isla and Jura and shire of Argyll, vacant in consequence of the Rev. James Pearson, late minister thereof, having ceased to be a minister of the Church of Scotland. ST. JAMES'S PALACE, JAN. 31. The Queen has been pleased, on the nomination of Lord Forester, to appoint George Denne, Esq., as one of her Ma jesty's Honourable Carps of Gentlemen-at-Arms, vice Tallman, who retires. _ _ _ WAR-OFFICE, FEB. 2. Royal Regiment of Horse Guards—Lieut. T. Brunt to be Adjutant, vice Munro, super3eded ; Cornet J. Brunt, from the 3d Light Dragoons (Riding Master), to be Cornet, without purchase, Feb. 2. 9th Light Dragoons—Cornet P. Antrobus to be Lieutenant, by purchase, vice Dixon, who retires ; C. E. Law, Gent., to be Cornet, by purchase, vice Antrobus, Feb. 2. 13th Light Dragoons—Lieut. R. J. Elrington, from the 47th Regiment, to be Paymaster, vice Leech, appointed to the 9th Light Dragoons, Feb. 2. Ist or Grenadier Regiment of Foot Guards—J. G. C. Dis browe, Esq., Page of Honour to her Majesty the Queen Dowager, to be Ensign and Lieutenant, without purchase, Feb. 2. _ _ _ 4th Foot—Lieutenant J. Cumming, from the 26th Foot, to be Lieutenant, vice Campbell, who exchanges, Feb. 2. 7th Foot—Ensign J. H. F. Stewart, from the 24th Foot, to be Lieutenant, by purchase, vice Pakenham, promoted, Feb. 2. _ 11th Foot—Ensign W. H. Graves to be Lieutenant, with out purchase, vice Simmons, deceased; T. Mostyn, Gent., to be Ensign, vice Graves ; Assistant-Surgeon R. Stevenson, 'M.D., from the 3d Foot, to be Surgeon, vice M'Kinlay, de ceased, Feb. 2. 24th Foot—Ensign W. Hartshorn, from the Cape Mounted Riflemen, to be Ensign, vice Stewart, promoted in the 7th Foot, Feb. 2. 26th Foot—Lieutenant W. M. Campbell, from 4th Foot, to be Lieutenant, vice Cumming, who exchanges ; T. W. An drews, Gent., to be Ensign, vice De Montmorency, promoted in the 7th Foot, Feb. 2. 36th Foot—Ensign J. 1. Bettesworth to be Lieutenant, by purchase, vice Harries, who retires ; W. H. Fortesene, Gent., to be Ensign, by purchase, vice Bettesworth, Feb. 2. 59th Foot—Brevet Lisut. Col. A. H. Trevor, from the 95th Foot, to be Lieutenant-Colonel, by purchase, vice Fuller, who retires, Feb. 2. 67th Foot—L. Newman, Gent., to be Ensign, by purchase, vice Orlebar, whose appointment has been cancelled, Feb. 2. 95th Foot—Capt. T. St. Leger Alcock to be Major, by pur chase, vice Trevor, promoted in the 59th Foot; Lieut. H. 0. C. Master to be Captain, by purchase, vice Alcock; Ensign T. Davis to be Lieutenant, by purchase, vice Master ; F. T. Patterson, Gent. to be Ensign, by purchase, vice Davis, Feb. 2. Ist West India Regiment—To be Lieutenants without pur chase—Ensign F. Huson, vice Grant, promoted, Jau. 30 ; Ensign G. H. Robeson, vice Meehan, promoted, Jan. 31 ; Ensign A. Croad, vice Clements, appointed to the 84th Foot, Feb. 1 ; Ensign M. Gernon, vice Ilingham, appointed Ad jutant, Feb. 2. To be Ensigns, without purchase—F. J. Hills, Gent., vice Huson, Jan. 30; J. M. Tittle, Gent., vice Robeson, Jan. 31 ; M. Fanning, Gent., vice Croad, Feb. 1 ; W. R. Sprott, Gent., vice Gernon, Feb. 2. 2d West India Regiment—T. P. Wright, Gent., to be Ensign, without purchase, vice Smith, deceased; C. Macartney, M. Is., to be Assistant-Surgeon, vice Dl'Kinnon, appointed to the 78th Foot. Feb. 2. 3d West India Regiment.—Ensign E. T. Fitz Gerald to be Lieutenant, without purchase, vice Butcher, deceased, Dec. 20; W. S. Cumming, Gent., to be Ensign, vice Fitz Gerald, Feb. 2. Royal Newfoundland Companies.—Lieutenant-Colonel R Law, from half-pay Unattached, to be Lieutenant-Colonel, without purchase, Feb. 3. UNATTACHED.—Major Robert Law, from the Royal New foundland Companies, to be Lieutenant-Colonel, without pur chase, Feb. 2. HOSPITAL STAFF.—Surgeon Edward Pilkington. from the 17th Light Dragoons, to be Staff-Surgeon of the First Class, vice St. John, promoted, Feb. 2 ; Alfred Crocker, Gent., to be Assistant-Surgeon to the Forces, vice Young, deceased, Commission by the Lord- Lieutenant of Glamorganshire. Royal Glamorgan Light Infantry Battalion of Militia.— Thomas Smith, Esq., to be Lieutenar.t-Colonel, vice Morgan, deceased, Jan. 27. Feb. 7, at eleven, --at the Court of - Bankruptcy. Foiktt 1 BRAZILIAN TARIFF. official assignee. .. C. J. Mathews, comedian, Westbourne-green, Paddington, Ahhoug'n every packet from Rio de Janeiro 'brings Feb. 8, at half-past eleven, at the Court of Bankruptcy. Tut-- additional proofs that the Brazilians are preparing to quand, official assignee. i retaliate u p on our commerce for our prohibition of . I H. Ilarliaon, baker, East-street, Walwortb, Feb. 8, at two, their produce, there are some persons infatuated ' at the Curt of Bankruptcy. Pennell, official assignee. i enough to entertain "no apprehensions that upon the B. Setthell,:blitcher, Buckden, Huntingdonshire, Feb. 7, at expiration of the commercial treaty with England eleven, at the - Cart of Bankruptcy. Green, official assignee. W. Porter, coffeeakuse keeper, Upper Wellington-street, differential duties will be attempted, under any cireum- • Covent-garden, Feb. F, at eleven, at the Court of Bankruptcy. stances, to be.levied." It is our painful duty to dispel Green, official assignee. such a pleasing illusion. ID fact, we cannot under- W. Barrett, Fairford, Gloucestershire, Feb. 7, at half-past stand the motives of those writers mho are from time eleven, at the Bristol District Court. Miller, official assignee. to time announcing thes e s y m ptoms of the-approaching A. Mayor, tailor, Liverpool, Feb. 7, at twelve , at the Liver pool District Court. Cazenove, o ffi cial assignee. denouement, and in ,the same sentence s wuring their , . J. Mayor, tailor, Liverpool, Feb. 7, at half-past eleven, at readers that they need have no fears that England the Liverpool District Court. Cazenove, official assignee. will lone her Brazilian trade, or that Brazil will treat E. Jones, farmer, Suckley, Wonaatershire, Feb. 9, at half- her differently from other nations. past eleven, at the Birmingham District Court. Christie, The intelligence that the import duties at Rio de official assignee. Janeiro have been increased by the imposition of an W. Roberts, Wickwar, Gloucestershire, Feb. 7, at eleven , at the Bristol District Court. Hutton, official assignee. extra five per cent., raising them to twenty-one per : W. Jeffs, Bristol, Feb. 7, at eleven, at the Bristol District cent., upon the goods of all nations alike, has been Court. Acraman, official assignee. confirmed. The old rate of twenty per cent. ad • J. Horrocks, tea dealer, Bolton, Lancashire,Feb.B, Feb at valorem, was equally paid by British and foreign pa- twelve, at the Manchester District Court. Fraser, official • ~., tiers. The Brazilian Government having been assignee. J. Eccles, horse dealer, Dudley, Worcestershire, Feb. 7, at forced, by fiscal neces,!!ities, to increase the revenue, one, at the Birmingham Districts Court. Valpy, efficialassignee, with a view, among other things, to maintain their D. Pryde, joiner, Birkenhead, Clieshisas, Feb. 6, at twelve, at the Liverpool District Court. Cazenove, official assignee. foreign credit, have not encountered any opposition •...• J. Hubberstey, book agent, Blackburn, Lancashire, Feb. 8, from the mixed commission of foreign and Brazilian at twelve, at the Manchester District Court. Hobson, official merchants, to whom the raising of the Valuation of the assignee. . importi was delegated. Although, .therefore , the . J. Butcher, shopman, Leyland, Lancashire, Feb. 8, at proceeding is one whiA, had it been burdensome or twelve, at the Liverpool District Court. Fraser, official assignee. oppressive to English commerce, our Governmeift * IV. Gamble, omnibus driver, Manchester. Feb 8, at one, at e, the Manchester District Court. Hobson , official assignee. would have, perhaps, hail a right to oppose, we S - O. Moseley, attorney-at-law, Stockport, Cheshire, Feb. 8, at understand that it is not thought expedient to,tnake i twelve, at the Manchester District Court. Stanway , o ffi cial an y re m onstra n ce s against it, because it is not worth f assignee. while to exasperate the Brazilians on the eve of ;the T. Smith, Liverpool, Feb. 8, at eleven, at the Liverpool Dis- expiry of their treaty, and thus extinguish the smajleit trict Court. Bird, official assignee. hope of a renewal. DIVIDENDS. At the Court of Bankruptcy, Basinghall-street. . But it is useless to speculate upon results which all A. Laing, draper, Halifax, Yorkshire, Feb. 23, at two-J. ,Laneashire can foresee as well as ourselves, if the ne- Bedford, iron merchant, Melina-place, Westminster-road, Feb. gotiations between France and Brazil should lead to a • 28. at:three-S. Jones, jeweller, Cheapside ' Feb. 28, at eleven t rea ty of the kind mentioned. Something ought-to -R. Yallop, scrivener, Basinghall-street, Feb. 23, at half- have been done before now to bring Sir Robert Peel wo-J. Co past two-Dlli . ns, Hod hote gso l keeper,n, bankerSt aines,, Sand wiFeb. ch, K23,ent, at Febone-W . 24, at . . and Senor Ribeiro to a friendly understanding. The t Fry, J. Fry, and J. Chapman, bankers , St. Mildred's-co art, merchants of Liverpool have, apparently, thought Poultry, Feb. 23, at half-past one-D. Bidmead, warehouse- that their Brazilian trade was safe in the hands en man, Bread-street, Cheapside, Feb. 23, at two-R. Lyon, ea- trusted with its keeping. The end will prove whether binet maker, High Holborn, Feb. 23, at half-past twelve. they havebeen the eulightaied guardians of their own In the Country, interests, or the obstinate dupes of their Tory prep- , G. Allison, scrivener, Darlington , Durham , Feb. 22, at ' eleven, at the Newcastle-upon. Tyne District Court - J. Buck ley, coal master, Higher Crompton, Lancashire, Feb. 27, at • one, at the Manchester District Court-W. Collings, baker. Devonport, Feb. 23, at eleven, at the Exeter District Court --M. Cullen, merchant, Liverpool, Feb. 29, at eleven, at the Liverpool District Court. CERTIFICATES to be granted, unlesi cause be shown to the contrary, on the day herein-mentioned. D. Rowlands, wine dealer, Pwliheli, Carnarvonshire, Feb. 24-J. Wilkinson, grocer, Leeds, Feb. 27-S. Partridge, tea dealer, Birmingham, Feb. 27- W. and J. Statters, cotton spin ners, Feb. 26-J. M. Wintle, silversmith, Drury-lane, Feb. 23-J. Zuliani, merchant, Commercial Sale-rooms, Mincing lane, Feb. 23 -L. !timely, Staffordshire warehouseman, High- street, Shadwell, Feb. 23-H. G. Clapton, warehouse man, Bristol, Feb. 2.3-F. Messenger, corn merchant, Liver pool, Feb. 23-H. W. Diamond, surgeon, Frith-street, West minster, Feb. 23-E. Locke and A. D. Mills, needle manufac turers, Lawrence Pountney-hili, City, Feb. 23-P. A. Nuttall, newspaper v der Edward-terrace, Chalk-road, Feb. 25. PARTNERSHIPS DISSOLVED. J. and R. F. Bailey, auctioneers, Wood-street, Cheapside- R. Harrison and I'. Cr. Robinson, merchants, Philpot-lane, City-W. Walker, sen., and W. Walker, jun., manufacturers, Manchester-C. R. Penfold and W. S. Watson, surgeons, Brighton -R. Pitt and L. Lane, lace dealers, Ludgate street, City-J. Alexander and H. Gibbons, chemists, Wol verhampton-J. R. Dutton, C. Dutton, and J. Wilkinson, winemerchants, Chester (so far as regards J. Wilkinson)- W. S. Plane and W. Martin, bottled ale dealers, Gravesend-M. }Nowise and A. Gatliff, attorneys, Leeds-Js. and Jn. Puttick, grocers • King-street, Long-acre-I. and J. G. Somers , Ilocnd:ditch-W. and E. Garside, coach builders, Ashton unde,--Lyne-W. and W. Watson, butchers, Great Easton, Essex--H. A. and T. Rodgers, news agents, Sheffield-J. Heaton and J. S. Ellison, joiners, Gomersal, Yorkshire-T. and S. R. Drury, stone masons, Leeds-T. Ellis, E. A. Ellis, J. Alexano'sr, G. Thomson, G. A. Brown, J. Thompson, and A. Thompson, forming the Westminster Mining Association (so far as regards T. Ellis, E. Ellis, and G. A. Brown) -W. and B. Watson, dyers, Leeds-J. Spencer and E. Wood, bakers, Goswell-street-J. Lamprey and A. S. Field, attor neys, Warwick-C. and T. Burrows, timber merchants, W.- lington, Derbyshire-W. Clapham and J. H. Whitaker, worsted spinners, Esholt, Yorkshire-W. H. Coleman and J. Manton, tea dealers, Crown-street, Finsbury-J. Cooper, H. Cooper, W. Cooper, D. Turner, and T. Cooper, grocers, Shef field-S. Faulkner and J. Pierrepont, surgeon dentists, Man chester-'l'. Delf and W. Kent, drapers, Beccles, Suffolk-J. and U. Knowles, fustian shearers, Manchester-F. Denby and W. Dobbings, cabinet makers, Leeds-The Shields and New castle Steam Navigation Company. SCOTCH SEQUESTRATIONS. SPENCER SUTHERLAND, harbour contractor, Ar broath. Feb. 7 and 28 - , at one, at the Star Hotel, Perth. DAVID M'EIVEN, banker, Dundee, Feb. 12 and March 11, at one, at the British Hotel , ROBERT M'ALISTER, farmer, Shotta, Lanarkshire, Feb. 8 and 29, at two, at the chambers of M. Waddell, Glasgow. ROBERT BRYCE, brassfounder, Edinburgh, Feb. 9 and March 1, at twelve, at the chambers of R. Deuchar, Edinburgh. PRICE OF SUGAR. The Average Price of Brown or Muscovado Sugar, for the week ending Jan. 30, 1844, is 355. Oid. per cwt., exclusive of the Duties of Customs paid or payable thereon on the Im portation thereof into Great Britain. REDDITCIL—SUDHEN DEATH.—On Monday even ing last, an awfully sudden death occurred at Mappleborough Green, within a few miles of Redditch. Five prize fights took place in - the neighbourhood on that day, the combatants and many of the spectators afterwards went to a public-house kept by Thomas Stockley, who held the stakes. Stockley, who had been very active in the pursuits of the day, sang a - song to the company assembled, and got up from his seat to pay over the stakes, but had scarcely done so, when he fell down and expired. Ile had been subject to an internal disease for some considerable time past.— Worcester Chronicle. THE WEATHER.—It has blown an almost conti nuous gale here since Sabbath, accompanied at intervals with ,* showers of hail. . The storm was particularly violent last * night; and we fear much that the damage at sea will be correspondingly great. The schooner William, from Bel fast, mentioned in our last as having run ashore at the back of the south pier, has not yet been got off, and we are afraid . that from the high winds which have prevailed it will now be impossible.—Ayr Observer. A letter from Rome, in the Gazette des Tribunaux, ' relates the following tragical event, as having taken place a short time ago in the most frequented part of the city, and at a period when the streets are generally fullest. About four o'clock, at which hour the beau snonde of Rome -'are flocking to their promenade in the gardens of the Villa Borghese, from the door of a house adjoining the shop of a chemist, at the angle of the Via Babuino and the Via Condotti, a young woman staggered out, pale and;• bleeding, with a • stiletto planted in her breast. • She could not speak, but pointed with her finger to ... the haft of the dagger. By the laws of Rome ( hex isls -. are interdicted, under penalty of fine and imprisonment , om acting under any circumstances whatever as physician .., or 4 ' surgeons, or even granting to a sick or wounded persona tem- . porary asylum. Consequently the chemist of the Via Babdino refused - admittance to the poor victiisur desiring her to ha;iten ,--- to the hospital. Her strength, holegver, was gone, and ,she ~ ) -7, would have fallen on the pavement, had not a compassiof ate --, - 4 old man got a chair out of the shop, seated her in it, and held i • her head on his shoulder. • She was young and handscetne, and elegantly dressed, though in a style that showed sheldid ? not belong to the higher orders of society. The crowd nau• ' rally gathered around her, and numerous observations were , made and conjectures formed. At last a man of high stature, > getting a sight of her over the head of the rest exclaimodi " Ah, 1 told her what would happen, but she would follow her own foolish will." This at once explained the mystety. R This man was one of those bandits whom the pontifical po lice can never arrest, but who at last compromise with the .. , . . Government, by accepting a pension, and relinguishing tlteir predatory lives. The dying woman was a girl of respectable .:. parentage, whom when young he had carried off and made ' his wife. In latter days he had become indifferent and brutal towards her, and yielded to the seductions of a . . .. . young Neapolitan. She soon repented this wrong step, and determined to break with her inamorato. She went to her husband, whom she had quitted with his own consent, and told him of her resolution ; but he advised her against carry ing it into effect, warning her that she would regret it. She, however, told her paramour that all was at an end between them. lie showed no surprise, merely saying, " Good bye, till we meet again." On the next day he did meet her in the public street, and at once plunged his poignard into her bosom. At length some police-officers came, and watched the corpse till ten at night, when a party of the fraternity of Penitents came with a _bier, and carried it away, with thepli - gnard still uuwithdrawn. The husband had long retired with his associates, the chemist took back his chair, and all was quiet. The assassin has as yet evaded the pur suit of justice. SINGULAR CIRCUMSTANCE.—As a party of gent' i e. men were out coursing a few Clays ago in this neigis:oottr hood, with a couple of greyhounds, they started a heze, and after a very severe chase poor puss fell a victim to her pur suers. Immediately afterwards another hare jumped up, WA, singular to relate, one of the dogs started after it, with thy. dead hare in its mouth, apparently with the seine eligero-„,,, to make it also its victim ; but atter running a consi t i't; ra l de distance, the chase was given up to its companion, bat 'the hare in this instance outran her pursuers.—lork LIVERPOOL BANKRUPTCY COURT.--It is bow de finitively determined that the changes which have b een ru moured in the Liverpool and Manchester Courts will be car ried into effect. The report, however, of Mr. Jemmett ing Manchester is unfounded. Some COMMilllielltioll4 t,„ I and we ve been going on between the Lord Chancellor and trio Learned Gentlemen who aro about to change place have to announce that in the ensuing week :fir. Serg ean t Ludlow will take his seat at the Liver Court, and Mr. Commissioner Skirrow supplying the Learned Sergeant's place in Nwhootot: Row !Icstillts to this arrangement has been manifested by the Learned Protoshion in Manchester.-- Li ropool Standard, Oh Friday morning, after two days of boister . ous weather, a heavy fall of snow commenced in the metropolis, which continued throughout the day. The ground is eo vered with snow from four to five inches deep, and the ther mometer is very low. Winter has now come in earnest.' 110 T BLAST CASE.—We understand that the pro- , ceeaings in this long litigated case were finally settled on Fritlity hot by compromise—the Messrs. Baird, the last of the parties with whom an arrangement had to be made with the patentees, having agreed to pay 100,000/. for the use of the patent, and a further sum of 6,0004, in name of expenses. We learn that had the original demand of the patent es, m viz., Is. per ton, been acceded to, and had no attepfb en. made to break the patent, the whole amount to be' paid would not have exceeded 7,000/. The other parties injo-,. rested in the case had, previously to the above arrangement, compromised for ss. a ton.—Ediabaryh Paper. TRAFALGAR-SQUARE. — The contemplated improve ments in this square are, at length, likely to be brought to complts. tion. The fountains were at first intended to have been supplied with water from the public companies, but the terms required were such that the Commissioners of Woods and Forests were' in. duced to seek other means for effecting that object at a cheAer rate. In the course of last summer they applied to Meisra. Easton and Amos, engineers, of the Grove, Southwark, on e the subject, and, after a careful survey, it appears these gentlemen yes. commended a mode for obtaining the necessary supply by means of Attesian wells, and which supply they likewise suggested the practicability of increasing to such a quantity as would be ample, not only for the fountains, but for all the public offices in the vici nity, together with the new Houses of Parliament, and for watering the roads when necessary ; at the same time they gave estimates for carrying the proposed works into operation. The Commis sioners, after most mature deliberation, determined upon adopting these suggestions to their fullest extent, and haveguven orders tp have the works carried Into execution forthwith. The water Is proposed to be raised by steam power into large iron reservoirs fixed over the engine -house, which will be sufficiently elevated to give the necessary pressure, so as to produce the effect desired by Mr. Barry it) his design for the square. The site selected for the pro. posed works, and where they are now in progress, is the stone. yard, Orange.street, Leicester square, at the back of the National Gallery. FUNERAL OF SIR FRANCIS AND LADY BURDETT.— This mournful ceremony took place at Ramsbury, to Wiltshire, on Wednesday last. The body of the deceased Baronet left town in a hearse, drawn by six horses, on Monday morning, and rested the same night at Reading, proceeding on to Hungerford on Tues day, where it was joined on Wednesday morning by the difiltrent members of deceased's family, and those few friends who Were permitted to pay the last tribute of respect to the memory of the lamented Baronet by following his remains to the grave. The cavalcade left Hungerford at ten o'clock on Wednesday morning. the hearse containing the body of the late Baronet being (hewn by six horses, and followed hy a mourning coach and four,- con veying the chief mourner, Sir Robert Burdett (son of the ds. ceased); Captain Francis Burdett, and Sedley Burdett, Esq. (Isle nephews). A mourning coach and four, containing Lord Dudley Stuart, Otway Cave, Esq., and 'Viscount Sandon. Two otber mourning coaches, containing Sir Edmund Antrobus. Colosiut North, the Rev. A. Meyrick, and other personal friends of the deceased. The late Baronet's private carriage, drawn by four horses, was succeeded by a long string of carria g e s belonging to the gentry of the county. The procession reached Ramsbury at has. past twelve. While the mourners were alighting, the coffin con. taining Lady Burdett's remains was brought from the' vests,. room, where it had been temporarily deposited since the Wednes. day previous, into the churchyard, and preceded that of Sir Francis in funeral array, to meet the clergyman. The applications to at teed the funeral had been so numerous, that the family decided eta confining the invitations to their nearest connections and friends. DREADFUL ACCIDENT AT LivEarooL.—The 4 4 . 7 ed• Cher at Liverpool for the last few days has been most tetiiitistu ous, and such as to render the navigation of the river to the Che shire slips not only inconvenient, but extremely dangeroiss," Olt the arrival of the NVoodside steamer on Wednesday mortfirig, a gentleman in the Custom-house, of the name if Mackerel, 'being eager to land, unfortunately jumped short of the pier, 'and from the oscillation of the steamer then moored to the side of it, Iw stumbled, when his thigh was absolutely amputated, the severed limb being retained only by a portion of the outer skin. PLO - Tl't assistance was rendered, and the sufferer was conveyed to trot. thern Hospital. The unfortunate gentleman has only been married nine months, and his wife is now far advancaed,iitdiepnrteg. nancy. There is hardly a hope that lie can su rvive th e , OLDENBURG, J AN. 2 a 7.—A most • t ing loss c u o n u e n x t p r ec y. ted T ly his fallen r n o o n . n the t Gz u a r nd o,c D i o e c. c k a I t h fa e tn G il r y . a d a D d u t c h h e e :h e ot Royal l s iegrhenellsTeswas,sain d aughtercotse o f the e o l f a h te oc Ki a: g . cPoiruedcl:maftenetr. slhlocr: of Sweden, Gustavus IV.; she was born June 2.2, 1507, and mar. rled the Grand Duke of Oldenburg, May 5, 1831. MATRI9IONY.-111 the Isle of Man during the past week, no fewer than three young men have been incarcerated its Castle Bushell, at the instance of their wives, whom:they had severally maltreated; all of whom have been married within the last few months. Two of theta wore rein I'e I 1 :and nice front Ramsey...slime's Herald. Mines. Albl' n Copper Alien Anglo Mex., iss.sl. p.m Ditto Subscriptiou Bolanos Ditt- Scrip Brazil. Imp. iss.s/. p.m Do. Mocaub. & Coc. U. Do. St. John Del Key British Iron . Candonga Ditto Registered Cobre Copper Copiapo 5/ Columbian, iss.• . p.m. General Mining Hibernian Imperial Slate Compy Mexican Mining Co. of Real del Monte, Unreg, Ditto Loan Notes Rhymney Iron Santiago de Cuba United Mex., iss.2l. Ditto Scrip Ditto New Scrip Literary. Lonin,with Sin. Ticket London University Russell King's College Miscellaneous Anglo Mexican Mint Australian Agricultur Brit. American Land, Canada Upper Canada Bonds Copper Miners' Comp Gen. Steam Navigation Iberian Mercantile Co. Ditto Property Met. Wood Pay., iss. 11. Mex. and S. American New Brunswick (Land] New Zealand Pcnins. & Orien. Steam Royal Mail Steam " R ever sionary Int. Soc. South Australian Thames Turin Van 13iensen's Lard WHITEHALL, JAW. 17. The Right Hon. Sir N. C. Titdal, Knt., Lord Chief Jus tice of her Majesty's Court of Common Pleas, has appointed R. W. Lumley, of Carey-street, in the county of Middlesex, Gent., to be one of the Perpetual Commissioners for taking the acknow ledgments of deeds to be executed by married women, under the Act passed for the abolition of fines and recoveries, and for the substitution of more simple modes of assurance, in and for the City of London, also in and for the city and liberties of West minster, and also in and for the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Kent, and Surrey. BANKRUPTS. DUNCAN LAMONT, publican, West Smithfield, to sur render Feb. 14 and March 12, at eleven, at the Court of Bank ruptcy. Whitmore, official assignee, Basinghall-street ; Bu chanan, Basinghall-street. WILLIAM' LAW WOOD, ironmonger, Bishopsgate street Within, Feb. 9, and Alarch 14, at eleven, at the Court of Bankruptcy. Belcher, official assignee ; Henderson, Man sell-street, Goodman's-fields. ROBERT PETTIT, livery stablekeeper, Exning, Suffolk, Feb. 9, at twelve, and March 12, at half-past eleven, at the ourt of Bankruptcy. Turquand, official assignee, Old Jewry-ehambers; Gill, Harrington-street, Hampstead-road. JOSEPH HENRY PERRYMAN, bookseller, Birming ham, Feb. 14, at half-past one, and March 5, at half-pest twelve, at the Birmingham District Court. Valpy, official assignee, Birmingham ; Holroyde, Halifax ; Wright, Bir mingham. ROBERT PHILLOTT, scrivener, Blagdon, Somerset shire, Feb. 13, at twelve, and March 12, at eleven, at the Bristol District Court. Acraman, official assignee, or Heaven, Bristol. JAMES ROBERT DRAGE, tallow merchant, Leeds. Feb. 17, and March 7, at eleven, at the Leeds District Court, Fearne, official assignee, Leeds ; Williamson and Hill, London; Cari.s, Leeds. WILLIAM WEBB, hotel-keeper, Leamington, Warwick-. shire, Feb. 12, at eleven, and March 9, at half-past eleven, at the Birmingham District Court. Bittleston, official assignee, Birmingham ; Greatwood, Birmingham. GEORGE COOPER, butcher, Leeds, Feb. 14, and March 11, at eleven, at the Leeds District Court. Young, official assignee, Leeds ; Raynar and Son, Leeds ; Sudlow, Sons, and Torr, Chancery-lane, London. WILLIAM THOMPSON and JAMES MELLIS, com mission agents, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Feb. 13, at eleven, and March 21, at one, at the Newcastle-upon-Tyne District Court. 11.3(er, official assignee ; Watson, Newcastle-upon- Tyne ; Shield and Harwood, Queen -street, Cheapside, London. NOTICES OF INSOLVENCY. G. White, tailor, Regent-street. H. Ricket, beer retailer, Princes-terrace, Islington. T. W. Briggs, licensed victualler, Barrow, Derbyshire. H. 11. Swain, Bradford, Yorkshire. J. Holt, plumber, Middleton, Lancashire. W. N. B. Harman, jeweller, Windsor-terrace, Dover-road. W. 11. Jones, master mariner, Tranmere, Cheshire. J. Baker, painter, Bradfield, Essex. T. Procter, servant, Leeds. H. Carman, tailor, Holywell, Flintshire. E. J. Cotsford, auctioneer, Ann-street, Pentonville. M. R. Platte, painter, Great Pulteney-street, Golden-square. W. Eagleton, hat maker, St. Alban's. E. Connell, attorney-at-law, Cheshire. T. J. Turner, carpenter, Marshall-street, Golden-square. T. Mayers, wheelwright, Christleton, Cheshire. J. Leigh, ale dealer, Gresford, Denbighshire. J. Tench, attorney-at-law, Stafford. W. Jarrett, wood cutter, Chatham. J. Elston, music seller, Leamington Priors, Warwickshire. J. Wilson, attorney, Kendal, Westmoreland. J. Gist, baker, Totnes, Devonshire. J. Firman, bailiff, Frititon, Essex. T. Wingham, oilman, York-terrace, Borough-road. W. Presgrave, schoolmaster, Sevenoake, Kent. J. G. Woodcock, railway-guard, Croydon. T. Smith, small-ware dealer, Warrington, Lancashire. H. Marklew, innkeeper, Oxford-street. W. Padley, beer seller Kimberley, Nottinghamshire. R. Ward, Lydney, Gloucestershire. M. Gill, farmer. Hoton, Leicestershire. J. Lobley, cloth dresser, Huddersfield, Yorkshire. G. Chappels, stone mason, Huddersfield, Yorkshire. C. M'Craight, engraver, Percival-street, Clerkenwell. J. Parks, grocer, Trafalgar-street, Walworth. J. Nott, lace dealer, Hemingford -terrace, Islington- S. Wilson, house agent, Streatham, Surrey. T. Ortisby, glass agent, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. T. Elphick, horse dealer, Sutton, Surrey. W. Nilson, tailor, St. Margaret's, Leicestershire. W. Claydon, jun., boot maker, Rochford, Essex. J. Pitt, victualler, Liverpool. J. Blunt, Church-street, St. Mary, Newington. G. S. Peacock, master mariner, Turner-street, Commercial road East. Z. Radcliffe, wheelwright, Braithwell, Yorkshire. G. Edwards, builder, Ipswich. C. Wood, bookbinder, Great Charlotte-street, Blackfriars-road, J. Cowsill, builder, Lymm, Cheshire. J. Marston, son., watch maker, Castle-street, Leicester-square T. Haw, woollen salesman, Leeds. H. Cope, coal higgler, Old Radford, Nottinghamshire. T. Sturgess, baker, Great Saffron-hill, St. Andrew's, Holborn , G. Woods, butcher, High-street, Stoke Newington. T. W. T. Prescott, Duke-street, Manchester-square. W. Baird, grocer, Cheltenham. • W. Cauty, Selwood.terrace, Old Brompton. SECOND NOTICES. , J. Eyears, saddler, Hounslow, Feb. 8, at one, at the Cour of Bankruptcy. Graham, official assignee. W. Dobbin, clerk, Arundel-street, Strand, Feb. 26, at half past one, at the Court of Bankruptcy. Turquand, official assignee. J. Venables, coachman, Gower-street, Bedford-square Feb. • 10, at half-past twelve, at the Court of Bankruptcy. Groom, official assignee. W. T. Ashton, decorative gilder, Sherrard. street, Golden ri)i square, Feb. 21, at one, at the Court of Bankruptcy. Lacking ton, official assignee. H. Clark, coachman, Drummond-street, 'Euston-square, Feb. 21, at twelve, at the Court of Bankruptcy. Johnson, official assignee. T, Cheshire, cabinet soaker, Dunstable ' Bedfordshire, Feb. 21, at eleven, at the Court of Bankruptcy. Lackington, official assignee. J. Heathorn, baker, Ripley, Surrey, Feb. 8, at two, at the Court of Bankruptcy. Belcher, official assignee. P. Lane, Bell's-buddings, Salisbury-square, Feb. 8, at two, at the Court of Bankruptcy. Belcher, official assignee. J. Jakes, nurseryman, Peterborough, Northamptonshire, LORD MORPETH. In another part of our paper will be found a lengthened report of the proceedings of the free-trade ,banquet at Wake field on Wednesday. Very great interest was attached to this meeting in consequence of the attendance of Lord Morpeth. The Noble Lord's withdrawal from public life for the last two years has been a source of deep regret, as well as a real loss, to the Liberal party. The circumstances attending Lord hiorpeth's temporary retirement were such as to increase the attachment which his countrymen already so strongly felt for the many emi nent qualities which distinguish his character ; and kis re-appear ance amongst them was by many hailed with the greater enthusiasm, from its being regarded as the preliminary step to the re-occupa tion by his Lordship of an active position in the ranks of his party. And we trust this anticipation may not be wholly disappointed. The speech of Lord Morpeth is another indication of the progress of opinion upon the subject of free trade. Like the letter of Mr. Gibson Craig, it is one of the facts that denote this pro gress, as it were, by stages. In 1841, Lord Motpeth was a strenuous advocate of an eight-shilling fixed duty. Such a compromise as that his Lordship now thinks is wholly unattainable. He thinks, however, that even still a com promise is desirable ; and, notwithstanding the adverse opinions of the audience by which he was surrounded, he candidly avowed this. But, he added, if within a year a low fixed duty is not adopted, he i would then join the League in demanding a total repeal. And thus will it be with the whole party which is now in favour of a fixed duty. The operation of the same causes which have converted a sup. porter of an eight-shilling duty into an advocate of a flue-shilling duty, must induce the advocate of the five-shilling duty, by and by, to join the ranks of the total repealers. However desirable may be the adoption of a low fixed duty, as a compromise of a question upon which two great interests of the nation are at issue, or however just, in point of principle, it may be regarded by many, yet all men are coming, by degrees, to feel that neither upon the ground of justice, or still less of expediency, can such a setticn col be hoped for, after the obstinate resistance of another year. The combination against it is becoming too strong. It is, day by day, absorbing into its ranks some new element of power, which, like theconditional adhesion of Lord Morpeth, renders its final triumph ouly a question of time.—Chronicle. COURT OF SEWERS. A Court of Sewers for the City and Liberty of Westminster, and part of the County of Middlesex, was held at the Sewers office in Greek-street, Soho, yesterday. The Court was a general or.e for transacting the routine business, such as the receiving of the Collector's report, the Clerk's report, to order certain payments, hear appeals, receive petitions and memorials, to consider the cases of parties summoned, and various other business. Our readers will recollect that Tuesday next was special - • • • • • appointed for the resumption of the inquire into the accuracy of the documents upon which the Court paid to the contractors in the year 1843 the sum of 21,767/. 10s. 4d., and to ascertain the authority of the Court to pass any "laws, ordinances or con stitutions," in opposition to the General Laws of Sewers as laid down in the statutes and the judicial decisions thereon. In consequence, however, of the continued interposition of Mr. Dowley, the principal surveyor of the Court, Mr. Leslie con sented to postpone the further consideration of the matter till Tuesday week. After some further discussion, Friday, the 23d of February, was fixed for the consideration of certain correspondence ro• lstive to the covering in part of the King's Scholar's Pond Sewer, and as to the reservation of a poi tion of the Crown land near the outlet. In consequence of a letter that had been addressed by the Clerk of the Court to the Chartered Gas Company, stating that several accidents had occurred to many of the servants of the Court from the escape of gas into the sewers, a gentleman attended from that Company, and stated that it was impossible for them to prevent leakages, that extreme cold and heat caused the pipes to contract and expand ; and it was often the operations of the Commis sioners of Sewers themselves that so disturbed the pipes of the Company as to cause them to be faulty. Added to this, he was afraid that in some instances sufficient caution was not used by the officers of the Court. Mr. LESLIE wished to know what caution he would recom mend? _ _ The GENTLEMAN observed that he was constantly in the habit, in many places where there were escapes of gas, of using Sir 11. Davy's safety lamp, and he had never found any acci dent occur from the use of it. _ _ _ Mr. JENKINS, one of the clerks of the works, said that the lamp could not be used in sewers ; that it had been tried, and was always found to go out if not carried in an upright direc tion, which was impossible in some sewers. Some considerable discussion touk place, which ended in an arrangement being made that the new assistant-surveyor, Mr. Jenkins, and the gentleman who attended for the Charter Gas Company, should try an experiment with the lamp to-morrow. Upon the reading a report of the surveyer, that the sewer in Grosvenor-street had broken in, that the dirt had been cleared out, and the sewer made ready for reparation, Mr. LESLIE inquired what quantity had been cleared out, and whether that quantity had not been paid for? Mr. DoULL said that it had. Mr. LESLIE said we shall have to pay over again w hen the contractors' account comes in. Mr. DOULL believed that they would. Mr. LkSLIE asked whether that was a state of things whieh ought to continue ? He did not wish to discuss the subject at present, as he should have another opportunity of doing so. His object was to put an end to such things, and he believed he had done so now. Many of the Commissioners expressed their surprise, that digging and excavating should be paid for daily by the Com missioners, and charged again in the contractor's accounts. The CHAIRMAN then put the question, that the repairs necessary for the sewer should be proceeded with, which was agreed to. On the motion of Captain Bague, the following resolutions were agreed to : " That George Sydney Hatton, the second Office Clerk, be promoted to the vacancy occasioned by the dismissal of Charles Thompson Wake, the first Office Clerk, at a sa lary of 1501. per annum ; that the salary commence from the date of C. T. Wake's dismissal. " That Thomas Coggin, the third Assistant Clerk, be pro moted to the situation held by George Sydney Hatton, at a salary of 1001. per annum; that the salary commence from the date of C. I'. Wake's dismissal. " That John Pollard, the Bailiff and Messenger, be promoted to the situation of Thomas Coggin, at a s alary of LW. per annum." The Court then adjourned to Tuesday week. 01°I'' f C 11 THE NNTI-LEAGUE AGITATION AND THE CORN-LAWS. (From the Times.) We have been favoured with a copy of the following important etter from Mr. Jones Loyd, in answer to a request that he should become a member of an Association formed for the purpose of counteraetine the designs of the Anti.Corn.law League. It will be found well worthy of an attentive perusal. TO J. W. SUTHERLAND, ESQ. Dear Sir, —I beg to acknowledge your circular letter, inviting Me to attend a preliminary meeting of the landed proprietors, farmers, :red others of the Eastern division of the county of Surrey, with the view to the formation of a general " Society for the Protection of British Agriculture in opposition to the mis. ebievous designs of the Anti-Corn-law League ;^ and further, re questing "that in the event of my being unable to attend I would oblige the C onmittee with my views on the subject." Haring been pi evented, by my absence from home, and by the late period et which your letter reached my hands, from attending the meeting in question, I proceed to comply with the latter part of your request. The prosperity of British agriculture is a cause in which I should gladly enlist myself; it is, I am convieced, indissolably connected with the well-being of the community at large; for no great interest .f this empire can suffer alone. The prostration of agriculture must inevitably involve a corresponding depression of e very other :mportant interest of the country. This consideration, well as motives of a more immediately personal and selfish character, would lead me cordially to co-operate with you in the forma tion of the r r oposed Society, could I bring myself to believe that the agricultural :Merest is at this moment menaced with any real injus tice, or that the measures by which it is supposed to be protected are really effieient for that purpose, and not inconsistent with the equal justice which is due to other classes of the community. The maintenance of the present corn.laws is usually meant by the expressh n " protection to British agriculture," and if this is the purpose to which the efforts of the proposed Society are to be directed, I trust at once declare that my views on this subject are directly opposed to those of the meeting which you represent. I cannot acquiesce either in the policy or in the justice of any at. tetlipt.to protect my own individual interest as a landed proprietor, or to uphold the welfare of that class in general, by laws which restrict the hee supply of the food of the people, and which are Intended to vernpel them to purchase in a dearer market the neces saries of lite, which it is apprehended they might otherwise obtain from a cheaper source. To whatever extent the present corn-laws, by producing that effeet, protect British agriculture, it is clear that t hey Must do so at the expense of the British consumer, that is—of the people at large. 'I hey are made to pay more for their food than Would others ise be necessary; and the sum thus taken from them is supposed fit , go to the benefit of the agriculturist, or, more cor rectly speak . ..et, of the landed proprietor. The difference between the natural Nice of ar article of general consumption, the supply of which is subjected 'o no legislative restraint, and the higher Price of a similar article, the supply of which is restricted by pro. tective laws, is a tax ireposed upon the whole community ; and the amount of that differehte either goes into the pockets of the pro ducers of the protect& article, or is altogether lost, being produc. tive of benefit to no cies s. As a landed proprietor, lam naturally anxious to protect my own interest by all just means; nevertheless, I shrink from the respoFibility of seeking protection through this process. There seems to me to be injustice involved in it, against Which protection Is indeed needed, not, however, to the British landowner, hut to he Britsh people. Protective 'aws.i proportion as they are effectual for their in tended purpose, mast necessarily give the character of monopoly to the protected tri le; and monopoly, it has been most justly ob served, is the parent of scarcity, of dearness, and of uncertainty. The injury thus Mil., ted by these laws upon the British people as consumers seems to el fto admit of no question. But I would sub mit to you, whether, as a preliminary step to any further proceed. ings, it woulo not be v. ell for us as landed proprietors to examine carefully whether these I ewe, thus at once offensive and injurious to Other deems .lee really productive of the benefit to our particular roe which has usually been ascribed to them. The' s: erist is a dealer in the produce of the Nil; and them'. e• - sity .t his, as of every other trade, must he dependent - • the prosperous condition of his cus torners. The .• .e mass t f the population constitute the cus tomers of the • ericulturist ; and, therefore, whatever improves the general condi' on of the pcof !e, whatever increases the demand for their labour, nd thereby causes a rise of their wages, must pro. mote in the meet effectual manner the prosperity of the agricultu. fist." Our popoletion is annually increasing at a fearful rate; if a corresponding inc..fase of employment be not found, that popula. tion must ellitrat ev become a charge upon our land, and thus Prove ruitioue So oar interests as landowners; but if, by the re. Move' of the oh:erections which protective laws create, the exten sion of ou. trade, w i tho consequent demand for labour, be made to keep pace with :he eicrease of our population, then the number and resources 9: tesse who constitute the customers of the agri culturist will pne essivcly increase. It is in Uis ea cession of the market for our products, and in the improved t ono eve. of those who are our customers, we shall find the best -melte for the present well-being, and the only sate ground of !opt to. the further progress, of agricultural pro sperity. In this le feeler it is, by a system of free competition, and equal exemptioo lit all interests from pernicious interference, that the welfare t class is indissolubly bound up with the general prosperity ri all. Protective laws necessarily array the different classes os the community in jealous hostility with each other; they dimint h the general wealth of the country, by inter. rtipeing the naturte distribution of its labour and capital; they tend to diminish . uth profits and wages, thus impoverishing the Markets in whit tie products of agriculture must be sold ; and the benefit whict ti.ey confer on the protected trade is in all cases apparent rather -lan real, securing to it a fitful and transient, not a steady and pee inanent prosperity. Prices forcit ly raised above their natural level by fiscal protec tions are naturAy fluctuating and precarious; they constitute a tetY inadequate compensation for the real arid permanent wealth 'which we might otherwise find in the improved cultivation of our l aud, augmenting the supply, whilst the simultaneous increase of the population and wealth of the empire extends the demand for, and by legitimate means raises the price of, all agricultural produce. To relieve British agriculture from the odium which must ever attach to the appearance even of Injustice; to substitute for the d ebilitating influence 0131-Uncial protection that steady and healthy "goer which can arise telly from free competition and self-depend ence f and to save the landowner from the danger to which he ex. p o ses himself, by seeking a delusive protection in measures which , .. ir 6 Poverishing his customers, are really undermining the founds. lion of his own prosperity—these are the avowed, and I know no ',soli for supposing that they are not the real and the only designs °.! the Anti-Corn-law League. I cannot concur with you in de et:rating them as mischievous designs. They seem to me to be stogy4ded in reason ; they would, I am confident, be found to be ro Protective and beneficial to our interests ; and they are sup ._tted by a weight of argument and authority which , in my judg. meta, will render all attempts to resist them utterly hopeless. Under these dreutostancee I would submit to your calm consi. deration. whether we shall not better prove our discretion, as well as our regard for what is justly due to others, by adopting their views rather than by resisting them. They are calculated to esta blish the interests of agriculture upon the sound and durable basis of reason, of justice, and of freedom ; and in them alone I believe that true and effectual protection of our interests is to be found. In the laws, upon which too many of us at present rely, I can place no confidence ; what is unjust and baneful to the rest of the com munity cannot be permanently beneficial to us. Our present in. terests Are placed by these laws in a precarious, because in an arti ficial state ; our native energies are weakened by unnatural protection; and the laws, which we so blindly and sa fatally em. brace, by undermining the general prosperity, are endangering that which has raised British agriculture to its present condition and the permanence of which can alone preserve it from the most 'ruinous relapse. I have the honour tc be, dear Sir, yours faithfully; S. JONES LOYD. knother d e; till it ,4 4/WG SUN OFFICE, Seven o'Cloch. THE STATE TRIALS. Our Irish Express, owing to a stress of weather, had not arrived up to the hour of post. I IL 41. 11. 15s. (per cent. b per cent. 5 per cent. a. Ss. and/ ba. 3 bper cent. 7per cent. 44 per cent bper cent. LIST OF SCOTTISII C()M JAN. 24, 1 Bank of Scotland..„ Royal Bank British Linen Compny Commercial Bank Glasgow Union Bank Western Bank Central Bk• of Scotland Caledonian Insurance Hercules Insurance. North Brit. Insurance Isksuranee Co. of Scotl. Edinbisro Lite Insur. Scottish Union Inc cu Standard Life Insur Dalkeith Railw a v .. Edin. And Glas. Glasg. And Green. Rail. • Dundeeand Artw per Cent. per cent. per cent. 1 per cent. - .per cent. ( per cent. ( per cent. 13per cent. ?per cent. 9 per cent. :per cent. £per cent. :per cent. tiler cent. • 4 per cent. 2% per con t 271 i 30s inn 4 4 ój i GENERAL DUFF GREEN AT liomE.—At Washing ton Duff Green is quite busy with the Vresident and Cabinet. He is organising measures and collecting capital for the establishinent of a daily newspaper in New York. 'lt will be a free trade Calhoun paper, and will also be an organ of the Anti-Coru-law League of Luglaucl.-=-Areth York raper.- ; . Lew' 101 l 11 , C-I;disdef r. >lt an • len t hn IIhCQ net isale rge Ll 1 coupd 'enc. ,n. 0. ord a• ry e. $ Aid. [jel l pk . ' . 'F. W ' „ It r 'PP lig• T, sir sl i g r e 1., itk