The Sun. — London, England, 1844-12-17 00:00:00

LETTERS ON THE CORN-LAWS. No.. XI. (From the League.) . - TO MESSRS. E. MOSES AND SON. GENTLEMEN,—You are, unquestionably, the m - st renowned slopsellers in Europe. The eye always ad verts to your advertisements. Your shop-mark is on .the daily broad sheet of fame, as if it were only one of your own blankets. The poetry of your puffs, and the cheapness of your charges, are alike prodigious. Peel and Russell rise and set with the session ; but you are always above the horizon—the Ursa Major of the _Minories. " Custom" cannot " stale your infinite variety." You are, indeed, a " commercial pheno menon." But rivalry is threatened, and you must submit to a comparison of claims. You are an " establish ment," but my Lord Ashley dissents, and erects a voluntary institution. His Lordship is a philantro pist ; and his love of man turns to hatred of Moses. 'He charges you with taking undue advantage of the need of needlewomen. Meetings are melted by his pictures of your oppressions. It is said that, although Rrou rig the ragged, yet you starve the stitchers. - The world cries out that you are too worldly. The Queen Dowager heads the hostile slopshop; and the lists are up for contention of charity with cheapness. Messrs. Moses, father 'and son, I know nothing of you, but the public notoriety that you keep a very cheap shop and pay very low wages. Doubtless you act on the principle of the Premier ; and when he has a principle, it ought to be acted upon ; and, if not by himself, there is the greater need that it should be acted upon by other people. Doubtless, I say, you act on the principle of the Premier, to "buy in the cheapest market, and sell in the dear est." But you do not, like Lord Ashley with his corn, legislate for rendering dearer the market in • which you sell. You undersell your competitors, .and pull do . ,vn their prices. Ile oversells his com petitors, and keeps their prices up to the consumer, by a tax. You make a cheap market cheaper by , competition, and he makes a dear market dearer by legislation. Thus far, Moses, your Judaism is more merciful than his Christianity. No, replies his Lordship, for cheapness is the root of ali evil. At the Society for the Protection and - Employment of Distressed Needlewomen, last week, his Lordship " wished to impress upon the meet ing, for he felt it very deeply himself, the very great evil arising in all_ directions from that constant and unceasing effort to get every single thing, not only the common trumperies of life, but even the greatest necessaries, at the very minimum of remuneration."—(2llorning Herald report.) The assembly cheered, ladies and all ; and in the name of consistency let no one of them ever try for a bargain again, but always inquire after the highest price when they make their purchases. The mischief is, however, less, it seems, of bidding low for the " trumperies of life," than for its " greatest necessaries." A curious distinction. The wealthy, if their wealth be in land, are the sellers of neccessaries and the buyers of trum peries. Pleasant doctrine for the fashionables of Willis's Rooms, but hard measure for those who forego the trum peries of life, and, with a minimum of money, are advised to he content with even less than a minimum of bread. Moses, how dues this bear upon your customers? Many of them must go with bare backs, did not you cover them at the aforesaid" minimum of remunera tion." They must make shift without shirts, did not you supply them cheaper thau his Lordship's charity slopshop. Yours is the emporium for poverty stricken purchasers. It drives nakedness down a degree lower in society. Sir Peter Laurie backs Lord Ashley, and scolds people for buying cheap shirts. 'lbis is cold work when the only alternative is to remain uashirted. That must they do, unless there were some such Refuge for the Destitute. Your shop i 3 as good as a charity, with an associ ation, and a secretary and reports and patrons. Much better, Moses. You clothe the naked with out making beggars of them. They pinch their bellis for 'the sake of their backs; out of the daily bread which Lord Ashley helps to tax, they screw enough for two shillings worth of the " common trumperies of life," foregoing a portion of its ." greatest necessaries," and walk away with an un subdued sense of independence, not less satisfied than if clothed in purple and fine linen, but less disposed to rate Lazarus for obtaining the rags that stanch his sores at a " minimum of remuneration." But, then, you only pay 61 for the making of these 2s. shirts. Your needlewomen fsirnieh. They wear out eyes and fingers, brain and heart. Their privations are terrible. I will not blink that part of the case. God forbid. No, nor will I for - getsethe fact that out of this fearfully earned 61. a day Lord Ashley and the landowners take 2d. by their bread-tax. The broad-acred philanthropishs exact the 2.1., and you, whom they abuse, pay the 61. It is " villainous low ;" but not so low as robbing them of the 30 per cent. out of that miserable pittance. That is by far the dirtier trick of the two, and the most cold-hearted. They get little from you, those _peor needlewomen ; but, vrere it not for you, would they gee anything ? You have not cleared the coun try of cottages. You have net obstructed the progreas of trade and commerce, and so diminished the amount of empieyment. Ent have riot enhanced the price of food,eind the terrors of the poorhouse. If you do but 'little in mitigation, and that little for the sake of business, stn l it is a mitigation. Lord Ashley says you ahauld do more. Let him and the hardier(' legislators do less, and your mitigation will grow thereby. On what principle, and by what law, ;re • Jewish slopsellers bound to feed the poor whom Bri flail landlords have impoverished for the benefit of their own rent-roll ? Answer me that, ye aristo cratical man-milliners of philanthropy, who talk of charity End vote for scarcity. The professed object of Lord Ashley's Society is to raise the needlewomen's wages to 6s. a week. If accomplished, the needlewomen may be thankful she not a Dorsetshire man : a, man, with a family, la bouring on a farm. But let us see how this charity works. It promises to raise the cost of making a shirt to the price for which you are now selling the shirt. What, then, becomes of the poor purchaser who, can afford no more ? The Society ought at least to tattoo him gratis. He is driven out of the market, victimised by benevolence, made an example of, for being an accomplice, after the fact, to the " minimum of remuneration." There is another sort of result likely to happen. The Ashley slopshop only whit draws a third of the applicants from the general - competition. That vacancy will soon be supplied by a rush from the hovels of starvation and the dungeons of the poorhouse. The numbers of the destitute will keep d ,evn wages. The Queen Dowager might as well he p itronesa of a society for suspending the law ofgra vitution. Not a voice less will the " Song of the Shirt" have in its dismel chorus. There will he quite as many to bear the burden. The ranks will la promptly filled up by remorseless necessity. Still will " most unwomanly rags" hang loose upon the wasted form ; the insufficient pay tempt to fraud or prostitution ; and famine or suicide close the dreary scene. More work is the want. Proportionate abun dance of employment, and that alone, can ensnre-ade quecy of remuneration. The valley of the Missouri would grow plenty of food for all the needle women of Grant Britain; and the roughly clad growers have ' plenty of occasion for their services. My Lord Ash - ley cannot see his way to the repeal of the corn-laws. - lie thinks Moses grinds the faces of the pootf and keeps his own booted heel upon their stomachs. De liver us from our friends and save us from the selfiah ness of sentimental benevolence. One word more, not peculiarly for yourselves, but for the whole class of tradesmen to which you be long. There is no reason why any of that class should be dispensers of charity in the disguise of wages. Ignorant or hypocritical is the outcry • against labour being purchased at its market price. Individually, you must purchase it, or you may shut up shop. What good would that be to the poor needlewomen? But, Moses, remember you are ' men as Well as slop3allers. Those whose fingers ache over your shirts are stitching their own shrouds. Misery toils in your cheap factory. You ought not to have dune with it, when you have pail its wages. The employers of the poor are their natural protectors. Unfairly have the tables been turned rgeinst you ; but net alt oge th er w i t h out f ault on you r p ar t. V You should have been the foremost to expose and denounce this state of things, and the system by which it is produced. Your inert nese, your di a reyeard of the wants and rights of the toiling poor, ha allowed the authors of the wrong, the taxers Of their fuo 1, the obstructors of employment, to , _:oore ferward as their patrons, and point towards your heals the thunderbolt of public indignation fur inhumanity, which should have fallen on their own. You and they are thus juggled into the wrong places. They should be in the duck, and you in the witness box. Why do you not tell Lord Ashley that he, and his class .of monopolist legislators, have wrought this shame in the land? Why were you not first in the field clamouring- f or j us ti c e ? Why did you wait far the wretchedness, of which you had know ludgeato he found out and laid at your own door by its tifiders and its makers? Why have you handed over ..the poor to the care of courtly Cades and daftly demagogues. Retrieve your blunder. Leave . not this sore disease in the body politic to be tam peied with by legislative empiricism. Demand of Loyd Ashley that he helps to untak the needle ayo:nen's bread. Claim emancipation for the giant sZiustry, who, when free, will feed all his sons and -:daughters. Bestir yourselves for such a demonstra ,=tion of pu bli c opinion as will enforce a wiser policy ta on the Government. Come forward, though late, a for the sake of these who depend on vou, and make amends for past indifference, whether real or only Feernipz. Win the blessings of intelligent gratitude, instead of the curses of misguided ignorance. By your . zeal,:your votes, y our remonstrances, ignorar.ce and sufthrings, be ear oes t f ur trade ; mere trad e ; and all whein trade feeds ; the widow and the orphan - whom it•Kipplies with work and shields from starvation. It ip the duty which belongs to your position in society. between selfish lawmakers and injured millions. You who make the lawmakers can unmake the misery, Up to your duty, or both Jew and Gentile amongst you must bear the curse of Meroz. A NORWICH WEAVER BOY. SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS. FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY. GLOBE.—We intimated last week that an anxious wish prevailed among the Liberal members of the Ox ford Convocation, that in dealing with Mr. Ward and his book, the heads of the University would avoid two things. Conceding that it was due to truth and honesty that some steps should be taken to mark with suitable ignominyrthe attempts now making to reconcile subscrip tion to Protestant articles with the advancement of the in terests of priestcraft, we expressed a hope—first, that there would be no repetition of the impropriety and folly of submitting theological differences to the arbitration of those sagacious critics, the majority of Convocation; and secondly, that in vindicating its consistency, the Board should avoid adopting extreme measures towards the un fortunate disciple of the Littlemore Pope—of whom we may truly say, on his own confession, " non sponte " We; have now before us the actual statute, which ap peared on Friday last, and which we understand was assented to by a large majority of the Oxford Board of Heads, and we think it has sufficiently guarded against both the evils which some had apprehended. No at tempt to submit theological opinions to an incompetent tribunal is made, nor is it proposed to deprive the author of " The Ideal Church " of any pecuniary advantages purchased by his non-natural profession of conformity. The first of the two Statutes proposed, after reciting certain passages of the work, in which (to quote the authors own words) he proposes to show " how the dry wording " (which Dr. Pusey would call the literal sense) " may be divorced from the natural spirit" of the Articles of the Church, " how their prima facie mean ing may be evaded, and the artifice of their inventor, be thrown back and recoil on themselves," and after quoting farther his avowal that " in sub scribing the Articles, he renounced no one Roman doctrine," signing them in " a non-natural sense, proceeds to remark, that whereas the party notoriously reputed in the University and believed to be the author, had obtained the degrees of B.A. and M.A. on the faith of a subscription which he cancels by his present avowals—he be required to an swer to the charge of having published passages incon sistent with good faith, and be degraded from the privi leges attached to those degrees. The second statute is of more importance, and is rendered, it seems, necessary by the following circumstance :—A statute is already in ex istence entitling the Vice-Chancellor to summon before him a member accused of heresy, and to require him to purify himself by subscribing to the 39 Articles. Most per sons will recollect the not very decent sarcasm of the Vicar of Leeds in his Church Dictionary, when he stated that an Archbishop of the Church of England had purified himself from the suspicion of heresy by signing the Articles on his appointment to his see. Dr. Hook, however, was a good judge of Ms own friends; and so the Hebdomadal Board seems to think—for the new statute proposes to add to the subscription a declaration that the party subscribing does so in the sense in which they were "primitus editi," that is, in 1571, when the impo sition of the articles as tests was first made by the joint authority of a Synod and of Parliament. This is a plain and intelligible proposal. If you take a pledge, take it without equivocation or mental reservation— take it in the sense in which it is meant—in the sense in which its imposers put it—or—support those by your example of refusal who object to subscription altogether. We have no time now for further remark, but shall return to the subject, which, between this and the day of Convocation (February the 13th), will, we anticipate, engross much of public interest—and involve the recon sideration of the whole subject of tests. We hear that the Tractarian section of the Oxford Convocation are di,posed to abandon Mr. Ward to his fate—provided they can eject the second statute, which provides a check to their own practice. STANDARD.—A great deal of noise has been made about a few bags of Venezuelan sugar imported at Liverpool. This noise has been made on the ground that the sugar is slave-grown—with how much reason the sugar is said to be slave-grown will appear from the lett e r o f our o ld an d value correspondent, Mr. M'Queen. Mr. M'Clio en, who has visited Venezuela three times within the last ten years, and who knows more of the commercial geography and statistics of the tropical countries than any mail alive, has brought home with him all the public docu ments of Venezuela, as well as of the other countries that he has visited, and has been kind enough to place the Venezuelan papers in our hands. We prefer, however, to the labour of translating these voluminous documents, to avail ourselves of Mr. M'Queen's own letter. That letters tells that the territory of Venezuela —a territory as large as France—has a population under 900,000, of whom, notwithstanding that slavery has been long abolished by law, about 30,000 (one in thirty) are in a state of qualified slavery, for this sole reason, that the Republic has been hitherto too poor to buy out the liberty of all its slaves, though havingmade the best provision it was able to do so. No slate, however, can be born in Venezuela, for all are born free. No slave can be imported; and even the remnant of the slave population that lingers, notwithstanding large annual redemptions ; and manumissions cannot be transferred from master to master—the thirty thousand slaves—one in thirty of the population, are thus almost necessarily employed as hou.e servants, or in the cultivation of gardens and small farms, and, from the nature of things. cannot be em ployed in sugar grounds. The Venezuelan sugar, therefore, is neither slave-grown, nor the prodwe of a country attached to slavery. All the world is not as rich as Great Britain, and able, like her, to buy the freedom of the negro; but the Venezuelans are doing the ke , st they can to imitate our example, and therefore deserve all the encouragement that we can give them. Unfortunately, however, we have little opportunity to encourage the sugar trade, for the country produces little sugar, and it costs a dollar the hundred weight to carry it to the coast. To compare Venezuela in any respect with slave-trading countries, like Cuba and the Brazils, would be the grossest folly as well as injustice LAW INTELLIGENCE. PRIVY COUNCIL, Dec. 16. The Committee of the Privy Council for the affairs of Guernsey and Jersey sat to-day in the Council-office, Whitehall. The Lords present were the Lord Chancel lor, Sir James Graham, Mr. Baron Parke, the Chancel lor of the Duchy of Cornwall, (the Right Hon. Thomas Pemberton Leigh), and the Judge of the Admiralty Court. THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF GUERNSEY. The arguments in the petition of the bailiff and jurats of the Royal Cuurt of Guernsey, complaining of the course pursued by the Lieut(nant-Governor were re sumed. Ur. ROEBUCK concluded his arguments on behalf of the Crown, and in support of the course pursued by the Lieutenant-Governor. Mr. WADDINGTON followed on the same side, and not having concluded at four o'clock, when their Lordships rose, the further consideration of the case was adjourned till Wednesday next, at ten o'clock. VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT, Dee. 16. (Before the VICE-CHANCELLOR of ENGLAND.) The Vice-Chancellor of England sat in Lincoln's-Inn to-day and heard cases, none of which possessed any points of general interest. (Before Sir J. WIGRAM.) MALLALIEU U. MILLER. The arguments in thil case on further directions which have occupied several days, were concluded this morning, his Honour reserving his judgment. COURT O 1• QUEEN'S BENCH, Dec. 16. :Sittings at Nisi Prius, at the Guildhall, before Lori DENMAN and a London Special Jury.) THE ARCHIMEDEAN SCREW—LOWE V. PENN AND ANOTHER. The plaintiff in this case, a smoke-jack maker, who in the year 1838 had taken out a patent for :propelling vessels, by means of a screw working under water at the stern of the vessel, and the defendants are Messrs. Penn, the celebrated steam-boat builders. The action was brought for an infringement of the plaintiff's patent, by applying his screw to the steam-boat " Infant Prince." Mr. Sergeant Byles conducted the case for the plain tiff, and Mr. Platt, Mr. Martin, and Mr. Peacock ap peared for the defendants. 1 It appeared from the evidence for the plaintiff, that he had taken out his patent in 1838, and that in 1839 he had caused a number of experiments to be tried on board a steam-boat called the Wizard, the name of which was subsequently changed to the Cygnet, and that, in consequence of those experiments, he had caused various alterations to be male - in the shape of his tcrews or propellers. It appeared that Mr. Francis Smith, the proprietor of the Archimedes, was present at some of those experiments, and one of the persons who had assisted at the building of the Archimedes, deposed that she had first of all been fitted up with a whole screw, which occasioned a disagree able vibration at the stern, but that subsequently .1 the whole screw had been changed for the sec tions of a screw, by which the vibration was got rid of. A person had called on Smith for the Purpose of. remonstrating with him, but Smith was not at home, and it did nut appear that any further steps were tali( n in the matter. It also appeared that the Government had adopted the same principle in fitting up some of her Majesty's ships, but it did not _appear what steps . the plaintiff had adopted in consequence. When the defendant was fitting up the steam-boat Infant Prince and another boat with steam propellers, they were waited on by Mr. curpmeal and Mr. Briggs, a gentleman possessing 7-12ths of Lowe's patent, to re monstrate with him for using Lowe's patent propeller without a license ; various interviews took place, at the conclusion of which Messrs Penn refused to apply for a license, and the present action was in consequence brought. For the defence it was contended that the invention was not a new one—that it :iid not differ in principle from Shorter's patent skulling machine, which was invented in 1800—that it was identical in principle and nearly in detail with Millington's propeller, which was patented in 1816—that a Mr. Brown, had invented and published, in 1825, a method of pro pelling vessels by means of vanes working under water. and had published it to the world, ; and that as far back as 1815, had invented a method of propelling vessels by means of a worm screw, or a number of leaves plactd obliquely round an axis; and that in Dec., 1829, a method had been invented by Cummerow, of placing the screw pro peller between the stern-post . and the rudder-post. The various patents andmodels having been put in, Mr. Rennie, the engineer, gave it as his opinion that the principle of Lowe's invention differed in nothing from those already known, and that the mode of propelling by means of curved blades working under water, and providing for the pass ing away of the water without choking, had been in - ihe before 1838. On his cross-examination, he stated that THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 17, 1844, in Shorter's, Millington's Brown's, and Trevethick's in vention the vanes were flat, and that Cummerow's patent was for a whole screw, and not for a section of a screw. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff—Damages, Forty Shillings. COURT OF EXCHEQUER, pec. 16. (Before the LORD GRIEF Belncjx.) His Lordship sat, as usual, during the day, but no case was heard which possessed any public interest. COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, Dec. 16. (Sittings ia London.) MANGNALL V. VALPINE. This was an action brought by the plaintiff, a manu facturer at Bolton, to recover damages for the infi inge ment of a patent. The invention which is the suhj"ct of this action is an improvement in the mode of bleaching and finishing muslin. The evidence, which was illus trated by several complicated and curious models, could not be made intelligible even to the scientific without the aid of diagrams. But three witnesses had been examined when the Court rose, and there are thirty-two wit nesses in the cause; so that the trial is likely to last at least another day. CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT, - (Before the RECORDER and Alderman Sir CIIAPMAN MARSHALL.) The second session of the Central Criminal Court, in the present mayoralty, took place yesterday. The grand jury being sworn, The RECORDER said he had to congratulate them on the comparative lightness of the calendar, both in regard to the number and the character of the charges. There were only three cases to which he would call their at tention. The first was one of cutting and wounding, with intent to do grievous bodily harm ; the second was a case of manslaughter ; and the third was one of falsely personating an owner of stock, and by that means fraudulently obtaining possession of that stock. With regard to the first, he only wished to say that a blow having been aimed at the prosecutor with a knife, and it having only reached the hand, cutting three of the fingers, it would be for them to consider whe ther the blow had been given with the intent alleged. The charge of manslaughter was against a Captain of one of the Watermea steamers, for having struck a skiff in the Thames, thereby overturning that skiff, and caus ing the death of two persons. This case had been already tried at the last session, one of the bodies having been found at that time. The other body was since found, and the prisoner became liable to be tried a second time. With regard to the last charge, that of fraudulently personating an owner of stock, and thereby becoming possessed of that stock, the person charged with that offence was represented not to be the prisoner, but it would be proved that he had been present at the time, thereby becoming amenable to the laws for aiding and abetting in the fraud, and he was liable to the same pu nishment as if he had been a principal in the act. With regard to the other charges, he considered it would be useless to make any remarks upon them. He should therefore dismiss them to the execution of their duty. The grand jury then retired. To a question from Mr. CLARKSON, as to the con tinuance of the evening sittings, The RECORDER could not give a definite answer. All he could say was, that on Monday and Tuesday at least, the ordinary procedure would not be departed from. POLICE INTELLIGENCE. (YESTERDAY.) UNION-BALL. William Young and Thomas Simms were charged before Mr. Trail' with the following highway robbery Thomas Luffery, a mechanic, stated that on Saturday night he was in the George public-house, Walworth, and left it at twelve o'clock, to see his master home to rather an unfrequented street near Lock's-fields. On his re turn he aas met by the two prisoners, who entered into conversation with him, and when they arrived at a spot near a garden, they each seized him by th e arms, and draggedhim into the garden. He called out, but they threatened him, and proceeded to tear open his coat, and from his waistcoat pocket they took ss. in silver, all the money he had at the time. The prisoners were then in the act of going away, when he gave the alarm, and they were both taken into custody. He added, that pre viously to leaving the George, he saw the prisoners drinking in the tap-room of that public-house, and they must have followed him out and dodged him all the way until he left his master.—They were remanded. ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE. NORTHERN CIRCUIT.--Yorh, Dec. 13. (Before Mr. Justice COLERIDGE.) His LORDSHIP this morning at the sitting of the Court passed sentence upon several prisoners whose cases had stood over, avd amongst them was Joseph Steadman Maddi.on, His Lordship said,—Josedh Steadman Mad dison, you have been convicted of the crime of embez zlement—always a serious offence in its character, be csuse it involves a breach of duty between the master and the servant, tke employer and the employed. We must, as well as we can, as we pass through this world, protect ourselies against the violence and fraud of strangers ; but•no person can effectually protect him. self against fraud from a clerk or servant whom he em ploys. I have, therefore, always been in the habit when I meet with a case of this description of awarding a se vere punishment to the offender. You had alleged in your favour a good character, but that, in cases of this sort, I do not consider a very mitigatory circumstance, because no person would be placed in a situation of trust unless he had maintained a pretty fair appearance in the world.. It appears, however, that there was a good deal of negligence on the part of the gentleman who employed you, in not calling upon yen oftener to make up your amounts, and this perhaps may have held out an improper temptation to you to com mit the offence of which you have been convicted. This circumstance, and this alone, induces me to abstain from sending you abroad, as I should otherwise have done. I am not quite sure that I do right now in inflicting upon you a milder punishment ; and I trust that you will not abuse the clemency that has been extended to you, but that you will endeavour, by future good conduct, to make amends to society for the injury you have done it. The sentence of the Court is, that you be imprisoned for 18 calendar months, and during that time be kept to hard labour. (Before Mr. Justice CRESSWELL.) John M'Cann, Tizonias Rogan, John O'Brien, Daniel Donovan, IVillium Quinn, and Daniel Power, the last five of whom were convicted at the last assizes, and the fin,t at the present assizes, of the manslaughter of Benjitniil Gott, at 4 tradiord;' werel Mel 'ivied at 016 bp! to receive sentence. The case will no doubt be fresh in the recollection of our readers, as we recapitulated the details of it upon the occasion of M'Cann's trial in the course of the present assizes. The prisoners are all Irishmen, and the de ceased was a musician belonging to the Idle and Cal verley band. In July last there was an Orange proces sion, which was attended by the band referred to, and in the course of their march they played the " Boyne Water," " Croppies lie down," and other airs offensive to the Irish population of the neighbourhood, who sub sequently set upon them, and so violently attacked the deceased that his death resulted. The prisoners had all been found guilty of manslaughter, but in consequence of some legal objection being taken by the prisoners' counsel, judgment was arrested till the opinion of the Judges could be ascertained upon the point in dispute. His LORDSHIP this morning, in passing sentence, ob serve,' that the jury had taken a most merciful view of their case The line which divided their crime from that of murder was exceedingly narrow, and had they been found guilty of that offence, the manner in which the deceased's death was compassed was such that he should have deemed it his duty to leave them all for execution. At an early part of the day they had allowed themselves to be influenced by passion, and there was evidence from which it might reasonably be concluded that they had assembled together before the deceased returned to Bradford, and had fixed a time fur the perpetration of those acts which had resulted in his violent death. He repeated, that the most merciful construction must have been put by the jury upon every circumstance connected with the case, or they would have been unable to distin guish it from the more heinous crime of murder. As it was, this was a manslaughter of the most grievous de scription, -calling for the heaviest punishment that the law awarded for that offence. Their punishment had been postponed, however, since conviction, in con sequence of a doubt entertained, not as to their guilt, but as to a technical form in which the crime imputed to them was required to be preferred. As far as he (Mr. Justice Cresswell) was concerned, having tried five of the prisoners,.he felt it to be his duty at that time to decide the point without furtner deliberation, and to pro nounce sentence against them, that justice might not fail by the lapse of an interval from one assizes to another. If, on further consideration, any doubt should be raised as to the propriety of their conviction, there was no question but the Secretary of State would prevent them from harm ; but at present he must overrule the objection, and proceed, as his duty de manded of him, to secure their removal for ever from this country. They were wholly unfit to move in society in this country—wholly unfit to enjoy the liberty they once, possessed. In the land to which they were going they would live in a condition little better than ono of slavery ; but he trusted that they might live there long enough to repent having caused the death of a fellow creature. The sentence of the Court was, that they be transported beyond the seas for the term of their natural lives. James Gill was indicted for corrupt and wilful perjury. , At the last Summer Assizes, tried before the Lord Chief , Baron, a labourer, named Bailey, brought an action against Mr. John Wilson, a' manufacturer at Keighley ' to recover damages f o r h av i ng , as he alleged, kicked him on the leg, and thereby fractured the bone. The prisoner Gill was a witness for the plaintiff, and he deposed at the time that he was present, and that he saw Mr. Wilson run at Bailey, and give him a kick which lamed him. The evidence given by Gill on that occa sion was proved this morning by Mr. William Green halgh, a short hand writer, and the reporter to the Yorkshireman newspaper, who was present at the trial, and was engaged to take a note of the proceedings. Evidence also was adduced to prove that the prisoner was not present at all when the kick was said to have been given, and that Bailey, instead of being lamed by a kick, was drunk, and had received his injury from falling over a form. This was the case for ,the prosecution, conducted by Mr. hall and Mr. Ingham, and attempted in vain to be contravened by Mr. Blanshard, on behalf of the prisoner. The jury found the prisoner Guilty, and His LORbSIIIP sentenced him to be imprisoned for two years in the House of Correction, with hard labour. One other case concluded the business of the York assizes. Their Lordships got through the whole of the business by six o'clock this afternoon. Mr. JUstice Coleridge proceeds in the morning to Durham to open the commission there, and Mr. Justice Cresswell returns, we believe, to London. Durham, Saturday, Dec. 14. Mr. Justice Coleridge arrived here this morning by the half-past nine o'clock train from York, and in the even ing opened the commission with the usual ceremony. The Court will sit on Monday for the trial of prisoners. The calendar is rather lighter than usual, which is to be accounted for by the fact that special general quarter sessions have been held within these few days, in order to clear from it as many unimportant cases as possible, that his Lordship might not be delayed longer here than is absolutely necessary. There are at present bat 26 prisoners in the list, of whom 1 is charged with the murder of her new-born child ; 1 with manslaughter ; 1 with cutting and wounding with intent to kill ; 7 with assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm ; 3 with rape ; 5 with forgery ; several with burglary ; whilst minor offences complete the number. MIDLAND ClRCUlT.—Nottingham, Dec. 14 THE LATE rtAILWAY ACCIDENT. The commissions of assize for the borough and county of Nottingham were opened before Mr. Justice Patti son this morning. The chief cases of interest for trial were of course those of Robert Lightfoot and Jonathan Raven, charged with manslaughter on the occasion of the late fatal accident on the Midland Counties Railway. In consequence of these trials being expected to last at least two or three days, Mr. Justice Patteson, as will be seen from his charge, determined to commence busi ness this day, otherwise Monday was understood to be the first day of the assize. The Borough Court, in which the first trial of Mr. Lightfoot was to take place, was crowded by railway directors and others to hear the charge to the grand jury. Mr. Justice PATTESON, in proceeding to charge the grand jury, commenced by observing, that he was aware that the grand jury of the borough (Saturday being a very busy day in Nottingham) were assembled on that occasion at great personal inconvenience ; and he wished therefore, at the commencement to say a few words in explanation. When he appoicted the various commis sion-days at Warwick, Coventry, Leicester, and Derby, the business at Nottingham was apparently so light that he had every reason to suppose that the business of that borough and county would conclude so early as to allow him to finish and arrive at Lincoln at least at an early hour on Wednesday. In consequence, however, of an unfortunate occurrence on the railway, which happened after these appointments were made, it appeared to him (Mr. Justice Patteson) very :possible that it might be necessary to commence at an early hour that day (Sa turday), in order that they might complete the business of the assizes by the time fixed for their being holden at Lincoln. It was under these circumstances that he had convened them at the inconvenient time at which they were then assembled. The calendar presented no cas - es of difficulty with the exception of that to which he had alluded. He would, therefore, not detain them with any observations upon other cases, but would direct their attention in a few words to that of the un fortunate accideut which happened on the neighbouring railway. With respect to the charge against Robert Lightfoot for the manslaughter of John Dean, he might be allowed to say t h at t h at c h arge could not come before them, as the violence took place in the county of Nottingham, as also did the death of the deceased. In that case, therefore, the borough grand jury had no jurisdiction at all. The Learned Judge proceeded to remark that it was to be regretted that the two inquests had not been held within the same jurisdiction, as then the cases would have been one and the same, and tried before one court. He would . not say that the inquests had not been properly held, but in the case of Mr. Dean the, grand jury of the town had no jurisdiction.—(lt ap peared that in the case of Mr. Dean the deceased died cn his way from Beeston to the . Nottingham Infirmary ; but on his arrival at Nottingham the body was placed in that part of the infirmary which is situated within the borough. The trial of Mr. Lightfoot for the man. slaughter of Mr. Dean was afterwards removed by cer tiorari into the County Court.) With respect to the charge against Mr. Lightfoot and Mr. Raven, jointly for the manslaughter of Mr. Bolestridge, the death took place within the borough. In that case the indictment might be preferred either in the county where the violence took place, or in the town, where death ensued. It was, therefore, extremely probable that in this case a bill would be preferred before the grand jury for this borough, and assuming that would be the case, be wished to make a few observations. He (Mr. Justice Pattison) had not seen the evidence given in this last case, but a verdict of manslaughter lad, he perceived, been re turned by the coroner's jury against Jonathan Raven and Robert Lightfoot. As he had before observed, he had not had an opportunity of seeing the evidence in that case, because the inquest had been held so re cently that it was almost impossible that he could have had the depositions placed before him ; he had, how ever, read the evidence in the case of Mr. Dean, and, as a matter of course, the unfortunate occurrence arising out of the same circumstances, the evidence at the second inquest must be principally the same as at the first. Of course it would be so. Now, there was a great deal of the evidence given before the coroner not admis sible as to the charge of manslaughter against any par ticular person, and some of it was not legal at all. Other parts of the evidence were not at all applicable to the case. He (Mr. Justice Patteson) did not say this with a view to find fault with the coroner ; not at all. The inquiry before a coroner's jury extended over a much wider field than an inquiry before a court similar to that in which they were then assembled. The in quiry before them was, whether a particular person had been guilty of a particular crime ' whereas the in qu i r y before the coroner w as h ow th e body, then lying Before him, came to its death. That being so, they would not have brought before them the whole of the evidence taken before the coroner. Now, the law upon th e su b jeet was perfectly c l ea r, b u t the difficulty was how to apply the lee to the facts. It was perfectly clear that no man could be indicted for manslaughter for a mere mis take or error in judgment. If he acted to the best of his judgment or ability, in the discharge of his duty, he was not criminally responsible or liable for a mere mis take; but if, on the contrary, a. person placed in a situa tion of great responsibility, duty, and trust, conducted himself with gross negligence and inattention, then, in .case of death, he was unquestionably guilty of the crime of manslaughter. Therefore, it was always difficult to apply facts in such a case as the present. The law was the same, whether applied to a man driving a waggon or carriage on the highway, managing a vessel on the seas, or conducting an engine on a railway ; if he did not display due care and caution he was liable to the charge of manslaughter. But if a person so em ployed got into a difficulty, and, however untoward the result, if he acted to the best of his judgment, if be acted as he thought best under the circumstances, however un. fertianate ; his judgment might be, haves nos to .m a d e to sufferior his &An% It Ava* ver say, after a disastrous occurrence h a d ta k en place, that another course would have been bett er , b ut i t was often times very hard to judge of a man by particular circum stances—by; events which happened afterwards. Per sons too often said, " But he should have acted so and so ;" but let such persons place th emse l ves i n a case of suden difficulty, and then say whether he was fairly answerable for the:consequences which followed. Now, the particular facts .of this case were very plain and clear indeed. It seemed that Mr. Lightfoot was the sta tion-master at Nottingham, and that he had voluntarily put himself in a situation in which he had no right to be —that was, he went by a " down-train," the up train" being blocked up by the overturn of a tender. His ob ject in thus going appeared to be to direct the engine driver to drive slowly and properly. He (Mr. Jus tice Patteson) thought . Mr. Lightfoot wrong, and that he committed an error in leaving the Not tingham station at all, but. for that he was not to be indicted for. manslaughter. It was clear that when he went all was safe ; there was no mischief as to that train, and it was plain and clear Mr. Lightfoot had taken up the notion when he went up the line that the tender would be shortly removed, the line speedily cleared, and the next up -train from Nottingham proceed upon its proper line. That was the 6pinion which he appeared to strongly entertain, and upon which he most unquestionably acted. Then they found Mr. Lightfoot proceeding back to Nottingham on his proper line in the front of the engine, himself in the most hazardous and dangerous position about the engine. He was apparently confident that when the train came up from Nottingham it would be upon its proper line. It turned out, how ever, unfortunately otherwise. A co lli s i on un h a ppily took place, and Mr. Lightfoot was committed upon a charge of manslaughter. That being so, another death ensued, and Mr. Raven, the station-master at Beeston, was next committed by another coroner's jury for the same °fence, but for what reason he (Mr. Justice Patte son) could not divine. Be supposed it was for not stop ping the train when at Beeston. It did appear to him (Mr. Justice Patteson) that the charge of manslaughter against Raven was perfectly preposterous. In the con sideration of this case no one seemed to him to have sufficiently considered the rate at which the up. train was coming from Nottingham, and the circumstance that no person, in obedience to the Company's code of regula tions, had preceded it to see that the line was clear. It was in evidence before the coroner, that the up-train was going upon its wrong line at the rate of between twenty and thirty miles an hour, while that upon which Mr. Lightfoot was travelling was going slowly. Then, again, as he had before intimated, no one, in obedience to the Company's laws, had preceded the train. They were told that a man was always understood to precede a train 800 yards, when danger was apprehended ; but, on this occasion, no person preceded it. Much had been said about the Company not having sufficient force for the proper and careful management of their business at the Nottingham station. If that were the case, then, most certainly such a fact was decidedly in favour of the accused—blame rested upon a higher party. He (Mr. Justice Patteson) did not ape that that charge was made out against the Company, but if it were it could not be used as au argument against, but rather in favour of the prisoners. They would have all the evidence before them, and say whether they thought such a case was made out as would justify them in placing either one or both of the accused upon their trial for the crime of manslaughter ; whether they had been guilty of gross and palpable negligence, or merely committed an error of judginent. At the conclusion of the charge, the Learned Judge proceeded to th e C ounty-hall, and opened the commis sion of assize for the county. At twelve o'clock- he returned to the Borough Court, aad commenced the trial of prisoners. There was not one case of the slightest public interest. During the afternoon public speculation was afloat as to the probability or improbability of the borough grand jury finding bills against Mr. Lightfoot and Mr. Raven. The Judge having concluded the trial of pri soners at four o'clock, returned to Iris lodgings; but at half-past seven o'clock Mr. Collinson, the clerk of the arraigns, was summoned to the court to bear the decision. of the grand jury. The Foreman announced that they found no true bills against Robert Lightfoot and Jonathan Raven for man slaughter. The result was generally expected. On Monday another bill against Mr. Lightfoot for the manslaughter of Mr. Dean will be presented to the county grand Jury,.when it is thought there can be little doubt a similar result will follow. It is not in tended to offer any evidence in support of the coroner's inquisition. In the case of Mr. Raven there was a singular instance of speedy justice. His committal took place on Thurs day, the indictment, not less than two yards long, was drawn by Mr. Lewis, the clerk of indictments, on Fri day, and it was ignored by the grand jury on Saturday. NORFOLK CIRCUIT—Bury St. Edmund's, Dec. 13. (Before Mr. Justice WILLIAM S.) MURDER.— Mary Sherring, aged 51, pleaded " Not guilty" to an indictment charging her with the murder of John Sherring, by administering to him some arsenic on the 30th of' July last. Mr. Sanders and Mr. Power conducted the prosecu tion ; the prisoner was not defended by counsel. From the evidence adduced in the progress of this painful case, it appeared that the prisoner resided at the village of Martlesharn, near Woodbridge, in this county, with her husband, an honest, hardworking labourer, their family consisting of a daughter, Elizabeth, aged 14, and two boys resp'ectively 10 and 3 years ; besides these chil dren, however, this couple had two other daughters, Matilda, who lived out at service in the neighbourhood, and Caroline, who was also in service at Lowestoft. This latter girl had fallen from the paths of virtue, inso much as that she had, about three years ago, given birth to an illegitimate boy, who had been thrown on her parents for support and protection. After that unfor tunate occurrence his mother again went out into the world, but not with any very steadfast moral reformation, for in the course of the last summer she again became a mother, when she bore another son, whose untimely death was the subject of the present inquiry. He also, together with his frail mother, became an inmate of the prisoner's roof about three weeks after Whitsuntide, he being then only four or five weeks old. With this serious addition to their already poverty-stricken esta blishment, the grandfather and grandmother had much to do to provide for themselves and those who were thus cast upon their hands. The grandfather, however, stea dily pursued his daily labour, while his wife and her daughters endeavoured to help him as much as was within their power. Soon after the deceased and his mother came home, the prisoner was frequently heard to complain of their situation, and of the fact that no allowance had been made to her by the father of John. In the course of a conversation with Mrs. Brett, a neigh bour, she said one day, about a fortnight before the death of the child, that "If no allowance was made, something must be done ; if they got no assistance, to the union-house they must all go," appearing, at the same time, to be in great distress of mind. In about a week afterwards, at a time when the deceased was in perfect health. she went to the village coffin-maker. and said that "J o hn Sh err i ng was very bad, and that there would soon be a job for a coffin ;" and on the evening of Tuesday, the 30th of July, about eight o'clock, she went hurriedly to Mrs. Brett, requesting her presence and aid, as her daughter Caroline was at Woodbridge, and" her child was overwhelmed with sickness." On going into the cottage Mrs. Brett found the poor thing lying in Elisabeth Sherring's lap, retching and straining violently, his eyes ready to start from their sockets, and his mouth covered with foam. In the absence of anything else the neighbour suggested an emetic, but the prisoner said, " No, that will do him no good ; he will not be here many hours." "Dear me," said Mrs. Brett, " why, what have you been giving him ?" when the prisoner answered, " Nothing but pap." Soon after this conversation the mother came home, when the prisoner repeated her assertion that she had given the baby some pap ; and, his sufferings grow 'ling more acute, the distracted parent went to bed with it. No doctor was sent for, and in the night the sufferer passed from this world as it had come into it—the inno cent victim and object of vice and passion. Oa the fol lowing day the order was given for the coffin, and the body was in a few days consigned to the grave in the burial ground of a chapel in the adjoining parish. Although no indecent haste was observed in the funeral, rumour soon began to busy herself about the cause of the death, and one day the prisoner went angrily to Mrs. Brett, and 'accusing her of talking about the child, threatened to " make her jump for it" if she repeated her scandal. In spite of this, however, the neighbours still talked, and it being about that time ascertained that the prisoner had bought sonic arsenic a fortnight before the death, " to poison rats," as she said (when she had received a solemn caution as to its use and danger), it was determined brthe authorities that the body should be exhumed, Sand subjected to chemi cal analysis. This important step was accordingly taken about two months after the burial, and the stomach arid its contents having been intrusted to Mr. Moore, a skilful practitioner at Woodbridge,. that gentleman ap plied to them the approved most. modern tests, all of which resulted in the production of arsenic, both in its original metallic form and substance, and in a state of solution with -the fluids in the stomach. Under this state of things the accused was consigned to prison on this grievous charge, in support of which, besides the facts above stated, it was shown that she had actually regis tered the death of her grandson long before he died, and just at the time she bought the arsenic, and had assigned to the registrar the very causes of death— viz., " convul sions and retchings," which did afterwards mark his exit from life. It also appeared that, when before the coroner, the prisoner made a long statement, admitting that she had bought the poison, but adding that she had used some of it for the rats, and had thrown away the rest into the dungheap. She also then denied having fed the baby for more than a week before it was dead t - but to day, when called on f or h er d e f e n ce, s h e varied her state ment as to the disposition of the arsenic, and evidently endeavoured, to screen herself at the expense of her daughters Elizabeth and Matilda, one of whom she said had found, or shown her in a drawer, the paper in which she had originally put away the arsenic in a shed, while she insinuate(' that she had on one occasion missed about one• third part of the poison soon after she had bought it. It also further appeared that the child was quite well from twelve to six o'clock in the evening of the 30th, when his mother went to Woodbridge, leaving him in his grandmother's care ; and Mr. Image, an eminent sur geon of this town, distinctly deposed that the effects of arsenic on the child would of necessity develope them selves from 10 minutes to three hours after it had been received in the stomach, and that it must have been ad ministed between 6 and 8 o'clock that night. The Learned JUDGE, at the close of the evidence for the prosecution, summed it all up most carefully and luminously to the jury, who, having retired for about 20 minutes, returned into Court with a verdict of Guilty. Mr. Justice WILLIAMS then, in most solemn and suitable terms, proceeded to pass sentence on the pri soner. In so doing he expressed his entire concurrence in the finOing of the jury, and after having exho r ted-her r to Oluftyiabblholtireirinant'of her4regestt inefsenis; tent and anxious preparation for that future one into which she was so soon about to enter, pronounced sen tence of death upon her, without holding out to her the most distant hope of mercy in this world. The prisoner, who had preserved an unwonted degree of composure and self-possession up to the last solemn moment of her trial, received her awful doom with un disturbed serenity of feature, and as calmly descended from the dock as though she had been an unconcerned spectator of another's fate. NORTHERN CIRCUIT. —Liverpool, Dec. 13. George Leone, a young man, aged 20, was placed at the bar on a charge of the wilful murder of Jane Millen, at Manchester, on the 14th of August last. He was charged with doing it, in the first count, by inflicting a wound on the forehead with an iron bar ; in the second, by a blow on the back of the head ; in the third, by strangulation ; and, in the fourth, by both means—those of strangulation and the blows. The case fur the prosecution having closed, Mr. POLLOCK, in addressing the jury for the prisoner, complained of the more than railway speed at which they had travelled in the case ; and he would venture to ask whether, if they had heard cases of murder tried, they ever witnessed such haste—such rapidity—such more than railway speed ? The JUDGE—What do you mean, Sir—what do you mean by rapidity ? . Mr. Pou.ocx—l apply it, my Lord, to the way in which my Learned Friends have examined the witnesses. The JUDSE—I cannot allow such observations to be made ; there has been ample time to take everything down. Mr. Poixoca said he was a very young man in the profession, and he had too much respect for that profes sion to degrade it by any observation on the Court, to which he was bound to pay every respect ' • but he was determined to do his duty to hi s c li en t, and he did com plain of the mode in which his Learned Friends had conducted the case. At the conclusion of his address the jury retired, and after being out of Court a quarter of an hour, returned and pronounced a verdict of Guilty. His LORDSHIP proceeded to pass sentence as follows —" Prisoner at the bar, the jury have been compelled, by the evidence which has been laid before them, to find you guilty, guilty of a foul, cruel, wicked, and I fear, deliberate murder. To a man who has discovered such an utter absence of all feeling, I am afraid that any ad monitions of mine would be useless. Lose no time in applying to God, your maker and your judge, for that mercy which my duty to the public forbids me to show to you. The sentence of the Court upon you is, that you be taken to the place from whence you came, and from thence to the place of execution ; that there you be hanged by the neck until you shall be dead, and that your body be afterwards buried within the precincts of the prison in which you shall be confined. And may the Lord have inercy upon your soul !" The prisoner bowed respectfully to the Bench, and walked steadily from the dock. Saturday, Dec. 14. Richard Leach was indicted for arson in setting fire to a steer of timber, the property .of Thomas Graham, at Little Bolton. Mr. Hulton and Mr. Pollock conducted the prosecu tion. The prisoner was defended by Mr. Monk. It appeared that the prisoner belonged to a sawyers' union, and had several times, in the absence of Mr. Gra ham, forced his way into the yard, and endeavoured to intimidate the men who were at work in the s.a,wpit. He had also at various times held out threats of injury to Mr. Graham. On the evening in question a person who lived in the neighbourhood saw a sudden blaze of light in the timber yard, and immediately after two men, who got over the palings and ran away. One of them had clogs. Within a few minutes the prisoner was seen in a public-house near, in company with two other men. An alarm of fire having been given, the parties belonging to the yard succeeded in extinguishing it. Close to the steer or click of wood in which the tire broke out were found two ginger -beer bottles, which seemed to have contained turpentine One was a good deal smaller than the other, and they were of different colours. It ap peared that a very short time before the fire broke out the prisoner went into a chemist's shop not far font the yarc with two bottles of similar appearance and got a gill of turpentine in each. Mr. MONK addressed the jury for the defence. His LORDSIIIP summed up, and the _jury, after some consultation, found the prisoner Guilty. To be transported fb r • Moen years, LLOYD'S SHIPPING. LONDON, DEC. 16.—Wind easterly,moderate breeze, and cloudy. DEAL, DEC. 14. —Wind S.E., mod. 15. S.E., ditto, P.M. E.S.E., fresh.—Sld. Isabella, Watson, Port Ade laide; Pauline, Houghton, Mauritius; Emily, St. Helena. COWES, DEC. 15.—Arrd. New York, Harding, Ma tanzas, and Key, West. PLYMOUTH, DEC. 13.—Wind S.E.—Arrd. A sia,Wood• ward, Quebec ; Walrnsley, Loge, Sierra Leone. 15. Bertha, Rio, for Hamburgh. It is and has been blowing very strong from E. to E.S.E. the last forty-eight hours, with rain and snow. Off. Charlotte, Valparaiso, for Ilarnisurgh. PORTSMOUTH, DEC 14.—Wind E. 15. E.N.E: to E.S.E., blowing hard.—Arrd. Abel Tasman, Hoften, Batavia, for Amsterdam; Fanny, Kuvil, Batavia, for Rotterdam; Sumatra, Duncan, Ceylon. DARTmotrni, DEc. 13.—Arrd. Alexandre, Billand, New York, fur Havre. 14. Louisa, Menike; Richmond, for Bremen; Ringrnahon Castle, Jersey, for Newcastle, leaky, and with pumps choked. FALMOUTH, DEC. 15.—Wind E., strong and squally. —Arrd. Undaunted, Barber, Ichaboe, sailed Oct. 6, se cond mate washed overboard ; Paramatta, Bloomfield, Pueta Arenea and Valparaiso. 13. Arrd. Euphrosyne, Sierra Leone, for Havre. George Sutton, Dartmouth, for St. John's, Newfoundland, bore up 2d inst., let. 48, lon. 40. Off, Orator, Tate, Ichaboe. PoRTsMoUTH, DEc. 14.—A ship's mast, with top, three yards, sails, and rigging, and a short pole royal mast painted white, was fallen ig with this morning eight or nine miles S.W. of the Ovvers. PENZANCE, DEC. 14.—The Lock woods, Cookman, from Quebec to Hull, arrived here yetterday, with loss of fore and mainmast, bowsprit, cutwater, &c., having been in contact, 3d inst , off the Lizard, with a barque, name un known ; she subsequently grounded outside, and became water-logged in running for the pier. 11A.RWICII, DEC. 13.—Arrd. England's Queen, for Newcastle, with stem stove, having been in contact with the Sir Henry Parnell, of Dundee. CORK, DEC. 11.—SId. Heywood, Coact of Africa. 12. Arrd. Kingston, Thompson, Ichaboe. 13. Lord Ravens. worth, Newholm, Valparaiso. 12. Put back, Hope well, for Ichaboe. 12. Off,Tandora, Cothay, Manilla.' CROOKIIAVEN, DEC. 11.—Arrd. Alhambra, Thompson, Ichaboe, for Liverpool; crew sick. LIVERPOOL, ,DEC. 14 AND 15.—Wind S.E. and fresh. 15. Arrd. Princess Charlotte, Bombay ; Joshua Wad dington, Valparaiso ; Susannah Collings, Porto Cabello; Hottinguer, New York ; Adelaide, St. John's, New Brunswick. 14. Sld. Buenos Ayrean, Hong acing ; Rienzi, Ichaboe •, Demerara :packet, Demerara ; Eng. land, Hero of Sidon, and Margaret, New Orleans ; Sym metry, Mobile. 15. Margaret, Java ; Royalist and Westmoreland, Ichaboe, &c. ; Thistle, New Orleans ; Dauntless, Charleston. CLYDE, DEc. 12.—Arrd. Bowling, Gurtles, Calcutta. 13. James Steward, Jamieson, Ichaboe ; Higlander, Chisholm, Demerara. Sld. Benares, Trinidad. OFF HOLYHEAD, DEC. 14.—Morice, Rollings, Ichaboe. YOUGHAL, DEC. 12.—Arrd. Ellen, Burnett, Icha boe ; Tottenham, Evans, Quebec. ICHADOE, OCT. B.—The brig Mona, of Dublin, parted her chains, got in_contact, and lost her masts, and car ried away the other vessel's bowsprit. GREENOCK, DEC. 14.—The Scotland, Cunningham, which arrived in the Clyde 10th inst., from Calcutta, took fire in the Bromielaw 12th inst., and was scuttled, and sunk early the next morning; cargo nearly totally destroyed and the vessel a wreck. The Amity, Menzies, of Glasgow, for St. John's, New Brunswick, from Ardrossan, is on shore in Carrigill Bay. YOUORAL, DEC. 13.—The Ellen, Burnett, of Liver pool, from Ichiboe, fell over at her berth and is strained, and leaks badly : she is discharging her cargo. The Valentine. steamer, from Seville to Dublin, went ashore this morning at the west entrance of this harbour, and is expected to become a wreck; crew saved. OFF ICRABOE, OCT. 6.—lllinerva, of Ayr, Pernam buco, Montrose. 13. The weather throughout the week bas been very boisterous, strong gales at S.E , and a heavy sea on the coast. GALWAY, DEC. 11.—The Swedish brig Srea, from New York to Amsterdam, went ashore near Theddall and Banna this morning. \VIVENHOE, DEC. 15. —A boat marked Morning Star, of Scarborough, and inside, Win. Harrison, was picked up yesterday between the Black Tail Beacon and the Nore Light. Coax, Dac. 13.—1 t came on blowing a gale yesterday morning at S.S.E., and continues. The Brutus, 'for Li perpool, and the Haywood, for Africa, drove on the Bank near the Spit Buoy. The shipping ride well. MARKET NEWS.-(YESTERDAY CORN EXCHANGE. Last week, the arrivals of wheat from our own coasts were comparatively small, but those of Barley were mo derate. Of all other Grain, of home produce, the receipts were scanty. With the exception of a fair supply of foreign Barley, other Grain has come scantily to hand. Fresh up, scarcely any Wheat was received coastwise, while the stands were poorly supplied. For all descrip tions of both Red and White, the demand was very steady, and a good clearance was effected at prices fully equal to those obtained on this day se'nnight, while many of the millers refused to buy, expecting increased supplies. In free foreign Wheat a good bu siness was again doing, and most of the holders demanded increased rates, which were not, however, submitted to. Although the supply of Barley, particularly that of foreign, was large, that article was in improved re quest, some large sales being concluded at full prices. The Malt trade, though the supply of the article was limited, ruled dull, at last week's figures. The larger brewers appear to be holding off for better quality. Scarcely any Oats have been received from any quar ter. The demand was steady but without any advance in figures. Several vessels are close at hand from Ireland, so that we may shortly expect a fair supply. Beans, Peas, and Flour, without the slighest alteration. CURRENCY PER IMPERIAL MEASURE. ilissELT—Essex Sr —61 s red 4os to Ws Ditto, white Norfolk and Lin coln, red ..« 3Bs to 463 Ditto white 42s to 50s Irish, red . . ... —8 to —e Ditto white ft va—Old 3os to 34s New 3ss to 3631 HARLEY—Grinding 26s to 31s Making 37s to 41s 1 Chevalicr 3Bs to 40s' MALT—Suffolk and Nor folk sBs to 628 ___ s6s to 6081 Orrs—Yorkshire and Lincolneh., feed 22s to 236 Potatoe .... . . 24s to 25s Youghall and Cork, black Cork, white Scotch, feed 33s to 37s Pigeons ..... 38s to 4•26 Pass— Grey Maple White .............. 36s to 3193 38i to 434 Fume—Town raade 40s to 458 Sufto'k 335 to 711Cingston and Ware 63s to dis j FOREIGN GRAIN AIN WIREAT—.DaIItZie DO,. 325 to 365 Hamburgh 30 3 to —5 BARLEY •••• ....... ••.•• 278 to 9.113 OATS—New •...”...•••••• 11S to 18s Feed lss to 17 to 35s Stockton & Norfolk 33s to 35s D FLOUR IN BOND. BEANS 243 to 29 ' ....... 2Bs to 32e FLOUR—American 213 to —s Baltic SMITHFIELD. THE GREAT CHRISTMAS MARKET. This being the day appointed for holding what is termed " The Great Christmas Market," more than the usual bustle attendant on such interesting occasions was observed at an early hour, and continued throughout the morning. As might be expected from the fine frosts experienced for sometime past, and the consequent fa vourable state of the weather for slaughtering, the gra ziers were tolerably certain of realising more remunera tive prices fur the stock—especially the beasts—than we have reported for a lengthened period. In this expec tation they were, however, in a great measure, disap pointed, for the atmosphere having suddenly become mild, many of the butchers in attendance—the number of whit h was exceedingly great—refused to purchase at anything like the asking quotations, some of which were high in the extreme; hence the Beef trade was—the time of year con sidered—in a very sluggish state, with the exception of a few of the finest animals producing high rates— which we shall hereafter notice—the highest general fi gure did not exceed 4s 6(1 per 81bs. In noticing the " prodigies" of the show of beasts, we have to refer with very great pleasure to the thirteen most wonderful Durhams and short horns, sent by Sir Charles Knightly, which, for symmetry and weight were never excelled by any stock brought together for competition in any cattle yard in England. These extraordinary beasts, the whole of which were under five years old, were the admiration of all beholders ; while there was only one of them under 200 stones (81bs). The next in importance, as to quality, were the thirty Herefords and Sussex beasts, the pro perty of Mr. Senior of Broughton-house, near Aylesbury. Many of them weighed upwards of 250 stone, and were sold at from 501. to GO/. per head. Mr. Senior, it will be noticed, was a successful exhibitor at the Club's show. We have now to notice the forty-three Here fords offered by Mr. Rowland, of Creslow. This stock, considering the number shown by one gentleman as his own property, was decidedly the best in the market ; though we consider that one of the Herefords, sold by Mr. Senior, was •superior to anything we almost ever saw. Mr. Rowland exhibited an animal which carried off one of the prises at a local show a few weeks since. Mr. Gurrier had the celebrated short-horn, which carried off the 301. prize, as awarded by the Smith field Club. This, and three others, viz., a short-horn and two Herefords, were greatly and deservedly a d m i re d. Mr. Morgan had the largest and perhaps the most astonishing show of Beasts of any salesman in the market, consisting of short-horn, Devons, Herefords, &c., belonging to William Goodall, Esq., of Peeping, Lincolnshire ; Wallili Goodall, Esq., Peterborough ; William Thomas, Esq., of Holbeach, Lincolnshire ; R. Cook, Esq., Postland, Lincolnshire ; William Wiseman, Esq., Moulton, Lincolnshire ; J. Copland, Esq., Lincoln shire ; R. Parr, Deeping Banks, Lincolnshire, and other large breeders. Mr. Varley's stand was filled with many extremely good animals, which were sold at high prices. Having particularised the best Beasts in this great exhibition, we shall now pro ceed to take a general retrospect of the supply. On many former occasione, we have had to notice a great preponderance of some kinds, especially the Herefords, over the others, both as respects number and quality ; but to-day there was more evenness in them than we ever recollect. On the whole, however, the Herefords stood at the " top of the poll," both in weight and sym metry. The next in importance, in these particulars, were the Devons; the next the Durhams; the next the short-horns; and the next the Scots. In speaking of the latter kind it is placed beyond a doubt that the show this morning was the very best ever noticed. As to the numbers of Beasts brought forward, it considerably ex ceeded that on the great days of the two past years, as is thus shown : NUMBERS EXHIBITED IN THE GREAT DAYS OF 1842, 1843, AND 1844 :- 1842. 1843. 1844. Beasts 4,541 4,510 5 713. From the above it will be seen that we had a larg e supply here this morning, and yet. the quality was quite equal to any we have ever before witnessed. In reporting upon the prices obtained here this morn- r I in.., and those in the corresponding market in 184 4 ' find very little difference in them.- likeyruling as ander:, Great Day in 1843. Great Day in 1 84 , 4 ' Beef', from... 25. Bd. to 44. 4d. 2 s . 10 d . to 45,'6 0 . Mutton .... . 2s. Bd. to 4s. 4d. Veal 3s. 4d. to 4s. 6d. 4s• Pork 3s. Od. to 4s. Od. Had the weath er b e i ng more favour 3 able ci t . han to i hi t s t . : 3. rt i. out we are quite of opinion, notwithstanding the 7 e , Diens° numbers br o u g ht f orwar d, t h at b at t e r Pr 4 would have been o b ta i ne d f or t h e B easts . We li come to the Sheep. I n thi s d escr i pt i on o f stoc k a leri v go great impro vement was not i ce d ; i ndeed, scarcelYstuis a collection of half breds was eves known on soar,f occasion as the pr esen t. M r . W ea l! h a d on offer lit wonderful Downs, and ten Gloucesters, the_proPe r4 Too E. F. Wittin gs t a ll, E sq ., o f Langley Bury, Harts* W itt former, which weig h e d on an average a b ou t Wit t stones (81bs), and produced 51. per head, were $ l 7, unrivalled, whil e th e latter eiceeded in weight ,t 1" stones (Sibs), and found buyers at 61. each. Mr. had, likewise, 40 polled and 50 Down Ewes, belonr" to Mr. Rowland, of Creslow, which realised high pric e : In the other p or ti ons o f t h e supp l y o f Sheep t h e re nothing calling for particular remark. As to the 111 0 t 1 ; trade, it was in a very sluggish state, yet the curren cl 4 a obtained on this day se'nnight—the highest being t e per Slbs—were supported. Very few Foreign Bense e . ni Sheep were on sale, and there was scarcely any incl. ll o for them. Th e i m p orts f or t h e U n i te d Kingdom, st n ; 4 Monday last, hav e amoun t e d to 1 8 0 O xen an d vf o . and 200 Sheep, in, for the most part, good condi° , The Bullock dr o v e s f res h up consisted of 2,500 sh ort horns from Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, and Northa ll. c tonshire; 600 Scots, & c ., f rom Norfolk, Suffolk, ssn! and Cambridgeshire ; 1,000 short-horns, Hereforn Devons, Durham's, &c., from the west e rn and midlt u " districts; GOO various breeds, from other parts of Pr land; 300 from Scotland; while of Irish Beasts thelliis ber was about 120. The number of Calves was while the Veal trade r u l e d h eavy, at l ast week's Or' In Pigs, at least three-fourths of which were from 11 1; land, very little was d o i ng at our quotat i ons . M , close of the m ar k e t near l y t h e w h o l e o f t h e s tock I"' 0 disposed of. Per Sibs. to sink the 0013. s. d. to s. d. 1.1 1 . 1 10 Int rior Beasts 2lO 3 2 Secoedqualityditto... 3 4 4 0 Second quality ditto 3 4 3 8 Coarse-woolled ditto.. 3 11 2 '6 0 Prime large Oxen 3lO 4 2 S out hd own W et h ers 4 Prime Scot; &c. Large coarse Calves 3 4 310 Large Hogs 3.• I Prime small ditto 4 0 4 4 S ma ll P or k ers ...... 11 3 7,0 0 , Suckling Calves, each 18 0 31 0 Quarter oldPigs,escl6 • Inferior Sheep ..... .2 10 3 2 Larnbs.. ..... 0 SUPPLY AT MARKET. 3,713 Beasts. I 3 Sheep. I Calves. I Pl* '4970 i NEINGATNI AND LEADZINZIAZdstIi Notwithstanding very ex t ens i ve supp li es of ur . jp killed meat hays been re ce i ve d u p to these mil m` .o, b e es the past week, and that a considerable increase b' t bs observed in those of that killed in the metropolis's 1 general demand has ruled active, and prices of i t r, descriptions of meat have been on the advance, the provement noticed in those of Beef and Mutton 7,4 quite 2d per 81bs. We may observe that a very b; c ji improvement has been noticed in the quality of rod kind of meat. Several carcases of foreign Bees? 0 , Sheep have been brought forward and sold at fair tations. 4 At per stone, t y the Carcase. s. d. to s. d. s. d. t!'; 4 2 0 i Beef, inferior 2lO 3 2 Mutton, inferior ..«« S • --- middling 3 4 3 6 middling•.". 3 1 1 1 S i prime large 3 6 3 8 ----- prime ......... 3 4 prime small Veal 3 4 4 4 —small. 3 6 ARRIVALS DURING THE PAST WEEK. Beasts. Sheep. Calves. r 7O O Scotland ........ .................... 9O 090 eno Yorkshire ... ............ .......... 6O 700 •—• ,111 Norfolk .... ....... .. ........... 22 200 Suffolk 26 150 ..... 90 Cambridgeshire . Essex Surrey FO 300 00 SO Devonshire Wiltshire .•. ..... •••••••• .......... •••• 30 190 5.0 foe Other parts ... .............. ....." 411 2,660 219 Previous week's arrival ..... 178 1 , 6:0 150 Difference since our last 233 1,920 69 l" WOOL MAIL/LET. • a e tj Since our last report, the imports of both forolg_a Colonial Woe! into London have been small, or Pp, 1,000 packages. In Foreign Wools there is more 4 4 ness doing, at very full prices. Eaglish and Cel t e are sought after, but at present we can notice no ation in value. BOROUGH AND sprrazrizzDs• tbo Since Monday last the arrivals of Potatoes waterside have been unusually small ; this, l a si with the prevailing cold weather, ha s c ause d the cl te rule active, at in some instances advanced rates' BOROUGN HOP lICAN.ILLIN 0 1 We have to report a very limit e d amou nt of P L..4w' og doing in this market; indeed, it appears almost of f stand-still for the present. Holders, however, are firm, and generally expect higher prices. TALLOW. 'fed At the time of our going to pr ess , th e exact dell bo i of Tallow was not ascertained; but it has beas_ i d di 2,800 casks, which is an i ncrease u p on th e correario ing week last year. The price is firm e t 405 °tip 40s 9d, and more business doing. Town Tallow nett cash. DAY MAlL.—There is at length a probability °; g il daily mail being speedily established between Exeter the metropolis. A letter has been received fOi li d oeil Assistant-Secretary to the General Post-office , blob' 28th November, stating " Th a t t h e proposed es. rA n tii do° ment of a day mail to E xe t er , connecte d with tbs"—side and Bristol day mail, is now under the especial dsbip ration of the Postmaster-General ; and his lL ° . sr hopes io be enabl e d i n a s h o i t t i me to make se°34ol. rangement with the G rea t W estern Railway e°°-•'' to meet the wishes of th e i n h a bit ants o f Exe'e r, Devonport Independent. d tit A RELIC AT DROITWICIL— Our . 0 ancient saline borough, it would seem, abound curiosities and things of " days lang syne," tha t ' ,„0 the case of most other arti c l es w i t h w hi c h the m oles chances to be oversto c k e d, t h ey set a diminisheu re upon them. The writer of thi s , on t h e occas ion of ; el f cent visit to the Town-hall of Droitwich, observieir_ g bjels the fire-place a singular looki ng me t a l vesse l, in o i "er were deposited the municipal coa l s , ma d e a c loser I . l .e rget tion, and found that it w as ( ne o f t h e anc i en t Whicß o bushels, sent down by Que en Eli za b et h' s G O VVIIIIn e g ir all corporate towns a s th e standard measure for of lating periodically the mark e t measures . It is 1111 copper, is circular in shape, and stands on feet ; s r o c ' r esl it is an inscription in L a ti n —" Eli za b et h. Q uee n 01 , It Britain, France, and Ir e l an d," an d t h e d ate is 16L".00' is in exct4lent - Tres( rvation, notwithstanding t"" e to favourable circumstances thro ug h w hi c h it h a s ps 69 o , bs its present undignified use ; and ought at once . .,, hi ti taken care of, or presented to the Worceal;re, It Museum. There was no further use for the o° o o4 would seem, after the passing of the law which sPP,. ° OOO. inspectors of weights and measures ; it was than s O O about the market for many years, and was finallyrnito to go through the ignoble duties of a coal-hod. 01 , first statutes re l a ti ng t o measures i s i n Ri c h ar d 1., 1 0 1 which appoints an individual in every county, c i Ulghl i borough, to supervise the assiz , , or standard of vie, and measures; and by the 16th o f Ch ar l e s I. ssu.'hli commanded to be sold by measure, and not by t i g i g eol and as the duty was formerly paid to the Guee' e cer upon every bushel of s a lt ma d e a t D ro i tw i c b, the or sity will be manifest of h av i ng a s t an d ar d in the chequer-house (as the Town-hall was until r f e* called), wherein these duties were paid and o'o by the " collectors" of the Crown.—Journal. c otig THE HAIL—Of the numerous compouncwdsr, stantly announced for promoting the growth or reP, ore Lion of the hair, few survive, even in name, beync:,u w iro limited period; whilst " Rowland's Macassar Oil , blie?:. reputation unparalleled, is still on the increase in Pt e or, timation. The singular virtues of this successful .„ 01 ' for restoring, preserving, and beautifying the hnu"" - -..eor are too well known and appreciated to need much ceull i , The very facts of the high and distinguished pert enjoys, its general use in all countries, together merous testimonials constantly received in its favour , thorities which stamp its superior excellence and title f u ef ors 4 attempts of a similar nature. Being universally d its consequent great demand excites the cupidity principled principled shopkeepers, who vend the most spurines_ rt iel the "genuine" Macassar Oil : whereas the genuine . . 1 "4 wholly the invention and property of A. Rowland ,1` 0 00" and the amalgamation of its costly exotic materiao,t4 abortive any attempt to discover its component Par w , b , th is proving the imposition of all other articles bearing i roe; of " Macassar Oil." The genuine article has th_l e lv " Rowland's Macassar Oil" on the wrapper.—All fraudule , ' counterfeits! BIRTHS. On the 12th inst., at Houghton H a ll, near Carlis le, tit 0 lady of Peter James Dixon, Esq., of a son. On the 13th inst., at Hedgerley-park, the ladf o f Ili° Clayton, Esq., M.P., of a son. 10 bell‘ On the 13th inst., at Greenwich H os pital, La d f ot o Hope, of a daughter. On the 13th inst., at Calver, Derbyshire, Dire' At Crompton Bentley, of a s on . of ' On the 13th inst., at W o lf o rd Vica rage , the la d ., i Rev. G. Dom v il e Wh ee l er , o f a d aug ht er , s till-born- he r On the 14th inst., at St. John's-hill, B a tt ers ea, the ' )1 A • liP . the Rev. J. M. Seule, of a son. Wil On the 14th inst., at Hyde-park-pl ace W e st, rs' . . Sykes, of a son. P. lll On the 14th inst., at Eaton-square, the wife of John A Esq., of a son. . _.......° A~ MARRIED On the 12th inst., at Aldbrough, Charles Steira.-, av son of Joseph St u bb s , Esq.. of Mecklenburgh-squarejtbriat to Jane, eldest daughter of W. Hirst, Esq., of Boroug u ,, set . On the 12th inst., a t P res t on - nex t-F ave rshank e ''' o o7._,, Venables, Esq., son of the Venerable Archdeacon fOP of Lysdi nan H a ll. B recons hi re, to S op hi a, d au ghter ° t. Hilton, Esq., of Preston Ho use , near Favershanl,___Llo2/ ste p ° lED. On the 11th' inst., at D Leamington, Walter T . youngest son of Major- General T. Stewart. Lege On the 12th inst., near Richmond, the Hon. liene i g e brother of the Earl of Dartmouth, aged 57. I At Frith- s t ree t, S o h o , London, Mrs. Eliza C1e.. ,7,(011 000 i Walmer, K en t, w id ow of the late Major James the Madras Native Infantry. On the Bth inst , in Bruns . wick-place, Regent of Dod, aged 68. C A44 ,1 , On the 11th inst., at Torquay, A. Burnett Stuart, the Inner Temple, aged 26. PO" On the Ilth inst., at Dunfermline, Fifesbire, °a n "' .. .. A daughter of the late Alexander Robertson, Esq. , or On the 11th inst., Louisa Ann, the wife of Mr. Then— ford, of Calthorpe-street. Adt ng On the 11th inst., at Chievelv, at the residence of mi x Sir Hugh Pigot, Mrs. Mary Barbara Hill, age" 's-parktilsr On the 11 t h inst., at Bath, Mrs. Emma Vidal. f On' the 12th inst., at Tottenham, Samuel Staples',On the 12th. inst., at Brighton, E. E. Nicholls, ""7, New Broad. street, City. . On the 13th inst., a t P ec kh a m, Harriet M. - f ' oslc , j Publi,hvd by MURDO Y_C P NVo .. 1 0 1 • No. 112, St r a n d, Printer,- at !hi Sun Uvlc'eitistY ° Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in "th e ' Middlesex, Tuesday, December 17, 1844. lir o4 en le, trti4:: Hl litoL ) a l i \ `` ~~. *4 t e th e it; 1 , 4 4 1 § 4 ,4% ts,