The Sun. — London, England, 1832-01-12 00:00:00

hPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. We yesterday received the Paris Papers of Monday, and the Messager des Chambres and Gazette de France dated Tuesday. The French Three per Cents. at the close of 'Monday were upwards of three francs lower than at the close of .Saturday. So great a fall has, naturally enough, filled the minds of men with apprehen sion of war. This fall has, it is said, been greatly increased by the absconding of M. Kees ner, Cashier of the Treasury, who is a great de faulter, and greatly in :arrear with Government. It will be seen from an extract from the Journal de la Hay e (the official paper of the King of Holland), that he speaks confidently of his means of reducing Belgium, and that he appeals energetically to the Monarchs of Europe not to interfere between him and the Belgians in this affair. From the language of this article, it is hardly possible to avoid believing that his Majesty is well assured that Russia, Austria, and Prussia will not interfere. In fact it is, we believe, known that Russia several weeks ago succeeded in gaining over Austria to her views. Though an additional fifteen days have been demanded, within which the final determination as to the ratification of the treaty shall be given, we may assume with tolerable confidence that it will not be ratified. The French Papers, in arguing on this subject, talk of pretended interests of Eng land in the conveyance of goods from Antwerp into Germany. We are sure that no English statesmen would allow any considerations of so peddling a nature to influence them in a question of so grave a nature as the peace or war of Eu rope. The refusal to ratify on the part of the three Powers may displease the English Go vernment, but will only induce it to withdraw from an interference which can no longer be at tended with beneficial results. Rash would the statesmen be who should dare to commit their country to a participation in general war for any such affair as the settlement of Belgium. It is, after all, by no means certain, that Holland, not withstanding the expenditure in preparations for this war, will, with the assistance of the Orange party in Belgium, succeed in con quering that country. The Belgians have had also time to make preparations, and though the Dutch might have some advantages at first, yet, if they could only protract the warfare, the Dutch army, like all other armies out of propor tion to the means for maintaining them, would gradually dwindle away of itself. Even on the supposition that the French do not interfere, it does not follow that Belgium will be reduced by the King of Holland. The question remains, whether, shall Holland again invade Belgium, France will again interfere ? We rather fear That the French Government will not dare to leave matters to the parties themselves, but will feel obliged to repel the Dutch, and that this will lead to an interference on the part of the three Powers in support of Holland. This prospect is, no doubt, the main cause of the de ciir e in the funds. But France has no claim on us to abet her in any such contest. Our inter ference had for object the preservation of peace, by such a display of unanimity on the part of the great Powers as might deter the Dutch and Belgians from entering on hostilities. But the moment the differences among the Powers render that object impossible, we are hound to withdraw. What might have been prudent as a member of a sort of united European Amphyctionic Council, would be come folly when the union no longer exists. France then must decide on peace or war with the knowledge of the tremendous consequences of the first movement. What these conse quences might exactly be, is a matter respecting which it requires more knowledge of circum stances than we profess to be able to pronounce with confidence. The French are a brave and high-minded nation. We are satisfied too, that the moment a foreigner attempted to tread the soil of France, there would no longer be Carlists, Republicans, or Juste Milieu men, but only Frenchmen, determined to maintain the honour of their country. 'We never saw a Frenchman, however bigoted a Royalist he might be, who. during the revolutionary war, could conceal his joy at the victories of his countrymen on the Rhine, the Danube, and the Po. Whether, how ever, they would have the same facilities now tor penetrating Germany, and overrunning Italy, is doubtful. The issue of the contest must depend greatly on the feelings of the popu lation in general in Germany and Italy. As far as preparation for hostilities is in question, the French themselves admit that the military organization a Prussia is greatly superior to their own ; and of late the .Journals have been filled with essays on the manner in which that organization could be most judiciously introduced into France.— But, on the other hand, the territory of Prussia is of a form as disadvantageous for war as can well he conceived. Her population is about one-third of that of France, and her revenue one-fifth ; but her long line of territory can easily he cut, and a large portion of it separated from the rest. Without the hearty concurrence of several German States, it will be difficult for her to defend several of her recent acquisitions.— While England and France are agreed as to the ratification of the treaty, there are other points as to what differences have arisen. The Gazette de France alludes to two fortresses in particular, as the cause of the difference. AL de Talley rand, we understand, has frankly told Lord Palmerston that his instructions on the point were peremptory. Such is the troubled aspect of affairs at the present moment.— _Vora. Citron. Some of our alarmist contemporaries seem resolved to have war at any price, and find an indication of its speedy approach in the most ordinary appearances of politics. Its coming horrors, " casting their shadows before," darken the Exchange at Paris, and " perplex" the job bers more than an unforetold eclipse. Monarchs, Ministers, and Statesmen, stand aghast at the consequences of their own doings, and couriers fly about, like the heralds of old, to cast the javelin of defiance on hostile territories. Mars, with our astrological brethren, is blazing in the ascendant, and by erecting the horoscope of Bel gium, they discover first, non-ratification of trea ties,—then the rupture of alliances,—then the march of armies from the Niemen to the Rhine, --then general war and confusion,—then the defeat of the Reform Bill,--and lastly, the restoration of a Tory Cabinet. It may appear malicious to destroy at once such sweet illusions .—illusions which of late have visited so rarely the journalists of the rotten borough and Anti- Reform faction ; but truth compels us to de molish the " baseless fabric" of their fond dreams. As they ground all their hopes of confusion on the non-ratification of the treaty of separation between Holland and Belgium by the majority of the Powers of the Conference, we have quietly to assure them that their presumed fliends, the Emperor of Russia, the Emperor of Austria, and the king of Prussia, are neither so faithless, nor so absurd, as to gratify them by resisting an arrangement made by their Pie , nipotentiaries in their name and under their in structions. These Sovereigns hare, in fact, consented to ratify the treaty of London, and their delay in announcing their ratification pro ceeded from motives which the world ought ra ther candidly to appreciate, than precipitately to censure. The Emperor Nicholas, it ought to be recollected, is the brother-in law of the Prince of Orange, whose future inheritance he thus consents to dismember by the treaty of separa tion. It was therefore to be expected that he would try every mode of soothing the Court of the Hague, and of reconciling his relatives to the change, before he formally put his hand to an instrument which was for ever to detach the Bel gic provinces from their crown, on conditions to which they objected. We have no doubt that his good offices in this last respect will be as successful as his assurances to his allies are strong and unequivocal. The Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia, though greatly attached to the excellent but obstinate Monarch of Hol land, have not the same strong motives for de laying their ratification, and, accordingly, we entertain no doubt of a speedy official announce ment of the fact. Let the funds, therefore, at Paris fall five per cent. instead of three, and let all the arts of jobbing be employed to extend the same panic to London--the alarmists must be content to postpone their war for some months at least, and to fix upon the cholera, or Mr. O'Connell,—upon a revolt in France, or a tithe rebellion in Ireland,—as fitter instruments for their purpose than the non-ratification of the recent treaty.—Times. From our city article it will be seen, for the first time since Mr. Pitt commenced his sleight of hand performances on the finance of this country, an excess of the public expenditure over the revenue has been declared officially by Government. The quantum of excess is, to be sure, but little—not quite amounting to 21,000/. 'Or the year ending the 10th of last October. Still, there is an end of the sinking fund—an acknowledged end. Whereas, in Mr. Pitt's time, and indeed until within a very few years, the sinking fund—that is, any real sinking fund —never had a beginning. Does the truth confound us ? It certainly ought not ; nor is it half so mortifying as the consciousness of having been for five or six and twenty years made the dupes of one unvarying juggle, by which the same Mr. Pitt and his Tory successors never railed to delude the people of England with assurances that they were annually paying off debt, while in sober earnest, they were spending from 10,000,0001. to 20,000,0001. more than all the taxes that could by art or force be wrung from the nation had amounted to, and while the only payment of debt that was exhibited was a transfer from the hand of the tax-gatherers to that of another set of placemen called commissioners, who between them managed to cost the country through this grave ceremonial of shuffling the cards, an addi tional sum of certain millions of money beyond what it would have been charged with, had no such apparatus as that attending Mr. Pitt's war-sinking-fund ever been contrived. Had that venerable practitioner, who once bore the name of Vansittart, been now in the office which Lord Althorp has, for the first time, divested of all chicanery, he would have raised such a confounded fog of figures before our eyes, that even Messrs. Tierney and Hume might have been puzzled to put their finger on the exact spot which contained the pith of the fallacy. Those days are fled. The fact, a dreary one, stands confessed, that the Government, which receives the taxes, finds them insufficient for its wants ; whereas the nation, which pays them, finds their pressure too burthensome for its re sources, and that instead of debt being liquidated, further debt is incurred ; whilst no prospect of. an increase of means, save only through increased parsimony, presents itself to Ministers or people. Under these circumstances, one consolation re mains. The disposition to war will be dimini.hed, and England must seriously apply herself to cul tivate the nobler arts of peace. One reason amongst many which would justify a strong sen timent of regret in the breast of enlightened Eng lishmen at a breaking down of M. Perier's Administration, is the abandonment, or at least suspension, which must follow such a catas trophe, of the prospects which have been some time entertained, that a treaty of commerce might soon be negotiated between these two countries, on terms of solid benefit to their mutual interests, and of high satisfaction to the feelings o f a ll honest and intellectual men in b o th. N t i'''e recol lect that so long ago as the 16th of December, an article appeared in the Messager des ("hom bres, wherein the errors of the exclusive or pro hibitory policy, for ages cherished by European States, and conspicuously by England, under the false title of the mercantile system, and clung to pertinaciously by th e French Goverment ever since the restoration, were admitted with great frankness and good temper, and the superior ad vantages of the "reciprocity" system ably pointed out, and clearly and familiarly illustrated. It was well recommended by the enlighted Journalists, and the suggestions of the article bore something of an official flavour, that nations in their dealings should follow the example of in dividuals, and purchase their goods at the best and cheapest shops, The well-known parallel of Adam Smith, between a nation of producers aiming at a rivalship with one of established and skilful manufactures, and the supposed case of Scotland raising grapes in hot-houses, to supply herself with sour wine, at 30 times the cost of the finest burgundy or claret, was appo sitely quoted by the writer in the Messager des Chambres, who seemed, however, satisfied with feeling his ground, until the preliminary nego tiations between the two Governments, which were understood to have been commenced by persons high in office here, and have since, it is said, been continued by one or more gentlemen belonging to the department of the Customs, should have been brought to something like ma turity. 'We hope that object, so precious to all who are engaged in the pursuits of industry on both sides of the channel, may not be wholly lost sight of, but that the French people, gene rally far behind in matters of useful information, the class from which Ministers are likely to be taken, may have the comforts and advantages of a free commercial intercourse with England brought frequently before them by influential writers, and thus an additional bond of amity and good fellowship be created between two races of men, whose sufferings, mutually inflicted by their senseless wars, have done more to impede the general course .of human happiness than any other events on record.—Times. It appears, by the last arrivals from Ireland, that the summons issued by Mr• O'Connell, commanding the attendance l‘f the Members of both Houses of Parliament on the 27th ult., in Dublin, to meet for the despatch of agitation, has proved a complete failure. Only seven Com.. inners made their appearance, Mr. O'Connell himself and his son, Air. Maurice O'Connell, being two of the seven. No Peer was present, but various letters were received accounting for the absence of the different parties, almost all of them demurring to the authority by which they were attempted to be convened. Some three or four, indeed, assigned private reasons, such as illness and domestic affliction, and these avowed their allegiance to the summoning power ; but, in general, the refusal was upon principle, and that principle was, resistance to the right assumed by an unrecognised body, or rather by a self elected Dictator, unknown to the Constitution and the laws. It is difficult to conceive how Vr. O'Connell, to whom it would be as absurd to deny the possession of great talents as of great experience, could have rushed headlong into an experiment so likely to fail him. Was it that he fore saw the failure, and was willing to encounter it, as a means of fixing the attention and confi dence of his own party more exclusively on him self and the few who are willing to go all lengths with him in the course he meditates with respect to Ireland ? If so, he has certainly obtained the failure ; but whether he will obtain the end is a question not quite so clear. He may, and pro bably he will, denounce those who absented themselves upon principle as enemies to Ireland; but the charge will include men of almost every shade of political sentiment ; and then will come this extraordinary issue to be tried, whether the Irish Members, as a body, acting almost unani mously in support of a constitutional resistance to usurpation, can maintaiq themselves upon Irish ground against one man, that man being Mr. O'Connell ? If these Members should lose the confidence of the country in consequence of the step they have taken on the occasion to which we allude, adieu to all independence from that part of the United Kingdom. The politics of Ireland will sink into a mere personal contest, and the people will occupy a place in the scale of intellect and civilization at which none but their enemies could rejoice. But the thing is almost impossible, whatever Mr. O'Connell's motive was, or however he might have calculated as to the result;—the people will see and feel that those who have served them, and are prepared to serve them again, in Parliament, the proper sphere of their duties, have violated no claim to the confidence of their constituents, by resolving to fight their battle on a proper arena, without passing in review and going through the manoeuvres before a commander whom they were not bound to obey. We, there fore, incline to think that, in this instance, Mr. O'Connell reckoned without his host, and spe culated on a result the very reverse of what has happened. That it will not serve him even with his own party, who look up to him as infallible to be thus frustrated in the exercise of power, seems to be the natural inference. That he will attempt to shift the blame from his own shoul ders upon the shoulders of those by whom lie has been disappointed, we may reasonably expect ; but what will he do with his Parliament ? Seven makes a quorum it is true, but they can hardly represent those who refuse to associate with them in council, though they were all Greeks to a man, and equal in wisdom as in number to the cele brated junta of former days.—Morning Herald. STATE OF BRISTOL. The following is an extract from a private letter from Bristol, received yesterday : " You can have no idea of the state of excite ment and commotion that exists in this place; at least I imagine as much from the very cool and bold manner in which the trials are given in the London papers. Full reports, I admit, are given by your journals ; but with the exception of what takes place in Court, they appear to state nothing. The trials and the verdicts are something certainly, but there are other matters that might be, not uselessly, nar rated. The trials excite so much interest that they are daily taken down, and with wonderful accuracy and closeness, printed the next morning in little pamphlets, so as to be capable of being bound in volumes when the proceedings may close; and these pamphlets are sold at three-halfpence each number, every number containg about one day's proceedings. The Judges, on Sunday, went to the Cathedral, which is, as you may remember, beyond Callege Green, or rather forming the further side of it, and at some distance from Queen-square, the site of the Mansion-house. The procession thither called forth a good deal of attention and crowding, espe cially as the Cathedral is so contiguous to the Bishop's Palace, the burning of which formed so re markable an incident in the Bristol outrages.' However, I ought to tell you one or two circum stances attendant upon the trials, as elucidatory of the state of commotion that exists, and of the reasons for the many anxieties that are entertained. " On Tuesday last, the van that conveys the prisoners to and from the Court had the linch pins taken from the wheels during the day; and it was by the merest accident that the fact was discovered—but f or t h e di scovery , t h e probability is, that while returning in the evening, the wheels would have come off, and the machine have been thrown into the street amidst the daring mobs that nightly assemble. " On Thursday night the van was attacked in Prince's -street, which is in the rear of the second side of Queen's-square that was burnt, and leads to the dock-bridge, where the first toll-house was burnt, and thence to the new prison. The attack from the mob followed a noise made by the prisoners in the van, which is supposed to have resulted from preconcerted signal ; the mob had to follow the guards that surrounded the van. The noise is in ferred to have been a signal, as immediately after wards the attack was made by throwing of stories,' &c. The driver of the van immediately plied his horses with additional whip, and thus distanced the assailants by proceeding with all possible rapidity till he reached the prison. Oa Friday night the pri soners were guarded with double supplies of special constables, military, &c. To see the different pro cessions leaving the hall, after the trials is truly awful.' The ceremonial is thus :—The Judges, strongly guarded, go from the Court first ; then proceed a party of officers, &c. belonging to the Court, on horseback; next follows the van contain ing the prisoners, all of whom are heavily chained; after which appear more horsemen, constables, &c. The van is completely surrounded to a considerable extent with various protective forces ; so that to a spectator the van is hardly visible ; and yet an as tack was made on the forces guarding it. As if to increase the appalling character of the scene, many of these guards surrounding the van carry flambeaux " The Under-Sheriff, I ought t o h ave mentioned . precedes the procession, guar di ng t h e van, in his offi cial dress, with drawn swo r d, & c . Wi t h the excep tion of the attack that I hav e name d, t h ere has been no decided outrage—mad threatenings, an d much murmuring, but no overt acts of violence. (treat displeasure, however, is expressed at the conviction of Clarke, the first of the prisoners put on trial ; not because he is not deemed guilty, but that his state of mind was not considered in the verdict. We shall be thankful indeed when these affairs are over. Many in trade suffer greatly—Broad-street, i n which the hall stands where the trials take place, i s cro+lded daiiy, and the interruptions and comme tions thence occasioned are indescribable."—M„, n _ lug Advertiser. A considerable part of Lossiemouth harbour has fallen. The immediate cause is said to be the floods occasioned by the rapid melting of the late snow. --.C a l e . donian Mercury, POLICE INTELLIGENCE. MARLBOROUGH-STREET. Denis Cronin and John Sheehan were charged with a riot, and, with others, assaulting several of tl.e new police, in Calmell-buildings, on Sunday night. From the evidence it appeared that the national taste of the prisoners and their compatriots of the Emerald, for " a bit of a skrimmage" on a Sunday has entirely deserted the classic soil of St. Gil l es, owing, it is supposed, to the uncongenial in troduction of the station.bouse of the E division of the new police to the confines of the rookery, and has taken root in the more retired purlieus of Cal mell-buildings, with all the appearance of acquiring renewed vigour from the change of air. This pug nacious spirit shakes off its week's slumber on Sa turday night, and never reposes until Monday morn ing, during which the police on duty there find their office any thing but a sinecure, and the neighbour hood is kept in a continual state of uproar and alarm. When Monday morning comes, it usually brings with it to the office a numerous train of broken heads and black eyes from the beaten party, seeking satis faction in a series of assault warrants. Between eleven and twelve o'clock on Sunday night several gentlemen gave notice at the station-house that the " tocsin" had sounded in the buildings; the Munster men and the Connaught men had resorted to strik ing proofs of the superiority of their respective pro vinces ; but no sooner had the police made their ap pearance than provincial differences were sunk, Con naught and Munster were forgotten, and, instead of its being the North side of the Shannon versus the South, it became Calmell-buildings versus the police. Brick-hats, stones, and missiles of every description flew about in every direction. One poor fellow of the D division received a blow of a stone, which cut through his hat, and inflicted a severe wound on his head; Sergeant Hedgeman, of the same division, was struck with a brick-bat on his right arm, which rendered it useless, and placed him entirely hors du combat, and several other constables were more or less injured. Various were the takings, and rescues, and recaptures; but the prisoners having made themselves particularly conspicuous were secured in the station-house. None of the witnesses could swear distinctly that either of the prisoners struck them, but a stick was produced which Mr. Denis Cronin had repeatedly wheeled over the heads of the constables. " Well, Denis," demanded Mr. RAwuNsoN, " what say you to flourishing that stick ?" The stick certainly was mot a very big one, and Denis, looking contemptuously at it, exclaimed, " An' what harm could I do widh a kippeen ov that kind ?" " I suppose," said Mr. RAWLINSON, " it had not time to grow to a full siz-d shillelah ?" " Shillaly !" responded Mr. Denis Cronin, " Lord love your honour, 'twouldn't grow to a shillaly if it weer to grow to the age o' Methusulim The worthy Magistrate was not disposed to enter into a discussion of shillelology with Denis, and or dered him, as well as his brother prisoner, to find bail to keep the peace for the next twelve months. QUEEN- S QUARE. Two poor miserable-looking boys, clad in rags, named James and John Miller, apparently between ten and twelve years of age, were brought up in cus tody by a police constable of the A division, and p!aced at the bar before Mr. GREORIE, charged with stealing a few cinders out of a dust-hole, at the mansion of his Grace the Duke of Leeds, in Privy-gardens, Parliament-street. The police constable detected the boys, and found a few cinders in an old rag on their person, and took them to the station-house. The few handsfull of cinders did not appear to be of the slightest value. The poor children had the appearance of being nearly starved, and they cried bitterly. On being questioned by Mr. GREGORIE, the eldest boy, James, a fine intelligent little fellow, stood forward as spokesman, and said that he was the eldest of five children, and they lived with their mother, No. 1, Cottage-court, Orchard -street, Westminster, and they were nearly starved to death for want of food. His father had forsaken them some time ago, and left them quite destitute. His mother went out to work as a charwoman when she could get any thing to do, but latterly s!!e had no work to go to. He had lately come home from sea, and had sold all his clothes to purchase victuals for his younger brothers and sisters, but now every thing was gone, and they had not a morel of firing. He admitted picking out the cinders from the dust-hole, to try to make his mother some fire, and he did not know that he was doing wrong. The poor child then went on to state that they had nothing but potatoes to eat ; and on the previous day they had a few potatoes left, but no fire to boil them ; that he had pulled the rushes out of an old chair to make a fire, but they could not get the potatoes warmed through, and were forced to eat them nearly raw. Several of them were left, and he wanted the cinders to try and boil them a little more. He wanted to go to sea again, but had no clothes. Mr. GRI£GoRIE asked him what his father was, and if he knew what had become of him ?—The boy replied that his father was a musician, and formerly was in the band belonging to the Guards; he be lieved that he was at present engaged in the orchestra at the Brighton theatre, at a salary of 355. per week. Mr. GREGORIE immediately gave directions to the officers to go to No. 1, Cottage-court, and in quire into th e trut h o f t h e b oy ' s statement, and also to bring the mother of the boys to the Office. In a short time the mother arrived, and looked the picture of wretchedness; but although clothed in rags, she was remarkably clean in her person. The statement of the boy appeared too true. In a miserable room, without any fire and destitute of furniture, with the exception of part of an old table, one chair, with the rushes all pulled out, an old blanket, and part of a bed-tick, the wretched mo ther and two children were found; on moving the blanket at the corner of the room another child was found covered with an old rag, apparently about two years of age. Mr. GREGORIE questioned the mother, and she made a similar statement to that of her son. Some money was immediately given to her, and she was directed to go home and get her children some victual=. The boys were instantly discharged. About the close of the Office business, Mr. Gal lon, the landlord of the King's Head, in Orchard street, came to the Office, and said that he had vi sited this unfortunate family, and a scene of greater misery and distress he never had witnessed in his life. He had seen the mother frequently about, and believed her to be a sober industrious woman. Mr. Munns, the landlord of the house where this unfortunate family lodged, bore testimony to the good character of the mother. They had lodged at the house a considerable time, and were to have paid him 2s. 6d. per week for the room. They wete in arrears to him 2/. Is. 6d. ; but such was their dis tress, that he had not the heart to turn them into the street, although he had no chance of getting a farthing of rent. Mr. GREGORIE gate some money out of his own pocket to be laid out for the present necessities of the family, and promised to endeavour to do some thing more for them. At Cambridge borough sessions on Monday, HENRY BRAINS, a student of the university, was found guilty of putting combustibles into the letter-box of the Post-office with a view to destroy the letters, and was sentenced to six months' imprisonment, pay a fine of 51., and to find two sureties of 501. each to keep the peke to.vards Mr. BRowN, the postmaster. The defendant throughout the trial did not hetrAy the least emotion, but his eye was intently fixed on the Recorder and the Coun sel during their respective addresses. It was understood that every convenience, with a view t o th e p rosecut i on o f his studies whilit in prison, will be afforded, so far as is consistent with the sentence ; and he left the Court, which was crowded almost to suffocation, to learn, it may be hoped, not to make such perilous experiments for the time to come . When the sentence was passed, considerable satisfaction was manifested by the crowd in the body of the Court,---Batton Gazette. NOTTINGHAM SPECIAL COMMISSION NOTTINGHAM—TUESDA Y. The Court assembled this morning at nine o'clock, and the first cage called on was another indictment arising out of the late fire at Beeston mills. BEESTON MILLS. Adam Waßstafe, aged 26, Henry King, aged 17, William Hitchcock, aged 23, and Tho Mas Grundy, aged 40, were indicted for having riotously and tu multuously assembled, with others, at Beeston, and feloniously broken and entered a certain silk mill, the property of William Lowe, and set fire to the s tme, on the 11th of October last. The prisoners all pleaded Not Guilty. Mr. CLARKE stated the case for the prosecution, and to substantiate the indictment he called nume rous witnesses, after which the Jury retired at half past seven o'clock, to consider of their verdict. Af ter an absence of forty minutes, they returned into Cour', and gave in the following verdict :—Adam Wagstaffe, Not Guilty ; Henry King, Not Guilty; W. Hitchcock, Not Guilty ; and Thomas Grundy, 'ot Guilty. This verdict was received with a cry of huzza by the audience in Court. BRISTOL SPECIAL COMMISSION. BRISTOL, WEDNESDA Y, JAN. 11 . Christopher Davis was put to the bar, charged with having, with others, riotously and tumultuously assembled on Sunday, the 30th of October, and demolished and destroyed a certain house,--to wit, the new gaol of this city. The prisoner pleaded Not Guilty. He seemed to be greatly affected by his situation, and wept much while the Jury were sworn in. His appearance and manner were those of a respectable man, and we understand that he lately retired from business, hav ing secured a comfortable independence. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL, for the prosecution, said that the mob which laid Bristol waste for three days must necessarily, in that time, have undergone change in its component parts, but the prisoner would be proved to have been present from the first moment at the Mansion-house, not with a good motive, but inciting and encouraging violence by the most inflammatozy language. That language, too, was addressed to the lowest and most ignorant persons, and therefore doubly calculated to be in jurious, coming from a person in a station more ele vated than their own. It would be seen that the mob was peculiarly capable of diversion, had such men as the prisoner taken pains to advise them, and make them desist from their mischievous practices. He would be shown to have been at the Mansion house on Saturday, when Sir Charles Wetherell was attacked. That afterwards, on the Sunday,when it was broken in, he partook of the repast there. That he was near the Bridewell, was in front of the gaol, cheering the mob,saying that theßishops mus the pulled down, and the churches used for mending the high ways. Ile was afterwards at Queen's•square,and the l3ishop's Palace, and appeared overpowered with de light at the crash of the gates, and the demolition there effected. He ought to state that the prisoner had undoubtedly taken a great deal of wine, and the un fortunate man boasted of it, when he was spoken to by persons, who said to him, " Good God, how can a respectable mart like you join in this—come into my house and stay no longer." Having said that he was drunk, some one said, " Surely you have not drank any wine from the places plundered ?" He said he had ; that he was at the Mansion-house, where he saw the feast set out for Sir Charles We diesel], and took part of it. The Learned Attor ney-General then went into the law with respect to the effect of liquor upon men, and their guilt in taking more than they could bear. He spoke of this as a part of the defence intended for the prisoner, and also said he understood that the prisoner was to be defended on the ground of his weak understand ing. If, however, he went through the ordinary business of life steadily, this could not avail ; and it would be moreover proved, that he had quite sense enough to tell a friend the day after the fire, that he had placed himself in an awkward situation ; that he in consequence absconded, and was found concealed with great art in a house at Sutton-Monies, in Dor set shire. half-past 30th o eightf October; o'clock lger; washa Edward Cullif or d, a grocer in Bristol, was here soqnu Sunday,are fron the 3 morningin Q Queen square e until half-pa s t two . Th ere were a great number of that persons riotously assembled, and heaving stones and bottles at the Mansion-house. Saw the prisoner there about o ne o ' c l oc k . H e was standing opposite the Mansion-house, in the red path inside the rail• ing of the square. Then the mob was rather quiet. Heard th e p r i soner a b us i ng t h e Corporation, the Bishops, and the parsons, as loud as he could speak. Prisoner also wished that hell might open and swal low up all the churches and the Bishops. He had an umbrella in his hand, and his hat, which he was waving. Saw him for about ten minutes, and the witness went to inquire who he was. Was now cer tain of his person. Witness retiredinto the Man sion-house. Supposed there were altogether about two or three thousand people in the square. Cross-examined—Had been sent for to the square by the Magistrates. he saw the prisoner than after. The red path runs parallel with • the houses. There was a considerable number of mere peaceable spectators within the railing. There was a mob and lookers on. This pri sonerwas as much with the one class as with the other. Can't say that there was a great deal of indignation expressed by the peaceable part of the spectators against those who were supposed the cause of the riots. What the prisoner did in taking off his hat was a common act to ease the head. The umbrella was spread over his head. Could not say whe ther prisoner did so to ease his head or to en courage the mob. Could not say whether he had not moved his own hat the same way whil he stood there. The mob were not attacking the Mansion-house while he saw the prisoner in Queen-square, nor were they doing any mischief or violence whatever at that time. John Gilbert examined—Resided in Bristol, and was in Queen-square on the Sunday of the riots, about one o'clock in the afternoon, under the piazzas of the Custom-house. There was a multitude of people there. Saw prisoner Davis, who came to witness and addressed himself to him. Had known him before. He said " This is the end of your :Magistrates and Bishops, and we'll send them all to hell." He said this in an angry tone of voice, and loud enough for every one near to hear. He also called them -- robbers, and that he would have them in chains in Queen-square, if he had his will. Cross-examined—Was a merchant, carrying on business at No. 1, Little King-street, near the Custom-house. Did not know that the mob had been that morning in possession of the Mansion house. Had known mischief was done by breaking windows ; and was there the night before, when Sir Charles Wetherell escaped through the back way, and asked witness's son for a hat. Thomas Davey kept the Pilgrim public-house, about a quarter of a mile from the Bridewell. Re membered the Sunday it was destroyed, and saw prisoner at his house between two and three o'clock that day. Prisoner had a glass of beer. John Cross was with witness in his parlour. Prisoner said there were pretty works, or fine works, going on. He said he had expected such for a good many years. Prisoner appeared to be fresh in liquor by his talking, and he said himself he was almost tipsey. Prisoner said he had been up all night, and that he had been down in the square. Witness said he hoped he had not been drinking any of the wine, and prisoner said he had. He also said he wished every -- church in Bristol was burned down. Cross-examined —Had known the prisoner 14 or 15 years before. Had seen him at other times when excited by liquor. He was in the habit, wen in liquor, of exp ressing himself in a violent and h extra vagant mariner. His habit this way was so noto rious that witness took no notice of him then more than any other time, and would always express him-1 self on any common occasion in the same way. This language was addressed merely to Cross and whiles; as conversation, and not to excite any one to lair chief. had heard some people blame the Bishop and the Corporation, and that language was used by those who blamed the mob. By Mr. SMlTH—Davis was always humane .and persevering in business, while sober; but when drunk was very talkative and wild. John Abraham Parker, clerk to Messrs. Lucas, was in this city on the Sunday named. Went to Queen-square through the avenue leading to the back of the Mansion-house. Mr. Davis was then under the window of the banqueting-room, an um brella in one hand and his hat held up over his head. Heard him say as he passed," Hurra, go it my boys." Cross•examined—Had known prisoner for seve ral years. Had often seen him excited in liquor, and if auy body expressed political sentiments different from his, he used to express himself in a peculiarly extravagant manner. Notwithstanding his violence of language, from his knowledge of Davis he would have supposed him incapable of any atrocity, and was very sorry to see a decent man like him on that Sunday. It was between two and three o'clock he saw hits. By Mr. Serjeant WlLDE—There was a great noise at the time mentioned, principally the yellings of women, of whom there was a great number. Daniel Underwood, a boatman belonging to the Customhouse—Was in Bristol on the three days of the riots. Witness saw prisoner on the Sunday, opposite the new city gaol —not opposite the door, but a part of the wall. That was between three and four o'clock. There were great numbers of people about him, looking on, and some were break ing open the gaol door. Prisoner had his hat on when witness Srst saw him ; afterwards he took it off, and put it on his umbrella. Prisoner cheered the mob, and said, " Now, ye, ye would not let us have Reform. This is what ought to be done years ago." Saw prisoner the best part of an hour there. There might be about 300 attack ing the gaol, and great numbers at the other side of the water. Cross•examined—Saw the soldiers come up, and the prisoner was then standing where he described. The soldiers passed between the prisoner and the gaol. Prisoner was standing still at that time. Did not hear him say anything as the soldiers passed ; but he might have said something without witness hearing him. James Edward Carver was detained for debt in the prison when the mob came there. Could not exactly say the time the mob came, but it was in the afternoon. Saw the prisoner in the gaol some time after the gaol was broken open. Witness was in the debtors' ward, and there saw prisoner in the building. This was a considerable time after the mob first came. There were people near the pri soner, but he could not say he was with them. Did not hear prisoner say anything. George Phipps —Lived in King-street, and heard of the Bridewell being destroyed about one or two o'clock on the Sunday in question. Saw the pri soner and other persons coming up Back-street about two o'clock. Knew Mr. Davis for 20 years. One of his doors was barricaded; opened it, and called out, " Mr. Davis, Mr. Davis, for God's sake come in." Whether he heard him or no, could not say. It was 18 or 20 feet across the road. Witness knew prisoner's manner so well, that he could say that three glasses at any time would make him al most mad. Cross-examined—lt was from knowing the manner of the prisoner so many years, that witness, as an act of friendship, wished to take him from the mob. For 20 years he knew prisoner to be a respectable and humane man, and if he was worth 10,0001. he would put it in his hands. Peter Harvey—Was on Sunday, the 30th of October, in company with Mr. Wood at Prince's street-bridge. Saw Davis after the gaol was on fire at the bottom of Prince's-street. Prisoner came close abreast of him, but did not see from whence he came. Davis said to witness, " I have been to the fire, and it was a beautiful sight, only it did not blaze fast enough to please one." He also said he hoped all the Bishops would be hung, and the churches burnt. Prisoner said that he had been with the mob, and liberated the prisoners, and some of them were timid in coming out ; also, that if they did not come out, they should be burnt there. He was much intoxicated, and said he was at the Man sion -house, and had partaken of the dinner that was intended for Sir Charles Wetherell, which dinner was composed of roast beef, ducks, fowls, &c., and that he considered it a disgraceful waste while to many thousands were starving. Witness went away from prisoner, and before he went heard a man ad dress him, whom, from his accent, he took to be an Irishman. He said, " Mr. Davis, this is the blaze of libetty." Davis replied, " I wish I bad a hundred such men as you are with me last night. The trial was proceeding when our express left Bristol. The cases tried during the day in the other Courts were of the most trifling and uninteresting chi:racter. - ---- --- WANTED TO BE MARRIED.--On the morn ing of Christtnas-day, a circumstance occurred at North fleet Church, which unfortunately interrupted divine service in a most ludicrous manner. The clergyman had nearly delivered half his sermon, when a young clod hopper, dressed in a white smock frock, with a blooming lassie by his side, and attended by two friend.,, entered the church, and, advancing towards the pulpit, exclaimed, " An yo u pl ease, your Honour, I am come to be married !', The minister was for the instant, astounded by his most unreasonable application, but presently recovered his com posure, and told the young joskin he must come the next day. The congregation were unable to restrain their risible faculties, and, for a few moments, an unhallowed tatter disturbed the solemn stillness of the sacred edifice.— York Courant. A WEALTHY BEGGAR.--A short time ago, a mendicant, an e ld erly man, came into a house in Quarry Mill, in thi s ne i g hb ourhood. He stated, that in ping the mill-darn in the d ar k, h e s li pped a foot, and had ass fallen in. He was completely drenched, and shivering with cold. The good people administered every thing in their power to his necessities, but still he remained restless and dissatisfied. The cause of this uneasiness at length came out ; he had lost his meal pockets, and could not rest until they were found. Accordingly the whole house issued Out on the search, with candles, lanterns, &c. and after considerable toil, and some peril, the wallets were at length found immersed in the mill-dam. In turning out the meal to dry (which he was very averse to allow to _be done), and they a de besidepsotsithermeceeaiil:t fortocotinataeem hfiutntedernedshianld foity pounds, in th e name o f DAVID MARTIN, of the New Bank, Dund ee . Wh en h ard pressed, he acknowledged, that besides thi s sum , h e h ad an income of fifteen pounds ten shillings a y ear f rom houses which he had purchased. were e r silver, I found, besides His habiliments were of the mast wretched description, and his general appearance most squalid and miserable.— Perth Advertiser. OBIRTHS. daughter. Halln the Bth inst. at Drove, the Lady Louisa Pole, of a On the Bth inst. at N ewcastle.on.Tyne, the lady of Lieut.. Co. lone! Holloway, C.B. Royal Engineers, of a daughter. On the 10th i nst. Mrs. Davidson, Southampton_street, ' Blooms. bury-square, of a daughter. RRIED. On the 9th i nst. at St. James's church, Robert, eldest son of Robert Snow, Es-., Savile-row, to Georgina, eldest daughter of Roger Kynaston, Esq., of St. Jame s 's-place. On the 10 t h i nst. at Clapham, the Rev. C. Lawson, M.A., of Richmond, surrey; Morning Preacher at the Foundling Hospi tzil, to Frances, second daughter of the late T. Borradaile, Esq., of Streatham-common. On the 10th inst. Hensleigh Wedgewood, Esq., third son of Josiah Wedgewood, Esq. of Maer-hall, Staftbrdshire, to Frances Emma youngest daughter of the Right Hon. Sir James Macin tosh, M P. DIED. On the 6th inst. in Brompton, Mrs. Stewart Montgomery Hood, aged CS. On the 2d inst. in Portman square, Mary, relict of the late F. Dennis, Esq. of the Island of Jamaica, aged 83. On the lith inst. M Park-street, Windsor, Mary, widow and relict of the late Sir Wm. Herschel, K.G.H., in the B'2.d year of her age. On the 10th inst. at Dover, Julia Ann, third daughter of W. T. Knight, Esq., of Great Marlborough-street, St. James's. On the Bth inst. at Weymouth, Arabella North, widow o f Fouataine North, Esq., of Rou g ham, Norfolk, and late of Hampstead. On'the Bth inst. in Woburn-place, Julia Anne, the daughter of P. N. Rogers, Esq. PRINTED AND PUBLISIIF.D BY MURDO YOUNG, AT THE SUN OFFicx, 1J?, STRAND, LONDON,