The Sun. — London, England, 1832-01-07 00:00:00

gPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. The lot of unhappy Poland, since its late overthrow, is not, perhaps, worse than we had anticipated, though certainly its calamities have exceeded the most gloomy apprehensions of an enlightened age. We have seen letters from Warsaw to the 20th ult., descriptive of bar barities which only Russians could perpetrate, and of patriotism which only Poles have lately evinced. The latter, even of the lowest rank, have shewn no disposition to receive with favour, or to treat with confidence, their old oppressors. The former have proved themselves greater savages than in the time of the monster Suwar row and the Empress Catherine. The natura' consequence of this state of mutual hatred—of this intolerable despotism on the one hand, and this patriotic indignation on the other—is a continued series of cruel and exterminating acts on the part of the conquerors, and of individual resistance, or attempts at assassination, on the part of the vanquished. Accordingly so far are the Russians yet from feeling themselves secure in Warsaw, that ever since they entered it a great body of their troops have been commanded to remain constantly under arms, and the horses of their light artillery are kept harnessed to the cannon night and day. Marshal Paskewitch, who proud of his conquests over the Poles and the Turks, now plumes himself only on the eminence to which the favour of his master has raised him, takes every method of showing at once his fears and his abhorrence of the Poles. He drives through the streets of their capital, where he is detested, surrounded with a guard of Baskirs, armed with bows and arrows, like an eastern potentate. The University of War saw has been shut. Orders have been given to all the establishments of education to dis continue the use of the Polish language, and to allow the youth of Poland only to learn Rus sian. The French language has been strictly prohibited in all seminaries of learning, and forbidden even to be taught in private families. The despots, " wise in their generation," justly conclude that if men learn French, they will read French books,—if they read French books, and if they may imbibe French politics, they will become so revolutionary, as to have no farther reverence for the authority of the autocrat, or taste for the discipline of the knout. All the property, landed as well as moveable, of the most eminent patriots has been confiscated by the Russian Government, though confiscation had long been abolished by Polish law. Thus the magnificent nobles of the Diet, the power ful senators, and wealthy nuncios—whose sway extended over districts like English counties—are now stripped of their whole in heritance, and driven to beggary in foreign lands, if they cannot be seized for domestic torture. Generals in the army, Ministers, Ambassadors, —all the celebrated supporters of their country's cause in the late revolution—are in this predi cament. Prince Czartoriski, who is now in London, received notice only a few days ago, that his noble estates at Pulawy, on the Vistula, where he had collected an immense library and a great museum, have been confiscated by the Em peror, and (oh ! despotism, how keen sometimes is thy dart !) transferred to the great enemy of his country, its conqueror and oppressor, Paske witsch ! The Poles who remain at home in their own land, watered with the blood of their fellow patriots, can do nothing to arrest such military oppression, and such barbarous injustice ; but. they manifest no inclination to display a slavish acquiescence. As the Grand Duke Michael was lately passing through the streets of Warsaw, ac companied with a brilliant staff, he was shot at from a window, and the shot killed General Berk, who was riding by his side. This fact has not been mentioned in any of the Russian Papers ; but it is not the less true : and though it is an act which cannot he commended, it may be taken as an evidence of the ex tent to which the Russians are abhorred in Poland, and of the little chance of perma nent tranquillity under their barbarous tyranny. —Times. The Paris Papers contain a long and angry discussion in the Chamber of Deputies, on the very unimportant question, whether all the papers and documents laid before the Commission of the Civil List Bill had been properly communi cated to the Members of the Chamber, so as to enable them to speak with a perfect knowledge of facts in the future deliberation on the subject. The Opposition on this occasion gave striking indications of their dissatisfaction at the mag nitude of the proposed Civil List, and expressed unequivocally their opinion that Louis Philip ought to make his former revenues as Duke of Orleans, subservient to the support of his court as King of the French. It will be remembered that his Majesty, with his characteristic pru dence, had divested himself of the vast income of the Duke of Orleans in favour of his children, before he put on the crown of France, which must have transferred all his property to the State. The deed by which this measure was effected has been loudly called for by some Members of the Chamber, and hitherto as pe remptorily refused by the King's friends. It is not for us, who are foreigners, to decide on the sum which would constitute an adequate income for a French constitutional King. The Civil List of the Bourbons was enormously high, amounting to nearly a million and a half ster ling ; but it was necessarily burdened with great charges. The income proposed for Louis Philip by his good friend and Prime Minister Lafitte, was 18,000,000 of francs a year ; and - since " the glorious days" of July, his Majesty has regularly drawn every month 1,500,000, or 1-12th of the sum, from the public treasury. It is now proposed to reduce his allowance, as we formerly mentioned, to 14,000,000 of francs, or to 12,500,000, and the courtiers seem to think this sum very moderate as an income, or very penurious as a gift. According to our notions, it is neither the one nor the other. It will amount to more than half a million sterling a year, independent of a provision of 40,0001. fo r the Heir Apparent, and a dowry for the Queen, it case she survives his Majesty. Out of this no pensions have to be paid, nor any great officers of the household maintained, as in England, and no military household as under the Bourbons. There are many other points of difference, all tending to an economical maintenance of the new dynasty, on which we have not at present room to enter. One of th e se, and not the least important, is the oppres sion of taxes under which the French people now labour, and the extraordinary magnitude of a war expenditure which his been incurred since the revolution, without the excitement of the glories of a war. We have already g i ven an account of the budget presented to the present Chamber, and of several other financial statements delivered within the year (for, from the provi sional state of things, no definitive arrangement should be formed), but it may not be useless to remind our readers of the chief items of expen. diture as allowed by the Commission on the estimates for 1832, whose report was read by NI. Thiers to the Chamber in the sitting of Saturday last. The expenditure of 1831 was 1,172,000,000 of francs, or nearly 47,000,0001. sterling ; the estimates for the present year (1832) amount to 1,097,000,000, or nearly 44,000,0001. This latter sum is of course taken o►► the presumption of the continuance of peace, ;Ind includes all the ordinary and extraordinary expenses incident to this condition. The re porter, it is evident from a statement of the Minister of War, omitted in this statement se veral items which will appear in future budgets. The expenditure, however, even of last year, by no means amounted to the extravagant sum always assumed for the last six months, by the Carlist journals, who boasted that the Bourbons had required only an expenditure of 40,000,0001. sterling, whereas the new dynasty had begun with one of 60,000,0001. With the sum of 47,000,0001., which has been given for the ex penditure of last year, it ought to be recollected that France had many costly preparations to make. She had to repair her fortresses,—to re plenish her arsenals,—to equip nearly half a million of troops,—to succour commerce,—and to buy arms for innumerable battalions of Na tional Guards. The deduction of 74,000,000 f. or about 3,000,000/., from the estimates of 1832, as compared with the expenditure of 1831, is occasioned entirely by the difference of circumstances in the two years ; the year 1832 findi►ag fortresses already repaired,—arsenals re plenished,—troops equipped,—trade succoured, and the National Guards armed. Even in the estimate of 44,000,000/. for the carrent year, there enters the sum of 141,728,000 f. (or upwards of 5,500,0001.) for extraordinary charges; the ordinary estimated expenditure being only 955,980,000, or somewhat more than 38,000,0001. sterling. This, be it remembered, includes the dividends on the public debt and every other item of ordinary charge. The public debt of France bears no proportion to our own, but still it is far from being light. The interest— by which alone the French reckon their public debt—amounts to 345,451,517 francs, or about 13,800,0001. It cannot escape persons the least accustomed to such financial statements, that this perpetual annuity forms an immense de duction from an ordinary annual expenditure of 39,000,000/. ; but still it leaves behind a much greater amount than our ordinary supplies for the year, including army, navy, ordnance, civil list, and miscellaneous services, but exclusive of our debt. To account for this excess of French annual expenditure over our own, it ought to be recollected that many local charges, such as the making and repairing of roads and bridges, and several general burdens, such as the maintenance of the clergy, fall into the French budget, and become part of the expenditure of the State, whereas in England they are provided for by local rates or tithes. The whole public services of the eight departments of State in France cost the country less than 18,000,000/., exclusive of the charge for collecting the revenue. I Ne sub join the items of these eight departments, and with them must conclude our present statement. Franca. The Ministry of Justice The Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Ministry of Public Instruction... 37,379,600 The Ministry of the Interior 2,780,000 The Ministry of Trade 112,500,000 The :Ministry of War The Ministry of Marine The Ministry of Finance 444,724,800 This estimate amounts as near as can be to our own annual supplies, exclusive of the civil list and other charges on the consolidated fund. It requires only to be mentioned, that in the Ministry for Public Instruction is included the salaries of more than 40,000 churchmen, pre lates, curates, and vicars ; and that the Ministry of Trade, including the expenses for public works, which has been separated from the de partment of the Interior, has no corresponding head of expenditure in this country. The ordi nary expenditure for the French army being about 7,000,0001. sterling, is nearly the same as our own ; but more than 5,000,0001. more is granted this year under the head of extraordinary charges.— Times. The proceedings of the Russian agents in Greece, if not counteracted in time by the ex ertions of the more enlightened Powers of Eu rope, must inevitably lead to the result of an nexing that fine country to the dependencies of the Muscovite empire. When we say the more enlightened Powers, we, of course, allude to England and France ; for, as to Austria and Prussia, although it is their interest to resist the insatiable ambition and progressive aggrandise ment of their Russian neighbour, yet their dread of the amelioration of political institutions makes them regard with more favour than fear the growth of that barbarous dominion, whose first object is to crush all civil liberty throughout Europe before it overwhelms themselves. Ihe late Capo d'lstria was a zealous and indefatigable myrmidon of the Muscovite Cabinet. All the acts of his Government, since he, unfortunately, obtained the Presidency of Greece, were directed to the one point of making Greece a province of the Autocrat's empire, and reducing it to the abject condition of Finland or Crim Tartary. Nothing prevented this design being effected before now but the love of freedom natural to the Greeks, which the Russian emissaries re presented throu g h the German Papers, over which they exercise a great influence, to be a factious spirit—a restless appetite for change and com motion, which marred all the benevolent labours of the friends of national order and social im provement. The•act of tyrannicide which cut off Capo d'lstria, in the midst of hie plots and schemes for the subjugation of the Greek people, has certainly retarded that event ; yet the in fluence of Russia survived his fate, and the con sequence is that we see his brother seated in the President's chair, to which he was raised by that influence without opposition, and where he pur sues exactly the same policy as the deceased Satrap, and for the same precise object. We hear of the most scandalous and despotic prac tices being adopted to ensure the election of the dependents of the President, and the known agents and adherents of the Russian Govern ment, to seats in the National Assembly of Greece. Before .the• death of Capo d'lstria, we know that he called on the Commanders of the English and French vessels of war to assist him in the blockade of the island of Hydra. We protested against our Govern ment lending itself to the views of the Northern Autocrat, by assisting in such . a blockade, whe n we heard of it ; but whether that co-opera tion, so disgraceful to our flag, was afforded or not, we have not yet positively learned. We hope not; but, from the manner in which Lord Palmerston has in other matters deeply involving the interests of this country, as well as the cause of rational freedom and civilization, made our foreign policy subservient to the purposes of Russia, we confess we have little or no hope of hearing that he has deviated from the inglorious consistency of his principles with regard to Greece. If the Russian vulture is to be per-' mitted to make that beautiful country its prey, why teas it severed from Turkey ? why was the battle of Navarin fought ? Had the efforts of our gallant fleet no higher object than to wrest Greece from one barbarian and give it to another ?—to wrest it from a barbarian who was our old Ally, and give it to another bar barian, who is, and has long been our most jealous rival ? Was not the sacrifice of Po land enough to attest our readiness to sacrifice the interests of humanity, and our own interests, to the ascendancy of Muscovite counsels? Shall we also hand Greece over to the tyrant whose hands are red with the blood of Poland, and who meditates yet more sanguinary conquests over liberty and civilization ?—illorning Herald. It must be confessed that the morality of the higher ranks of this country is as low as can well be imagined. Till very lately the lowest labourer in the country would have been ashamed to do what is every day done without a blush by the Aristocracy ; but within these thirty or forty years, the abuses in the poor laws have had the effect of lowering the morality of the poorest labourers to the level of that of the nobility. In Cobbett's Register of this day, an account is given of Mr. C.'s second lecture at Manchester, which contains the following passage : " St. Paul exhorts, and, not by dry precept, but by ex ample, those to whom he addressed his epistles, to work with their own hands, and to live sparingly at the same time, that they might have to give to those who needed ; but this is a species of charity, of which those who have the fingering of our money do not seem to have a very distinct idea. Upon this list of pensioners ; this long list of objects of charity, we find Lords, Dukes, Marquises, Earls, Viscounts, Duchesses, and Countesses, and so forth, and whole families of children, beginning generally with the mother, and going down to the baby in arms. Amongst these wefind a whole family of the name of Hay, one of the females of which was, at any rate, about twenty-two years upon the pension list, and who, at the end of that time, became the lady' of the present Sir John Cam Hobhouse. Whether she have the pensio❑ yet is more than I can say. Some of these pensions are granted for life—some of them during the pleasure of the King, that is to say, his Mini sters ; some of them for a term of years ; there being in all this concern a variety so great and so enchanting, as to make it the work of a man's life to come at any thing like a clear statement of the manner in which the money is taken away from us. But, in order to have a fair view of the extent to which the principles of justice are ad hered to, let us look at the manner in which the settled laws of the country operate upon the middle and lower classes, when any of their families, any of their children, any of their parent, stand in need of parochial relief. The celebrated Act of Elizabeth, which first made paro chial provision for the relief of the poor, and of the cause of which Act I shall have to speak to-morrow evening, when I come to speak of the property of the Church ; that celebrated Act, while it imposed a compulsory as sessment for the relief of the poor and indigent, compelled the father and mother, if of substance sufficient, to give, out of their own substance, relief to their indigent chil dren, grandchildren, and even ereat-grandchildre❑ ; and also compelled children, if of sufficient substance, to give, under similar circumstances, relief to their fathers and mothers, and, if necessary, their grandfathers and grand mothers. Nothing could be more just than this provision of the law ; such is the law still ; a law bottomed upon the maxim of St. Paul, that he who abandoned his own kindred to want is worse than a heathen. But if this law be just, why is it not applied to the families of the nobi lity, and the clergy, and the gentry, as well as to the middle and working classes who toil for their bread ? A few years ago, a man in the parish of Ticelmrst, in the county of Sussex, applied to me for advice, under the following circumstances :—The man was nearly or quite fourscore years of age; he had been a hard-working man all his life-time; had reared a great family without any assistance from the parish ; had from his long and sedulous savings become the proprietor of two tenements, worth fifteen pounds a year, upon the rent of which, to gether with what he was still able to do, in the way of work, he kept himself from the parish, and hoped so to do till the end of his life. One of his sons had died, and I left three children, who were all old enough to be able to work for the farmers. They did work for them ; but as the farmers paid part of their wages out of the poor-rates, they deemed the poor children to be paupers, according to the present debasing and infamous phraseology, the word pauper never having been used in the Act of Queen Elizabeth. The children being thus placed upon the poor book, the parish officers applied to the Magistrates to make the grandfather pay to the parish that part of the wages which the children received out of the poor-rates. The Magistrates made the order accordingly. The old man answered that, if he did this, he must go to the workhouse himself. The reply was, that he might sell the tenements, and that if he would not do that, the parish officers should do it for him. Precisely how the thing terminated Ido not now recollect, but, I think it ended by a seizure of the tenements on the part of the parish officers, and I dare say that the dismal drama closed by the old man's expiring in that poor-house, from which, by constant industry and care he had kept himself and his family for so many years." If any man in the middle class of life were to allow his brothers or sisters, his father or mother, to receive parish aid, he would be held in con tempt by all his acquaintance. Even the cir cuinstanse of his having himself a large family, and a narrow income to support it, would not be deemed a justification of his conduct. What parish aid is to the middle and lower classes, the Pension List is to the higher. Yet we find the Marqui3 of Tweeddale, the brother of the lady to whom Mr. Cobbett alludes, a Nobleman in the possession of large estates in Berwickshire and East Lothian (and an estate, also, we be lieve, in Argyleshire), had the meanness to allow six or seven ladies (his sisters) to be sup ported at the public expense, each having re ceived a pension of 1001. per annum. The lady to whom Mr. Cobbett alludes was the innocent victim of the system. We blame not her ; but we certainly think the brother, who succeeded to a princely estate unencumered, ought to have these pensions flung in his face whenever be makes his appearance. There is not a hind on his estate who would not sink into the earth ra ther than support the reproach of imitating his conduct. This Marquis of Tweeddale is one of the sixteen Peers of Scotland, and voted in the majority against the Reform Bill. At the Ber wickshire Conservative meeting, where an Anti- Reform Address was voted, the first resolution was moved by Lord Dunglass, the soil of the Earl of Home, Lord Lieutenant of the county. This Earl of Home is also a pauper, enjoying a charity-pension of 3001. a year. How these beggars can show themselves at all in public is what astonishes us. They have yet to learn the very first principles of morality. The case of the poor man in the parish of Ticehurst, men tioned by Mr. Cobbett, is far from a solitary one ; and certainly it affords a very strong exemplifi cation of the evils wrought by the abuse of the poor laws. We have more than once remarked, that so long as able-bodied labourers can be made paupers, by the abuse of fixing wages at a rate below what a working man can be sub sisted on, and throwing part of his subsistence on the rates, the labourers can have no security for their property. Two or three farmers, by laying their heads together, can at any time strip the whole labourers of a parish of their cottages, and all other property possessed by them. This is a monstrous evil ; attd it certainly forms a great deduction from the benefit of poor laws, when we see that by means of them, the whole labouring population of a country m a y be re duced to a condition differing only from slavery in this, that the. labourer belongs to a whole parish, and not to a single estate, and can have a choice of masters.—Morning Chronicle. We have conversed with an intelligent English gentleman, just returned from Italy, where he has been residing upwards of two years ; and the account he gives of what is passing fully confirms the suspicions we were led to entertain from one or two laboured articles in the Journal des Debits. He says that the Austrians are now in high favour with the Italians, who detest the very name of the French, on account of the treachery practised towards them by Louis Philippe. It is well known that the Italians did not move without consulting the French Govern. ment, and receiving from that Government the most solemn assurance that Austrian interven tion would not be tolerated. The Italians have now become sensible that no reliance is to be placed on the French, and that their only hope of escape from the miserable anarchy in which they are placed is to draw to Austria. The Austrians, on the other hand, have not been slow to avail themselves of the favourable change in the sentiments of the people, and have lately distinguished themselves by the mildness of their sway. The Italians now generally believe that nothing would be so beneficial for them as to be united under the sway of Austria; and they in dulge the hope that the Emperor will yield to their desire to have one of his sons to rule over them as a separate nation. 'We agree with the Italians in thinking that the bast thing that could happen to them would be to become sub jects of Austria, and we only hope that the Government will have firmness enough to second their wishes. With respect to the Pope and most of the Italian Princes, they are jealous in the extreme of Austria, and their only hope is in French protection.—Morning Chronicle. The fate of Torrijos and his companions now appears, by concurrent testimony from various sources, to have been the result of a contrivance of the Spanish authorities, who themselves created the crime for which their victims suffered. What was that crime ?—the landing of that ill fated chief and his followers on the shores of Spain, some of them having been previously proscribed. Why did they land there ? Be cause, being compelled, as some state, to leave their place of refuge in Gibraltar, they were watched for, pursued, and purposely driven on shore, by some Spanish coast-guard vessels. Indeed, the official account of the Prefect of the Spanish police, to which we adverted before, and which was published under his signature in the Madrid Gazette, admits the most important of those facts—namely, that the Spanish vessels in tercepted the unfortunate refugees, and com pelled them to land ; and also admits that they sailed under the flag of France, and hoisted that flag on the inhospitable shores of the tyrant, whose cruel myrmidons actually tore them from under its protection, and threw them into the dungeons which were only opened again to lead them forth to execution ! It is true the Spanish officer wishes to make it be believed that those refugees, who he admits were compelled to land on a shore which they were endeavouring to avoid, hoisted the French flag upon the Spanish soil as a symbol of defiance, or a sign of revolu tion. The fidsehood confutes itself. Men who were endeavouring to fly from the neighbour hood of Spain were certainly not prepared to bid defiance to the Spanish power, and, if they were, they knew the feelings of the Spaniards better than to hope to stimulate them to a na tional movement by an anti-national symbol. The French " tri.colour" is associated with far other than popular recollections in Spain. It was in fighting against that flag that the Spanish patriots profusely shed their blood to deliver their country from the sway of Napoleon, and to preserve for Ferdinand a sceptre which he has ever since wielded to crush the brave and faithful men whose heroic devotion to the cause and dynasty of Spain led to the ex pulsion of his intrusive rival, and conducted himself from a prison to a throne. Torrijos knew his countrymen Itoo well not to know that the French flag would be the most unpo pular symbol of defiance to the Government of the Spanish Nero that he could hoist in Spain. He knew that, instead of being capable of ex citing his countrymen to revolt, it would enlist their national feeling and national pride on the side of the worst Government that Spain ever possessed, as long as that Government was not a foreign one. No ; the flag was hoisted to show that the refugees had not come there with any revolutionary intention—that, in fact, they did not intend to appeal to Spanish patriotism but that, having no alternative but to be sunk at t s h e a e , o a r u t t h o o t r h i t r i o e s s v themselves , o t n h e t y h e preferredho spitaliy t the latter, and raised the flag of a foreign State in alliance with that of their own, to prove that their intentions were peaceable, and. their object t t hh o uem s l e aa e ow k i oy, nt protection. haeti osaneswere ee ß ri ea u i r t me ss u p e eo i c t f h t e e dm r s t f h tol e ir et nr,ivngeellict welcome nor f tidings of the capture of his prey were carried to a heart inaccessible to mercy. The savage mandate went forth. The victims were ready and despotism never wants for executioners. The Sabbath was chosen to give peculiar horror to the human sacrifice. The Ministers of reli gion desecrated the hallowed day by celebrating the sanguinary orgies of revenge—and tile God whom Christians worship was insulted by the offerings of hands red with the blood of the unfortunate, and by the thanksgivings of priests glorying in acts worthy the inspiration of de mons. Such is despotism in the nineteenth a a n s d n e o ve m r o w ra i l ll s b n e p ! . justice h century—such and n i t s fi founded e always n a prone ne to seek the protection of impenitentt new acts of violence and terror. n g t uv ra iel s rt t with the massacre of Torrijos and his friends t he merciful treatment which Ferdinand received when he fell into the hands of the Constitu tionalists—contrast with that Contrast massacre the scene that followed the trial of the convicted Ministers of the Ex-King of France, when the armed citizens of Paris protected the lives of the traitors, who had slaughtered their friends and relations by the sabre and grape shot. How incapable does despotism appear of imitating any good example, or of acting upon any higher principle than the instinct of a coward ferocity. Whether the French Government will take any step to punish the insult to their flag we cannot positively say ; but it does not seem likely, from the specimens of energy which their Government has already given in its foreign relations, as exemplified in the affairs of Italy and Poland. But England is bound to demand satisfaction for the murder of Mr. Boyd. No law of Ferdinand's making—no decree of his, can overrule the authority of the law of nations, which was grossly violated by the assassination of a British subject. We wish to know what the British Consul did on that occasion, and what the Government will do Morning Herald. It cannot, we fear, be doubted that his Ma jesty has been prevailed upon to fix the stigma of his disapprobation upon that illustrious body who, despite the menaces and denunciations of the most outrageous faction that ever infested the country, nobly resolved to stand forward in defence of the Constitution which seated, and has hitherto secured the Royal house of Bruns wick on the throne of these realms ; in defence of the Church, of which his Majesty is the head ; and of the empire over which he has been called to rule. The conduct of the House of Lords, of which the King is about to record his disapprobation, may be thus described. When the Reform Bill was brought before their Lord ships they considered whether so extensive a change, proposed so suddenly and with so little shew of reason, was likely to prove either bene ficial or final ; and whether moments of popular delusion, if not madness, were the precise period when so great concessions ought to be made to the democratic party. They considered whether it was not at such a period that the hereditary Counsellors of the Crown were expected prac tically to rebut the sneers and taunts of Jaco binism, and to prove not only to their country men, but also to anxious and doubting Europe, that the Peers of England were not ignorant of their duty ; and, what is of equal conse quence, were not afraid to perform it. Such seasons we always conceived to be contemplated in their original creation ; and if the House of Peers be not an anomaly in the Constitution, nor a pageant ; if there be indeed that happy mean between despotism and demo cracy ; then was the time for the Peers to prove that they are not unworthy of the proud situa tion in which they are placed. It was then, when the floods were abroad, and the waters were rushing in, threatening to overwhelm the Altar, the Peerage, and the Throne—it was then that the strength of the bulwarks raised by the wisdom of our ancestors was put to the test —then was the trial whether the Peerage was a useful part of the Government or not. The Peers did their duty, and the Constitution was saved. We could not indeed have imagined that any body of men would be so lost to every honourable feeling as deliberately to record thci submission to menace and intimidation, when the yells of faction had shouted in their ears that the Reform measure was to diminish their influence, if not to destroy their constitutional power as a branch of the Legislature, and thus render them ridiculous and useless. But beyond this their Lordships felt that the fate of their country, perhaps of Europe, was in their hands. And when they reflected that they were re quired to destroy the fairest, freest, and most perfect Constitution of Government that ever existed, and that they were commanded to adopt in its place the crude and vicious project of the Reformers, a monster even in the eyes of its parents—when they were called upon with threats to surrender, with their own honour, that Constitution which is the proudest inheritance of Englishmen, and to receive in return the scoffs and sneers of the multitude, their sense of duty to the Crown, their country, and themselves pointed out to them the course which they so nobly and dauntlessly adopted. It is for this' that the King has been urged, and, we fear we must add, has consented to set the seal of con demnation upon the House of Lords.—Morn ing Post. MIDDLESEX SESSIONS, DEC. 6. THE SUN FIRE-OFFICE V. JOHN NICHOLS WATERS. This was a prosecution on the part of Mr. Pole, the treasurer of the Sun Insurance Office, against the defendant, for feloniously inducing Richard James Pye Steele to set fire to defendant's house, No. 211, Tottenham-court-road, on the 15th Nov. last. Mr. ADOLPHUS, in his opening speech, contended, that in the opinion of the Judges, according to their recent practice, inducing a person to commit a crime, whether committed actually or not, was, in the eye of justice and the law, criminal and indictable. Edward Atkins proved the original policy of in surance granted to the defendant on his house in Tottenham-court-road on the 31st of August, 1831, the sum of 2501. being insured on the stock, and 501. on the house and fixtures of the shop of the defend ant, making 3001. Mr. Cook (also from the Sun Insurance Office) deposed to his having previously inspected the house; but he had not looked to what stock the prisoner had then on hands; but it is sometimes the practice of insurances to be granted, not for what is on hands, but prospectively for what is likely to be on hands. Richard James Pye Steele deposed—He is a me dical student, resident with his mother, in Padding ton ; he has known the prisoner for two years ; he was formerly a private soldier in the sth Dragoon Guards, but previous to that he had practised in Abergavenny, in Wales ; his father was formerly a surgeon in the Guards, and died shortly after the battle of Waterloo ; the prisoner (a medical gentle man also) was on intimacy with the witness's mother also ; on the morning of the 15th of November he received a note from the prisoner,' requesting an immediate meeting ; the letter he received about nine o'clock, and saw the prisoner at his own house about ten the same morning,who then communicated his plan of setting fire to his house, and enabling both to go to France on receiving the insurance policy ; he specified then, but not minutely, how he intended to lay combustibles in the shop composed of turpentine, rosin, and saltpetre, which he re quested the witness would use as would be di rected ; a jar of oil of turpentine was to be poured en the ground, and a piece of paper, imbued with spirits of turpentine ( which also was to be poured where the fire would be applied), was to be ignited by the gas, which would be left burning in the shop, and this paper then to be applied to the parts where the turpentine was poured ; the paper was to be found ready on the end of the counter, and the spirits of turpentine in a bottle, in a drawer, behind the door of the shop; the witness at that time made no objection nor observations, though he felt astonished at the scheme ; the prisoner promised him 1001. out of his receipts from the Insurance Company, with w ene h iricneht return, after ensuing st was euri r a lag f I s e si r pm w ri d spring tnic)s t u o ra p n u c r chase chemical drugs, and set up a s h o p ; an d after wards prisoner would do the sam e f r i en dl y turn of e - 3001. should have bee n e ff ecte d ; so that they then he equally d eserv i ng of the spoils, and o b ‘mvf u oi r gu n hi i dt n g go his to si F lo r p an i prose cute their studies. Having left the house of the prisoner after this conversation, about three o'clock, he went to Mr. Brice, a medical apprentice of Mr. Bryant, in Edgware-road, and communicated to him what had passed, as he did also to his mother. He then went to the house of Mr. llalls, a Police Magistrate, in Paddington, intending to tell him also; but on finding Mr. Halls not at home, he told his tale to a police officer, of the name of Walsh, whom he met in his way to the coffee-house. Walsh brought him to the police-station in Hartcourt street, and Mr. Lazenby, the Superintendent, then brought him immediately to the Police Magistrates at Marylebone office. CHAIRMAN—But why did the prisoner call on you when he would be able to do for himself the affair you relate he requested you to do for him ? Witness —Because he considered, by his proving himself during the time of the fire to be out of lus way, lie would be better enabled to demand and re cover the sum of 3001. insured by the Company. CHAIRMAN—Yes ; but you see he was not out of the way if he was with you asyou stete A.—Be he did go immediately afterwards. On his cross-examination, the witness had bee about nine years in France, and a soldier about tw years afterward, and was no more than twenty-ot years of age. He acknowledged being charge about three months ago at Queen-square for ind cently exposing his person ; and about seven wee} before the present alfrir, he had been found in common sewer at the Five-fields, in Chelsea, aboi seven o'clock, after clink. He was not able to a clear account of this transaction, and denied diff rent accounts which it was said he formerly gave the occurrence. lie received only two sovere.gt on two subpoenas for this trial—but would not to how he came by his dress ; lie now came fro Trim, in Hertfordshire. The policemen, Bryce, Walsh, Lazenby, Moon Oakley, and List, confirmed the statement of Stet, with regard to the communication of the plot wit:el he had made to them, and the other incidents SJ ft as they were concerned. List produced the ai tides described as having been arranged in the shoi and also the articles which the prisoner had n quested the former witness to convey away helot 'mould set fire to the house. Oakley deposed als to his having wirched the prisoner till about on o'clock the same night ; he afterwards found th prisoner in 88, Welbeck, or Wardour-street. told the prisoner his house was then in flames, an desired him to make haste ; the prisoner asked hit how he knew, and how he found where he was and the witness said be had seen the flames,and told where prisoner was by a fresh-coloured gentle Iran of the name of Steele; the prisoner appeare , very little discomposed at the account, and admittel to Reeves his house had been insured ; he, hovv ever, went with witness towards the house, and wa decoyed to the police station, apprehended, am searched; he there denied any knowledge of Steel or the circumstance—said the policy of insurano was in the room behind the shop. A chemist, of the name of Ward, afterwards de posed to inspecting the drugs he found in the shop and valuing them at 14/. 3s. 33-d., and a surveys' from the Sun Insurance Company valued the coo' ctrns, fixtures, &c., at 521. 4.5. The Jury, having consulted for twenty minute returned a verdict of Guilty; but they especial!), recommended th e pr i soner to mercy, from his genet good character. MARKET INTELLIGENCE. LONDON MARKETS. (From the London New Price Current of yesterday.) StJoan, -The demand tor West India Muscovades been most extensive this week ; the purchases are esti' mated at 4,500 !aids. and trs. ; the prices are Is. to is 6(1. !,i , r cwt. higher. In the Refined Market th e CO"' tracts for good Lumps for forward delivery have been tensive at 625. and 635., say short price 275. ; 10‘e Lumps are very scarce; fine goods are also in more de mand at higher rates. The request for the low d e serit tions continues lively, and the purchases were very cone derahle at a further advance, low large Lumps readill fetching 60s. and good 615., and there are now scarce ll , l any parcels remaining on hand, and none could be otti twined under those prices; in the mid. and good melting and fine grocery descriptions also there has been moi l ' business done ; for the fine shipping qualities entitled t° the bounty on double refined there was only a parti el dr mind last week, and a few small parcels were sold crash at 318. a 31s. 6d., but the refiners this week hold moi* firmly, and generally demand 325. ; for the other sorts e l ' crashed there has been more demand ; and although bight r prices have been required, a good many sales have beep made; of low there are no parcels offering now under 20' EA ST INDIA SUGAR.-The public sales offered, 2, 40 1 bags Mauriti us , an d 281 bags Bengal, which went off S' about tid. to ls. higher in price; Mauritius good bro 425. a 425. 6d., fine brown 435. 6d. a 445., ord gr f 445. 6d., good grey 455. 6d., ord yellow 445. 6d. a 45 4 ' 6 good yellow 465. 6d. a 475., fine fine yellow 48s. 6d, it 535; rßengalee a t 0rd269. white Ths i cay sold, l a fi t ne p 2 u 3 b s lic r as,j il white f sale 1,929 Mauritius sold ; th e goo d an d fi ne rat h er hi g h er, the oev3 a shack lower ; th e 500 b ags B enga l so ld also at marliel,., prices, which are Is. to Is. 6d. higher than the current before tie holydays. FOREIGN SUGAR.-There have been no public salh and nothing of any consequence done by private eo ntrSe this week, price s are t h ere f ore nominally the same. ; day 156 chests Havannah, all washed Sugar, affarding criterion of prices, sold at high rates. COFFEE.-The public sales of Coffee have gone r i rather heavily; the Jamaica Coffee taken in ; the Dere e i rara and Berbice sold Is. a 2s. lower. This day's pub l(4 sales, 124 bags Batavia, were taken in at 535. 6d. ; casks 13 brls. Jamaica sold rather lower, good ord 84 7, and 855., mid 93 a. a 965. The Coffee Market is langol, and wh ere sa l es h ave been effected, the prices are ls, a lower. -A sa l e o f S t. Domingo fair quality 555. r, Ruar, BRANDT, AND HOLLANDS..-RtIM, so lA, neglected, is a t l engt h i n request, and the demand gen e and extensive : the purchases at first were at prices It' previously obtained, since which an advance of IA to 1 . 2 11 per gallon has been paid ; proof Leewards, formerly sell at Is. 3d., can only with difficulty he purchased at Is. Sr Several parcels of Jamaica have also bees disposed of !I higher prices. In Brandy or Geneva there is no altellis tion worth reporting. IlEmr, FLAX, AND TA LLOW. -The Tallow Mar which has been lately 425. 6 , 1., has become brisk at 425. - 41 a 435. In Hemp or Flax there is little alteration. SALTPETRE. -At a public sale early in the week,, above 700 b ags fi ne qua li ty Saltpetre, 5-1- refraction, a 395. 6d. was obtained, since which a good parcel P ri been sold at 38s. 6d. RICE.-East India Rice is Is. per cwt. lower; g °° . Bengal sold yesterday at 14s. 6d. formerly worth 15s. 1° ,?! This day's sal e , 650 b ags B enga l so ld at 1 4 s. an d 14s. 7' Tobacco.--In Tobacco no sales are reported. In IRISH PROVISIONS-Fine Friesland, as well as "_,ue Carlow Butt e r, i s h e ld f or some l i ttle advance in prilbue but in no other ar ti c l e un d er t hi s head can we note t P least alteration in price or demand since our last. FRUIT. -There is no alteration in the prices of adrot description to notice, and at present there is scarcely " thing doing. " ag CoTron.-The Cotton market has been very firm. t purchases thi s wee k consist of 20 Bengal, 41d. 520 rats, 3P. a 4d. ; 320 Bowed, sd. a 60. Kent Pocket SU2SCX DittC PRICES OF HOPS.—Jan. 6. 41 10s. 5/, 1 4/ N. 4/. 4/. 10s. 5/, 9/. 9s, 121. 0/. Os, 71. 31. 10s. 5/, 41. Os. 41. 4/. N. 51, rsselc Ditto Seconds "' St 14 oni is fr. 163. to 7/. Ir b i a A t 188. to 51. 12.4 to 71. ° .„, f Os. to 01 00.1 g Os to 91. „.,0 ss. to 61. 1 4 10s. to 41. ' Je t Os. to 61. ea led gal o °4l i% e 12 c 5 lb. d. t o , Hides., 12 1 14 )zen. to 401 b. 15 to 701 b. 21 s(ti, Ito 801 b. 19 lice rcenland 20 ay —Jan. k 5 hi c . to 1203. 11 __lf hi, n a , e. g. d. 01 1 1 ,1 1 8 o d id i e t i of 81b. eir ser 1121 b. host vv4-I:tig ' .-04.Vnc 16 ; ; , es 't° Tat e is as folloo!rbe dozen.. hurt Ur. ,f Walter g e ßoyi Jason, R.N., 11 Re dr. tchell, Esq. , Fieu Rat( q., only soil t.ep ;hire, to Csfilley Esq., of 33 ors, a ills, St. .10Brid bert Gordoll'W°" And Mr. Wootn a i n , Stud )UNO. AT ham Ditto. Fins Kent IS: Sussex Ditto Essex Ditto., PRICE. OF' OIL . Rape Oil, brown -.361. 05...—. Refined Linseed Oil .. Linseed Oil Rape Cake, Cake at the Mill, per thousand per ton.-- PRICES 01 Per lb. d. to d. 0 -1 Dressing Hides. ~ 1 1 18 t; 1118481 Ditto, light Crop Hides, light 12 13j to 451 b. 13 15 Ditto ano...,••••••••41. 15 16j LEATHER. Per English Horse Spanish Ditto Per do: Calf Skins,,, 36 Ditto .......... 50 Ditto ............. 70 L Small Seals, Green: Large ditt0................. WHI'I'ECHAPEL HAY MARKET.—, Hay 565. Od. to SO,.*Od. I C10ver—....... 68s. C Straw 28s. Od. to 365. Od. RAW HIDES. Per Stone. s. A. to s. d. Per Stone. gest Heifers & Steers 2 6 210 Ordinary Middlings 2 0 2 4 Market Calf PRICE OF RAW FAT, per stone oi Price of Tallow (as stated by the Tallow Melters; PRICE OF TALLOW, SOAP, &c. pei Town Tallow sos. Od. Yellow 50ap........., Yellow Rossi., 44s. Od Mottled ..., White — .455. 6d. White......,.............. Soap Ditto 42s. 6d. Graves ----- Melted Stuff' 36s. Od. Good Graves ..„ Ditto Itough ~•12s. Od. PRICE OF CANDLES. The price of Store Candles, in the retail shops, . Candles, per doz. 7s. Pd. to Ss. Od. 1 Moulds, per di BIRTHS. This day, in Great Ormond-street, the lady of Esq. of a daughter. On the 4th inst. the lady of Captain H. B. Mason daughter. On the 2d inst. at Brighton, the lady of J. Mitc] daughter, still born. MARIED On the 3d inst. at Rotherham,R J. A. Case, Esq. Case, Esq., of Ince and Summer Hill, Lancashi. Elizabeth, eldest daughter of H. Walker, Esq. Notts, and Clifton House, Yorkshire. D. On the 4th inst. Mrs. Wills, lE wif D e of Mr. Wills, place, St. James's-street. On the sth inst. in Upper Harley-street, Robert youngest son of W. liihbert, Esq. On the 4th inst. John Cardy, the son of Mr. Islington, aged 17. PRINTED AND PUBLIAIIED 151 - AIURDO YOUNG SUN OFFicY, 112, STR AND , LONDON. ,