The Sun. — London, England, 1832-01-05 00:00:00

"therefore should they still, when the policy ard necessity of measures for their relief are now universally recognized—why should they not now, under a system, of Church Reform, be made sharers in those benefits which the lay (and clerical) possessors of tithe property have been suffered for 300 years to deprive them ? It is not to be q uestioned that but feeble progress will ever he made towards an entire amelioration of the Church of England, and a consequent revival of its • much impaired influence over the community, without including in our corrective measures a complete reversion of the state of the episcopal bench, whose actual position and attributes render them alike incapable of dis chat Bing the duties of honest politicians or con scientious and pious clergymen. Their reve nues generally (there are a few exceptions) seem calculated to fill them with more pride than charity, and to tempt them into a rivalship of worldly grandeur with the lay nobility of the realm. The capability of translation is a per petual bribe, withdraws their cares from religion, and fixes them on schemes of temporal aggran dizement, to be accomplished only through the sordid arts of intrigue and party subserviency. Hence we find many Bishops—what ?—cold to the merits of their inferior clergy, stremuous in promoting the views of patrons, and the fortunes of all whom such patrons recommend to their favour, —busy courtiers, fiery partisans, un scrupulous abettors of prerogative, enemies of all Reform which shalt controul the power of a Minister to feed the ambition and reward the cupidity of his followers, — ready one day, by coup de main, to unseat a Whig Minister, from whom corruption has but slender topes, and the next day to support a Tory in the same course which was a crime and reproach to his predecessor. Bishops must be angels, if, with their present temptations, they did not oftentimes prove themselves hollow and selfish intri?.uers. The political welfare suffers from this—the sacred cause of religion suffers. Within the last fifty years there have been but five English Bishops (and still fewer Irish) who discover any thing like liberal policy, as Mem bers of the House of Lords. Shipley, Bishop of St. Asaph ; Hinchcliffe, of Peterborough ; Watson, Bishop of Landaff ; Bathurst, of Nor wich, and now Dr. Maltby, of Chichester ! What a legion of the opposite colour, could we spare time to enumerate them ! It will therefore be a fair subject of consideration by and by, whether Bishops ought to be enormously en riched ; whether Bishops ought ever to be trans lated, and whether Bishops ought to enjoy, only to abuse hereafter, the privilege of making laws. Many a good Bishop has been ruined by his legislative power. Confine him to religious functions, and you destroy the great corrupting principle within him. Fix his constant residence within a stone's throw of his own cathedral, he will soon forget the road to Downing-street, and the towers of Lambeth.—Times. We insert a letter from a debtor in White cross-street prison—not for the purpose of an swering the unimportant question which it pro pounds, as the respectable Governor of that pri son knows his duties and liabilities as well as we or any of our correspondents, but—for the pur pose of directing public attention to the facts which it discloses, as they bear upon the po licy of imprisonment for debt. Here is a man who has been seven months in prison upon judgment debts to a considerable amount, for which his creditors, with one exception, have compounded, and been satisfied. In the mean time, his business, whatever it was, is ne glected,—his character, if not his morals, are damaged or destroyed,—and his wife and fa mily are exposed, without a protector or a friend, to all the evils of penury and want. As he is snatched away from the management of his affairs at the very time that he might have been of most service to his creditors and to himself, he is obliged to intrust, from within his prison wails, the management of his af fairs, and the means of satisfying his obliga tions, to a friend, who faithfully continues to keep him in gaol till he puts as much of his property into his own pocket as he can—and then takes refuge within the rules of the King's Bench himself, that he may escape the more close confinement of Whitecross-street. Thus retail dealers, tradesmen, and shopkeepers, are defrauded by the very rigour of those enact ments which are intended for their protection. They are led to trust the honest and dishonest customer alike, relying on the virtues of the bailiff's staff, the shame of a spunging-house. or the terrors of a gaol ; and when disappointed in their hopes by the misfortunes or the kna very of their debtors, they resolve to gratify their love of vengeance, if they cannot obtain the payment of their debts, and, by hurrying them away from their business or their duties, deprive themselves of every chance of ultimate compensation. Then some rascally attorney, or needy friend (for " troops of holyday friends" now desert him, and respectable people arc afraid or ashamed to interfere), steps in, and offers to compound with those creditors who, having exasperated their debtor by their harshness,—who, having cancelled all former obligations by the magic touch of the bum bailiff's staff,—and having taught him to con sider himself as the victim of injustice, instead of the violator of credit and honesty,—cannot visit him to settle their accounts in person, or without the intervention of a mediator. This attorney robs both parties—or this adventurer, after pocketing as much of the common fund as he can, imitates the conduct of his principal— is arrested for debt in his turn by some other set of creditors, and, after whitewashing himself by the process of the Insolvent Court, comes out again to starve, or to prey upon the public with a sharpened appetitite. Nor is this a soli tary case, or an imaginary picture. It occurs every day, and our prisons are full of living de monstrations of its truth. The law authorizing indiscriminate imprisonment for debt, either on arrest for want of bail in mesne process, or on the adjudication of a court of justice, never did and never can afford protection to the suffering creditor, while it acts most injuriously on the general interests of society, and becomes a bar barous infliction on the honest but unfortunate debtor. In the former case there seems no good reason why common bail should not be received, or why the security of John Doe and Richard Roe, so useful in most cases, should not be re ceived in all ; unless it can be sworn to that the party is about to leave the country. It should he remembered that there has yet been no proof of debt, and that the King's writ may thus be employed, not to obtain satisfaction for a just demand, or security for a fair trial, but as the means of vexation or torture. If friends are called in to satisfy the claim rather than allow the debtor to go to prison or stand a suit, it merely shifts the burden from one person to an other—the party paying bein g perhaps less able to bear the loss th an t h e party paid. But in the great majority of cases the inhabitants of the debtors' ward are supplied from a class of men who cannot dispute the claims of their credi tors, and whose persons have been taken in exe cution of judgments justly awarded against them. That, however, does not alter our objections to the present practice, which appears to us to combine the two worst qualities of a law— cruelty and inefficiency. A debt may be as bad as a fraud—a debtor may be worse than a swind ler or a thief ; but the law, in the first instance, treats them all alike. Though it must be ad mitted that a debtor may be innocent or crimi nal, according to circumstances, the law hur ries them all equally to gaol as criminals. The po licy of the law should enforce the obligations of honesty, its practice often inflicts penalties on misfortune. The law intends to secure the cre ditor in the payment of his debt, or in compen sation for his loss, and no more ; but its powers are often perverted to the gratification of male volent passions. It professes to give the honest money-lender or tradesman an equivalent for his property ; but it often confers on revengeful usurers their " pound of flesh." It cannot, therefore, be " a terror to evil-doers," when it attacks equally misfortune and fraud, and con founds in one common mass the wretched and the wicked, the industrious and the spendthrift, the calamity-struck pauper and the profligate swindler. Could the English creditor convert his debtor into a slave as among some ancient nations, or make him work in the prison for his benefit, there might be some justification of the present practice of confinement for debt. But the inefficiency of the law in obtaining satisfac tion for the creditor is on a par with its needless severity on the debtor. In looking over the lists of insolvents who have obtained their discharge under the present Insolvent Act from 1820 to 1828, we find the numbers as follows :—ln 1821, the first year of its operation, there were discharged under its provisions, 5,290 ; in 1822, 4,955 ; in 1823, 4,241 ; in 1824, 3,593 ; in 1825, 3,665 ; in 1826, 4,681 ; in 1827, 4,868 ; and in 1828, 3,799. We have not any fur ther returns at hand at present ; but we should suppose that the last three years would exhibit little variety. Thus, with the exception of two years of comparative prosperity (1824 and 1825), and the kind of " gaol delivery" of 1821, the numbers hare little varied, and would probably have been equally great had the right of perpe tual imprisonment been still maintained. Now what were the sums recovered from the estates of this numerous body ? We cannot, for the want of the necessary returns, state it for each of the above years ; but we find from a Parliamentary paper, printed in March, 1829, that for the two anterior years of 1827 and 1828, the amount of monies paid into Court on account of these estates was exactly 19,2641. 19s. 2d. ; being for the year 1827, 9,627/. 17s. 7d., and for 1828, 9,6371. 3s. 7d.! The debt contracted by these prisoners was above a million sterling ; and here we have a pittance of only a few thousand pounds recovered from the wreck—not of their fortunes, for they probably had none, but—of those of heir credulous, and perhaps over-reaching dupes. We ask only one plain question on this state ment, and with that question, which we shall allow all shopkeepers, retail dealers, and trades men to answer for themselves, we must conclude our observations for the present. We ask, then, —Could less than the sums above-mentioned have been recovered had imprisonment for debt never existed ? or, rather, would not infinitely more have been saved or recovered if credi tors had been depril ed of this unequal infliction or cruel remedy?-7inzes. TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES. SIR,-Through the medium of your paper, permit me to ask yourself and those learned in the law, if it be pos sible for a person confined in this prison under an execu don to he permitted to see his wife, who is now dying? I am detained at the suit of one plaintiff only, whose at torney has consented in writing for me to go and see my wife, in the custody of the keeper cr one of his deputies, and an undertaking to bring no action against the keeper or the sheriff, provided I return again within the walls of the prison. Mr. Barrett'. humanity would induce him to comply with the request, but conceives that if any de tainer were lodged against me while out in his custody, it ' would be considered an escape, and the Sheriff rendered liable. Perhaps you or some of the learned profession will be kind enough to give a decided opinion on this point upon what may be considered good authority. What ren ders this case peculiarly hard is, that I have been in cus tody nearly seven months, during the whole of which time my wife has been confined to her bed seriously iii ; and when first taken into custody I had eight executions on my pre mises and against my person, amounting together to about 500/. A friend is called upon to effect an arrangement by way of compromise, which is agreed to by the whole Jf the judgment creditors, and upwards of 4501. is lodged in this friend's hands, for the purpose of settling the above ' eight executions, of which 4501. is more than sufficient to discharge the whole. In the course of three weeks six of the executions are settled, and the friend promises me from time to time that he will settle the other two, so that I shall be restated to the bosom of my unhappy family. After holding out these fair promises for about five month, lie at length sends in an account of disbursements, and then becomes a prisoner in the King's Bench prison. The following are some of the charges of this faithful friend. s. d. Expenses, man in possession, and sale day 0 9 6 S un dry expenses prior to sale Stamps for bills and portages...... 1 5 0 Expenses with A and B. Expenses from the Bth of June to the :39th of July 3 L.' 0 Sixty days' incessant application to arrange and compro mise with creditors, examining accounts, attending him to collect debts, and other important matters, at least six hours every day, at Os. &I per hour, ',the Court allows 55.) Commission on 1500/. amount of A.'s claim on B, as se- __ -- ...... . cured by deed of assignment, 21 per cent 37 Ifl 0 Mr. - bill of costa Mr. - bill of costs ... ... 25 7 0 £142 19 0 Out of tite above sums this friend had only to pay 471., which would have satisfies the other two executions, and would immediately have liberated me from custody. I have since received my discharge to one of those actions amo•nting to 271. ; so that I am now detained by one pl tintiff for 201. only, without any means of paying the same, through the treachery of a friend, with a virtuous And affectionate wife !lying with grief, a kind sister, and a faithful female friend, thrown into the greatest distress, and myself pining almost broken-hearted within the walls •f Wilitecross-street Prison. I remain, Sir, your unfortunate servant, Whiteeross-street Prison, Dec. SO. A PRISONER. It is sometimes said that the age of miracles is past. But this, we suppose, is a mistake There never was a period more prolific of what are called miracles than that in which we live. Is not Ireland a constant miracle ? Do we not every day hear the greatest surprise expressed at the disposition of the Irish to be agitated ? Earl Grey was astonished that emancipation, so far from quieting the Catholics, only made them more restless. At present the Government is confessedly better than it has ever been, and yet, under this more mild and impartial Government, the prospects are more clouded than ever they were. Is there nothing miraculous in all this r' We trust we shall be excused, notwithstanding appearances, for calling in question the miracu• lous in this. It appears to us that the very im• provement of the Government is the cause of the pressure of the danger ; and it is somewhat surprising to us that there should be Statesmen, at all experienced in the ways of mankind, to whom this view of the matter has not occurred. The Catholics are dissatisfied because they cannot obtain all that is due to them ; and the Orange men, because they cannot retain all that:they now possess beyond what justice entitles them to. There can be no compromise be. tween these two parties. Either the Government must range themselves on the side of the Orange men, and assist them in regaining their ascen dancy over the Catholics, and i❑ restoring the dominion of force—or they must place the two parties on a footing of perfect equality, or they must prepare for greater agitation than ever. When one man has another• fairly down, with his knee on his breast, he may expect less resist ance than when, after removing his knee from his breast, he leaves him more at ease to exert him self. It never can be too often repeated, that it is easier to exercise complete tyranny than half tyranny ; and that every attempt to remain half way between despotism and equal justice will end in dis.appointment. A contemporary (the Standard), on Tuesday last, advocated the cause of the Orangemen with true Orange feel ing. According to our contemporary, " For more than a century the Protestants of Ireland have been known only as the loyal and acqui escent subjects of the laws—as the submissive supporters, or as the prompt champions of the established Government of their time." This was the high and palmy state of ascendancy, when the penal laws delivered over the Catholics bound hand and foot to the Protestants. It would have been singular, indeed, if the Protes tants had quarrelled with laws from which they derived so much. It was not the Turks who first quarrelled with the slavery under which they held the Greeks. But the system of penal laws and ascendancy has been gradually relaxed— right has been done to the Catholics, and right to the Catholics is deemed by the Orangemen wrong to themselves. " For more than twenty years (says our contemporary) the stepmother Government of this country has done little else than to htap insults and injuries upon the Iri-h Protestants. In each gradation of rank, the unlucky professors of the faith of Englane have beedconstantly and studiously affronted. The highest birth and station in society have failed to expizte the political sin of sincere and steadfast adherence to truth ; in the middle class, sincerity in cherishing and promoting the same religion has operated as a perpetual bar to the delegated favour of the Monarch whom we are taught to call our most religious and gra cious King ;' while the humbler ranks, by reason of the multitudes that fill them. resented a perpetual field for the manifestarion of the most in , ulting partiality of the exe cutive and its officers." This translation into plain English merely means that for more than twenty years the Go vernment has been compelled to weaken the ascendancy of the Protestants, and consequently to weaken the tyranny exercised over the Ca tholics. The laws were founded on injustice, and the Government have, during this period, been rendering them not altogether just, but somewhat less unjust. But the Protestants tell the Government that there shall be no further surrender— lives 'h pop are ee to property ty (s as the supported—ho n our and rel i g i o n , b y thei r har e dearer to them than life or property; these they will not yield for the convenience of any Lord Lieutenant, or even for an English Administration. The brave and strong have borne much—have borne all indeed, until injustice has be come intolerable. They say that they will bear no more ; and in proportion to the manliness of their forbearance hitherto must be our confidence that it is now at an end. They have seen their aristocracy insulted ! They have seen a Popish Parliament in Dublin connived at ! They have a en their church ro , ,bed ! and their pastors driven to seek alms for subsistence by a bke connivance on the part of a local Government—they have heard from the bps of the Prime Minister of England, that an office giving him power over the Protestants of Ireland was ready for the acceptance of Mr. Daniel O'Connell, if he would con descend to take it , Air. O'Connell bring the founder of this same Popish Parliament, its manager and its organ. They know that the seditious priest who inculcated the roobery of the Protestant Church—now in the way 01 being effected through rebellion and wholesale murders— they know that this incendiary priest is a trusted and c ,n -stint adviser of the Irish Executive; they know also, that they themselves are the sons of the men who fought at Derry, Enniskillen, Aughrim, and the Boyne; and they feel that they have not degenerated from the faith, the spirit, and the strength of their ancestors. " Let us, Englishmen, make the case our own. Would we, for the convenience of any Administration, or to satisfy the clamour of any barbarian rabble, submit to have wrested from us all that our fathers bought for us in I 658? and they paid net the price in their blood. Would we be sati.fied t submit to the ban of a weak and jealous foreign Government, as the reward of our firm adherence to law and religion ? We know that we would not ; and what reason have we to suppose that our kinsmen in Ireland (for these Protestant men are all of British descent) have feel ings and tempers different frwm our own?" This is brave talking. But we say it is neither in the power of the Irish Orangemen, nor even of a Tory Government, to prevent farther con cessions to the Catholics. We say a Tory Go vernment, because a ‘Vhig Government would belie its own principles to leave things where they now are. The Catholics ought not to re mained satisfied with less than even-handed jus tice ; and that they have not yet obtained. Every advantage they have hitherto gained has naturally added to their desire to gain further advantages, and added to their power to extort them. We cannot afford to re-conquer Ireland, and to be at the expence of retaining seven or eight millions of Catholics in a degrading slavery. The Orange men must either satisfy us that the conquest and degradation of the Catholics would be for our interest, or they must reconcile themselves to our putting an end to all turmoil, by the only means by which an end can be put to it—namely, full and complete justice to the Catholics. To halt between injustice and justice is impossible ; to halt at justice is the easy and natural course. If we must adopt violent measures, it would of course be much easier and more profitable to call for the aid of the Catholics to coerce the refrac tory Orangemen, than to call on the Orangemen to coerce the Catholics. The Catholics do not wish to make hewers of wood and drawers of water of the Orangemen, and the victory of the Catholics ensures peace, because the basis would be the principle of even-handed justice. There is a material difference between a right to oppress and a right to be free from oppression. The right of the Orangeman is the right to oppress — to retain an undue advantage. Let not Govern ment flatter itself with the notion, that because both Catholics and Orangemen are at present opposed to them they are in the right. If a Judge were to grant to a claimant only part of his just demand, he would please neither party ; but he would not on that account be entitled to praise. They have done enough to exasperate the Orangemen, and not enough to satisfy the Catholics. In an article on the progress of Re form in England, front the North American Re view for January, t 832, which has been sepa rately published here, the writer shows, in a sa tisfactory manner, that the position taken by the present Government is just as untenable as that taken by their predecessors : " There is no part of the landscape (says the writer) of which we find it so difficult to get a clear view as Ireland. A fatal wall of partition is kept up between her and the English Government. If that wall should be hroken down, Ireland is safe ; if not, we see not how, under a popular Parliament, it can be retained. That wall of par tition is the aural establishment in Ireland of a Church hostile to the faith of the people of Ireland. T ur k s an d Greeks do not differ more in their feelings on this subject than the Catholics and Protestants of Ireland. Ireland is outraged by the Church Establishment; and doubly so, an the comparison of herself with Scotland, whose national faith is established by law. This is the great cause of Irish disaffection. Redundant population and absenteeism The state of Belgium unfortunately realizes the worst anticipations which we formed from the beginning of the result of the diplomatic labours of the " London Conference," which was only a name invented to disguise the unnatural coali tion of the Ministers of England and France with the Plenipotentiaries of the " Holy Alli ance." The world remembers, and will long remember, the " settlement of Europe" in the year 1815, for it is now only matter of memory. The thing itself has vanished " like the baseless fabric of a vision ;"—just as all political Babels must vanish that are built in the pride of despo tic rule, and have their foundations in injustice. At the time of that " settlement" England— the favoured land of glorious and rational free dom—lent herself, through the agency of her Minister, Castlereagh, to the recognition of the most arbitrary tribunal that ever was erected in the civilized world by a confederacy of despots, to adjudicate upon the affairs of nations which were compelled, solely by the force of the myriads of bayonets that backed this self constituted authority to submit to its decrees. That politico•military tribunal, which held a memorable sitting at Vienna, and of which there was a subsequent and scarcely less memorable session at Verona, undertook to " settle " the affairs of independent nations, without asking theirconsent—to divide, transfer, and partition countries at its pleasure—and to dispose of millions of mankind, as if they were the absolute property of a few crowned heads. In these disgraceful transactions—where Eng land, that was first and alone in bearing the ex penses of the war, was last and least in being allowed to reap any advantages from its success ful termination—the policy of the subtle and cir cumventing barbarism of the Cabinet of St. Petersburgh was predominant. The vanity of Castlereagh was tickled and gratified by the per sonal attentions of Alexander, while his Mini sters were making the most of the golden oppor tunity for advancing the interests of Russia, and establishing a Cossack ascendancy in Europe. They succeeded but too well. England came off with the barren glory of having finished the war. 'The cost of that glory was a mountain of debt, under which her once mighty empire struggles, like the fabled giant under }Etna—a giant still, but pressed down by a weight which only presses the more for the heaving of the agony that would throw it off. In the mean time Russia, after making a close alliance with the two other great despotic Powers, Austria and Prussia, whose hatred of every thing like freedom makes them subservient to the de signs of Muscovite ambition, has tried her strength and proved her power by a succession of campaigns, which have ended in crushing Persia—in subjugating her ancient rival Turkey • —in getting Greece intu the clutches of her myrmidons, and in the utter destruction of glo rious, heroic, deserted, and devoted Poland. This last was the crime which will soon tie felt as a curse in Europe. By her former conquests Russia opened a highway into the richest regions of the East, and united her vast empire to the long-coveted havens of the Mediterranean. By the destruction of Poland she broke down the great rampart that would have protected western and southern Europe from the gathering inunda tion of the northern barbarians. We did not greatly admire Mr. Canning as a statesman. He allowed Spain to be most treacherously and foully invaded, after repeated and emphatic declarations of pacific intentions by Louis XVIII., and his treacherous Ministers. It is true Mr. Canning protested against that invasion ; but the feeble ren-,onstrance which, while it condemned the in famous aggression upon the rights and liberties of an independent State, conveyed to the voluptu ous tyrant at the Tuileries the welcome news that England would offer no real opposition, was, in effect, but an invitation to the Bourbon-crusade. Never would that crusade have taken place, nor the sanguinary power of Ferdinand have been re-constructed upon the ruins of Consti tutional Government, if the British Minister had not given to the French Court to under stand that Bourbon violence might pursue free at Spain to annihilation wit h t he fleet s and armies of France, an dE n gland o w f o E ul u d roi : e tint b e y nt a herself lf with resisting this gross violation of nati ona l right, and of the peace protest. Though Mr. Canning acted with a de gree of weakness which might have been mis taken for connivance on that occasion, yet he felt the degrading humiliation to which the sub serviency of British policy to that of the Holy Alliance reduced this country ; and at length, by a bold and decisive stroke of statesmanship, he severed the Gordian knot of that disgraceful and injurious connection—.without any of the diplomatic mummery of protocols or conferences, he determined upon the recognition of the South American republics. 'The majesty of Eng lish policy then seemed to awaken from its trance of slavery, and to fling off at once, and for ever, the incubus of the Holy Alliance. But the degradation of that influence has been again brought upon the counsels of England ; and by 0/lion'? In the first place by the Duke of Wel of the Bourbons — who tyrannical ordina nces t s o pokeof Europe the n " o t b 'ul sübmitting to t t h h a e t Fre a g u t o c ,gsavvheo t w r a e d r y to Russia her t u o i s blockade u the d ec a D r a a t o d u a ns sand, n commen ced the mischievous inte rference in the a t c o oll destroy the Turkish emp ire, and who had also and out ofl-loolffilaneed: most l i i when"m justly opposed, and which, since they have been in o ffice, they have foolishly and obstinately pur (\l‘is,ipliuQtei‘slionfistßeresl,g sue d. If ever there was a case in modern Europe for the armed interference of England in continental disputes, that case was above all others, the invasion of Poland. There every , feeling of humanity, every honourable senti ment, every sympathy that a freee people have for the sufferings of freemen, would have gone with her policy, and hallowed its cause. If these motives were not sufficient, there ought to have been the sense of self-interest to stimu late her to prevent gigantic Russia from be coming omnipotent in Europe—Russia that had long looked with a jealous eye upon our maritime • power, 'and has made every effort of which her barbarous energies are yet capable to check and The conduct of the House of Lords—the probability of their changing the opinion which they expressed when the Reform Bill came last under their notice—and the temper of that body generally, still form the principal subjects of political discussion. We have nothing new to say upon the subject, nor any new opinion to express. We were long ago as much convinced that no good in the shape of Reform could come out of the House of Lords, as the Jews, in former days, were .convinced that no good could come out of Nazareth, and there is nothing since we formed our opinion, to convince us that we ought to alter it. Where are the con versions diat were talked of ? Where are the Noble.foris who were said to have changed their opinions ? What are their names ? What addition do they make to the minority of last Ses sion, or to what number do they reduce the ma jority ? To these questions no answer has yet been given ; and for the precise reason that no true or satisfactory answer can be given. The truth is that there have been scarcely any con versions, and that the conversions which have taken place have been of that equivocal character on which no reliance could be placed by any Ministry that pretended to the exercise of honesty and calm judgment. What is the use of a promise to vote for the second or the third reading of a Bill, whose clauses constitute its principles and virtues, if the parties making such promises will not also pledge themselves to vote for every part of it ? Yet there is not one Peer on the Ministers' list who has pledged himself to this extent ! Their Lordships are excellent Jesuits, and will pledge themselves to vote for the Bill at the very moment that they are determined by voting against its best clauses to render it imperative on his Majesty's Mini sters to quit their offices ; but Lord Grey is not a Statesman of yesterday—he is not to be fooled either by the instruments or the agents—and such promises he has most judiciously set down as amounting to nothing ! He is now con vinced, as well as the country, that nothing but a creation of new Peers will save the country from anarchy and revolution, and that creation he will have, or leave it to those who think that they can do without such an uncommon proceed ing as the creation of forty Peers, to try their hand at the work. The King, however, who has the constitutional right of appointing as many Peers as he pleases, is true to the cause of the people—and in three months, therefore, there is no doubt that the Reform Bill will become the law of the land.—Morning Advertiser. 46 T —• 50 a I, 65 66 144 51 1 — 50 t HULL MARKET—Jan. 3. • Wheat, Old —s. Ms. 58s. New .......-8. 565. &VC Foreign —s. 508. 545. ln bond... —s. —s. —s. Oats, Poland —s. 20s. 225. Old —s. —s. 30i. a Small or Feed.... —s. 20s. 21s ..-11. --S. —B. 13 Foreign —s. 20s. 21s —s. —s. —s. Barley, Norf. & Suf. ... —s. 40s. 425. Line. & %Vold —s. 34s 365. r Foreign —s. 325. 345, li Beans 34s. 365. 3Ss. Foreign —B. 3s, 40e. Pease, White —s. 38s. 40s. Grey —s. —s. —S. , 'fares —s —s. —s. Foreign —e. 30 s . 36i. 'l° Rapeseed, in Hoed none. are evils : but it is the Church that lies at the root of the difficulty, and poisons every thing. Unless the feelings of the people are consulted on this head, they must be held in subjection by military power, or not at all. But how are you to hold a people in military subjection, who, by popular election, send one hundred Members to Parliament? The thing is impossible. If that representation do not work out an entire equality of privilege for its constituents, they will swarm off. The concessions already made to the Catholics will avail nothing. Concessions to a discontented party have no effect but to give the party new strength and confidence. There is no medium between withhold ing all and granting all. If the Catholic population of Ireland shall in each and every respect he placed on a foot ing with their Protestant brethren, and every point of distinction be removed —and if Ireland be admitted to a share of the representation proportioned to her numbers, it may be retained in its connection with England. If this is not done, it can only be kept by military possession." —Morning Chronicle. crush our commerce ; while Poland, which is an agricultural country, if severed from the Musco vite dominion, would have opened a new market for our manufacturers, which the Autocrat ex cludes. If England had only threatened to send a fleet to the Baltic, we are convinced that Nicholas would not have dared to go to war— Poland would have been saved, and the carnage of two hundred thousand human beings averted. But what could be expected of a Government that had Lord Heytesbury for its Ambassador at St. Petersburgh, and Lord Palmerston for its Mi nister of Foreign Affairs ? With regard to Po land, though bound by treaty to support her in , dependence, non-intervention was our motto. 1 With regard to Belgium and Holland, which ought to have been allowed to settle their own disputes, our motto was intervention. We said at the outset that our officious intermeddling would " settle" things until they became more unsettled than ever. Let the event decide. The agents of the Holy Alliance have led on our hoodwinked and protocolling diplomatists to that point from which England cannot advance with out danger, nor retreat without dishonour.— Morning Herald. LONDON SESSIONS. Yesterday these Sessions commenced before the LORD MAYOR, RECORDER, and a Bench of Aldermen. A great deal of laughter was produced by the following case : A little man, named Woodward, indicted a man of large dimensions, one .Jack Goddard, for having assaulted him in the performance of his duty as a ticket-porter, the defendant not being one of the fraternity, and, therefore, not qualified to load a cart with beef in Newgate market. Mr. CHARLES PHILLIPS stated the case. Evidence was called to prove that the defendant and other unprivileged persons were loading a cart with meat while the prosecutor was unemployed. It was stated, that when the prosecutor interfered, the defendant seized him, shook him violently, and prevented him from performing the work to which the privilege belonged. Mt. ALLEY, for the defence, read the following letter, which the prosecutor had, he said, transmitted to the defendant's master, and which was calculated to show the aninzus with which the prosecution was undertaken, at the same time that it afforded a spe cimen of the literary powers of the butchers of New gate-market : " Sea,—l shall esteem it a very particular favour if you would persuade your man (Goddard) not to persevere to insult me on the King's highway. It will save a deal of trouble and combustion with him ; I want no alterca tions with him. It will be quite time enough next De cember Sessions, when we'll have the ' tug of war.' I fear not, Sir, all the united efforts and conglomerations of the whole body of i nnholders. I will do now what I never d un e b e f or e—l will expose to all the country - pe o p le how and in what way their meat is detained and taxed by you innholders, to the ruin of the public in general. Yes, I will make it as clear as the sun in his meridian splendour. You innholders shall have such a rocket of truth against ' that shall shake the very foundation of all your Guy Fawkes sort of a secret plot and conspiracy.—(Loud laugh ter.) My simple memorial defeated the innholders' me morial, which I proved to be an issue of gross and wicked falsehoods. Since 1819 I watched every dreadful movement ; and may pen shall not cease until the public are in possession of the facts involving the con tention between you and me; and I possess those docu ynti,ayou,ti,geh)thiotntlieger-t.if:)oirsliTitnehleri:e, ments as shall paralyse your standing barmy against me. --(Laughter.) If you are a freeman, recollect you have deliberately sworn in the Chamber to support all the ancient customs and privileges of the city ; and if any man o G t hdhr anything will violate an oath when in a Court of Justice, what will he not do ? But, however, you know as well as me that vision, i e vl r ee e; : s iei t e i n t h n oa e t acwowhnevrneuclaks convulsive h a si n htiod w c. Ltu t l o : shall —the Guildhall shall be my ground. Truth love of money ; hut, believe me, single-handed industry perseverance dhali my seconds, fortitude I furious system that shall, like the baseless fabric of a aGnld'il patience ray time-keeper, and justice ealiy,an t d e umpire.—l a rr) the use of the globes mathematically, Sir, your undaunted. " ROBERT WOODWARD, " Ticket-porter, te leiter of geography and astronomy, butcher."—(Ex cessive laughter. ) The RECORDER asked Mr. Alley whether he wished the letter to be entered upon the record ? It appeared to be well deserving of such a dis• tine rion. Mr. ALLEY said that he would be content with an acquittal for his client. He had promised the docu ment to the Secretary of the British Museum. A. witness then stated that the dispute was com menced by the prosecutor and other ticket-porters, and the defendant was acquitted. The Court was a long time occupied in hearing a case of assault upon an officer by some fellowship porters, two of whom were committed, and sen tenced, the one to imprisonment and hard labour for fourteen days, and the other for seven. CHELTENHAM Per Bushel. s. d. to s. cl. l Wheat Barley 4 0 5 6 Oats 4 0 4 3 MA RIVET.—Jan. 3. Per lb. Beef Mutton Veal Beans Pease 5 0 7 0 Lamb Hay 3/. 10s to 31. 15%. Od. per ton. d. tad 1 6 7 or 5 6 5 6 6 7 r, U 0 LEWES MARKET.—Jan. 3. NI White Wheat (per quarter)-- X 3 8 0 to £3 12 0 Bed ditto.----...----___, 2 16 0 3 2 0 Barley-- _.-- 1 8 0 1 18 0 Oats, New ------..-- 1 2 0 1 6 0 Pease.----.---.---- 1 18 0 2 0 0 ... Oil Cake, New--........-- 13'10 0 per thousand. ' ! -- , j NORWICH, Dec. 31. Wheat (per qr.) —. 545. 625. 665. Beans (per qr.) ........... 355. 425. a Barley --------... '24s. 325. 365. I Pease, Grey 365. 40s. o.tts .—.----. 225. 265. 28s. Flour, fine (per sack) 475. 495._, CANTERBURY. Dec. 31. 60s. to 665. Old —B. to —a. I 50s. to 604. Old —s. to —s. 345. to 40s. Grinding.. 2'ia. to 308. 2.55. to 2Ss. Old. , —s. to 345. 345. to 38s. Old 4llB. to 44e. 435. to 455. ~,,M. Grey 358. to 38►. l'H CORN M ARK ET.—Dec. OLD BAILEY. THE ENSUIN A SUMMARY STATEMENT, DESCRI; WITH WHICH THE PRISONERS , Murder 3 Highway robbery Burglary 4 Housebreaking Stealing a Letter containing Money wbenemployed in the GiMeral Forgery 1 Shooting at, with intent to murder 2 Uttering counterfeit coin, having been before con victed 1 Of the above number, 31 are at the City, and 172 in the Cow G SESSIONS. IPTIVE OF THE VARIOUS OFFENCES SEVERALLY STAND CHARGED. Stealing in dwellings above ' the value of LI 9 1 Manslaughter 2 Embezzlement 5 Stealing from the person Receiving stolen goods 3 I Receiving counterfeit coin with intent to circulate it '2 ,Sending a threatening let ter, with intent to extort money 1 Fraud Larcenies Total 203 charged with crimes committed STATE OF HIS MAJESTY'S GAOL OF NEVVGATE, MADE UP TO TUESDAY EVENING. Prisoners under sentence of death Prisoners under sentence of transportation for life 7 • 14 years ....... 8 7 years Ditto, sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, having been convicted of felony, &c. 6 Ditto, acquitted on the ground of insanity, but remain dur ing Royal pleasure 1 Ditto, for trial at the ensuing Sessions Ditto, remanded from last Sessions Ditto, for trial at the Admiralty Sessions 3 • Ditto, whose judgments are respited Ditto, committed on a Judge's Warrant Ditto, committed by the Court 3 - Males '229 1 Females THE MARKETS. COUNTRY CORN MARKETS DURING THE WEEK. Wheat. I Barley. Oats. Beans. s. to s. 31 43 37 41 40 44 32 39 30 42 38 40 23 32 30 35 44 48 32 42 32 46 31 47 32 37 37 40 34 38 40 42 :32 34 30 43 34 42 Per Quarter. Abingdon-. Andover*. Birmingham Bridport Cirencester -.. N aringdon-.-- Guildford Henley Hereford Elighworth Maidenhead Monmouth —...—. Monmouth---... Reading Salisbui'y Southampton Stroud Tewkesbury —.— Uxbridge Wantage—..-- Warrninster VVorcester------- P. to I. -- 38 - - 54 - 42 - 44 - 4S - 40 - 40 - 37 - 42. 1 - 54 - 48 - 48 - 44 r - 42 6 t - 4 _ Wheat, white- _ red---- Barley, Malting Oats Beans .........----. Pease . MANCHESTER, Dec. 31. Wheat, per 701 b. 9s. Od. to 9s. Bd. Red 95.3.,1. to 9s. al Barley, per 601 b 5 0 5 3 Oats 3 6 3 8 , Beans, per Imperial quarter Pease, 'White, per Imperial bushel 5 0 6 6 131 Malt, per 6 Imperial bushels 42 0 49 0 Flour, per Sack of 12.301 b - EXETER MAR Beef (score)--......95. 6d. 9s. Od. Mutton (16.)---0 5 0 6 Veal and Lamb-0 5 0 6 Pork Geese (each) 6 5 6 Ducks icounle\--3 0 4 6 Fowls 6 4 0 K ETS.—Dec. 30. Wheat (bushel) —Bs.od. Barley 6 Oats 3 Beans 5 6 Mater (ib.) ..1 0 Eggs (12) —o 0 Potatoes (peek) ...0 G RKETS.—Dec. 28. 5 0 2 6 6 0 1 2 00 DUMFRIES MA s.d. e. d. s.d. s. Wheat, Imp. Bush... 7 0 to 7 6 Butter, 16oz 0 oto 0 Barley .........' ........... 3 9 4 0 Eggs, dozen 0 0 0 Oats ..... 2 3 2 8 Beef, per lb. Flour, 1411). Oatmeal Potatoes. cwt. SCOTCH MARKETS. H ADDINGTON CORN M A BKET.—Dec. 30. Wheat still continues heavy—best 645., current prices 595. 6d. A large quantity of Barley in market, prices of whiv, were very low—best 355., current 31s. to 295. Oats—b es t 25.4, current prices 245. to 21s. Pease 265. to 275. Beans 29s to 275. do Wheat. Barley. Oats. Pease. Beans. First 64s Od 35s Od 25s Oil 30s Od 30s Od second s3s Od 32s Od 22s Qd 28s Od 28s Od Third 48s Od 29s Od 20s Od 27s Od 27s 6d There were 296 qrs. of Wheat in market, ...973 whereof were sold , Chasold.-0 Grey. .21. 13s. It Aver 7-12th s. in the tv Ither lot; Beans• 36i 0 ,1 32i Od 27s Od DALKIE'I There was a large supply of all kinds of Grain ket of this day, which met with a heavy sale, at prices than those of this day sc'nnight. Wheat. Barley. Oats. First 6os 04 34s esi 26s (k 1 Second Third sos Od ‘..`Bs Od 20s Od Pease. Nls Oti 32s Od 27s Od IRISH MARKETS. W DUBLIN MARKET NOTE.-FRIDAY, Dec. 30. H From To Average' ', 848 Wheat, per barrel 20 stone 26 0 33 0 29 'i ~ - 464 Bete-- _ l6 stone 14 0 15 0 14 4.m 272 Barley...-. .... 16 stone 15 3 17 0 15 1 tem 5,712 Oats l2 stone 9 6 13 6 10 g 9,556 Cwt. F10ur.......- 9 stone 6 0 22 0 0 0 3.1. ] 545 Oatmeal ............-. 8 stone 10 6 14 6 12 0 Arc Sold to Bakers only. . 0 )4 7,995 Cwt. F10ur..,..,..,....,_..,....... 14 0 22 ZI 18 ~,, ‘,. Average price of Wheat and Flour 455. 04. per sack. m k . Firsts, ......... from 20a. Ott to 225. r.,ArC( Receipts of Flour, 105691 ~ Seconds, from 14s. Od. to 193. ~,,,,.„,, Sales of Do. 9 . - "' - ' Thirds, from 6s. Od. to 10s. o "''''' PRICE OF BREAD. ttil A O Quartern Loaf .........-Sy.jd. I Half Quartern ......----. , 2 1 1, Wheat, Barley. Oats. I Flour, per cwt. A E per r". e. Ist 94. A- - 1) , = .....e el pir s b to a ln r l64 7 oo l l p ll7 7: o 0 t ;f :6 1 ,2......_2_180 06 2201 00 T:00 :__,j,,,,,, 1 ,viff, s. d. as. d. s.d. as. d. s. d. as. d. s. d. as. d. s. tt. a s,t ee 16 013 6 13 920 0 20 0 13 0 i'',,,., Cork ......... 23 0 30 4 13 0 16 0 9 9 11 6 17 0 19 6 5 0 1 , ,'11 t -.126 13 8 eef, 30 0 12 0 Waterfordl26 3 30 0 13 0 16 0110 0 11 018 0 20 010 0 l a ' JAI', Carlow.. 1 1 28 28 8 0 3° 30 . 0 0 1 1 5 3 0 0 Mutton, Pork, Clonmel - Butter. ~...7 , ,, 1 per lb. per lb. per cwt. Ist. 2d. 3d. 4th• st /' i -- --......_....., - - -1, d. a d. d. a ti. s. d. as. (I. s. d. s. d. s. d. ~. d- s'- ‘ ll , . Cork .-..... 4 1 63 1 5 260 33 090086080 0 74 0 6 , 7, re( Limerick- 3 431 434 0 35 0190 085080 0 73 0 7 ," ogr Waterford 4 6 3 6 35 0 36 092090080 0 78 0 6' ipb Clonmel ... 4 5 5 6 330 134 0 90087 0 - 0 - 0 0' Car10w..,,., ~4 5140 0 0 0 0 0186 0840 74 064 0 :_•_yar per barrel ; Flour 295. to 345. per bag; Oats 9s. to I Is. per KILKENNY.-Butter 904 to 925. per cwt. ; Wheat 265. to leni to 5,1. Potatoes 20. per stone; Coals Is. 2tl. per cwt.; tel ;11 Barley 13s. to 153. ; Beef 40. to 54. per lb.; Mutton ,b, Pigs 335. to 335. per cwt. le , Pa In tile High Court of Justiciary,Edinburgh'" j on Saturday, JOHN HOWISON was put to the bar, charriKj . with having, on the 2d of December last, attacked OF, assaulted MARTHA MASON, or Gconts, a widow, in l'r own house in Long .row, in Upper Cramond;with a spar 1 0 or other weapon, and did strike her a violent blow 01/ t A head, by which her skull was fractured, and in conOtral ece I (pence thereof she (lied itnined lately or shortly thereaft eratti and was thus murdered by the prisoner. Special defer,. were given in, setting forth that he was in a state mg mental aberration for some time previous to the inurdel:gtl and if it was committed by him, he was net in a state cist teas mind to be made answerable for his actions. After a p ~, PI c ta tracted trial, the prisoner was found Guilty, and senten a ) na :; t r O g r u d . to be hanged. The trial lasted till mi?.night-tw el t e p it' o i o'clock struck while the Lord Justice Clerk was read` ls the sentence.-Edinburgh Evening Courant, ........?I Nev ...-- _L .: Ms...ROW 1 . 3, BI RTHS. _ , on On the 30th ult. at Wimborne, Dorset, the lady of VI.. r ,,, wards, Esq., of a son. Kirwan, of a daughter. _ . ,•r, ; On the 24 inst. at Cheltenham, the lady of A. Monro, l' r (), On the .d inst at Cumberland Villa, Southampton, Mr:. 4.0 ' of a daughter. i• . 1111 MARRIED. On the Ist of August, at Dacca, East Indies, Lieutenanutt I'. Thomas, of the 64th Regiment Native Infantry, son o Ana late General Thomas, to Albina Grace, third daughter of the l'lii f titl W. S. Andrews, Esq., of Richmond, Surrey. DIED. old On the 4th inst. in Lambeth workhouse, aged 74 , Mr. D rtv iitat mond, once a respectable Lottery-office keeper in Holborn.v,i ni On the 3d inst. in Charles-street, Cavendish-square, .' Treves, aged 92. ted , On the 30 inst. Miss Gordon, aged 61. On the 3d inst. John Baker, Esq., of Upper Charles.ste l Northampton-square, aged 89. ct On the 31st ult. at Deptford, Mrs. Ann Lowther, of the ~ lege, Bromley, Kent, widow of the late Rev. A. Lovit' Chaplain in his Majesty's Navy. _I PAINTED AND PUBLINIFD BY !HURD () YOUN.J, AT it SUN OFFICE, 112, STRAND, LONDON. s. to s. 29 30 24 32 25 30 20 29 26 38 26 35 29 30 28 34 20 30 21 32 21 25 28 32 22 32 30 38 24 32 21 30 23 28 21 22 31 3'2