The Sun. — London, England, 1832-06-14 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. We yesterday noticed that Sir Robert Peel, who plays fast and loose with the Tories as best suits his ultimate views and purposes, although an absentee at the Pitt dinner, came out in strong force on the " entertainment" in Mer chant Taylors Hall. The Right Hon. Baronet, affecting to maintain neutrality on the subject of politics, grossly maligned the reforming spirit of the age, and spoke of the Reformers as " de stroyers of all ancient institutions." We are provoked to examine the claims of this puffed up " Statesman" to the good opinion or con fidence of 'any party in the state. A few re trospective touches on his past political conduct will sufficiently portray his real character. We inquire, what has the Right Hon. Baronet done, and what he has left undone, in his too long political career ? What have been his " prin ciples," what his consistencies, ignorance, and bigotry ? We charge to the account of Sir R. Peel the perpetuation of most of our existing evils. Prematurely taken from College, and launched into public life under the auspices of Tory patronage and prejudices, he soon ac quired an unjust and meretricions reputation. In 1812 he became Chief Secretary of Ireland, and was a principal and chosen fomenter of every species of political party error, and religious animosity. In that department of official power, he originated no one principle, and adopted no one practical political improvement ; he upheld every monopoly, and every species of Irish mis government. The seven years of his continu ance in Irish office may be described as the po litical curse of that unhappy country—adored by the corporations of Church and State—hated by the people, despised by every liberal and en lightened mind. From 1822 to 1827, Sir R. Peel was Secretary of State for the Home De par ment, and in 1829 again resumed his office. We boldly ask in what did the Right Hon. Baronet distinguish himself? A new Metro politan Police, and a little consolidation and improvement of the old Jury and Turnpike and Felony Acts, constitute his sole claims to pub lic favour and confidence. Utterly unknown in the republic of letters, or for any contribution to the science of Jurisprudence or Political Econo my, are we look at the Parliamentary career of the Right Hon. Baronet for specimens of his wisdom and patriotism ? Good God ! what a retrospect ! For upwards of twenty years this mock-legislator and miscalled " statesman" has been bolstering up every sort of political ignorance, bigotry,and corruption. He has been the destroyer of every project of national improvement—the ene my of the diffusion of knowledge and of popular education. In 1827, after opposing every pro posal for amelioration of the penal code, and for codification of our confused heaps of law, he artfully acquired a bastard reputation by five little Bills, " for amending , the criminal laws," and forthwith opposed the repeal of capital punishments for crimes of forgery. After being upwards of twenty years the violent sincere or insincere advocate of the Catholic disabilities, lie sacrificed in 1829 all his long-cherished opisions, without displaying an atom of can dour towards the Whigs, whose sentiments he adopted—claiming credit for his old bigotries of opinion, and affecting only to yield to po litical necessity. Subsequently he yielded the question of a repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, after having been, till all hope of resist ance vanished, the deadly enemy of religious liberty and freedom of opinion. On the ques tions of the monetary system, and the transfer of the elective franchise of corrupt East Ret ford to Birmingham—which require and shall receive a separate and precise retrospective re view—Sir Robert Peel has proved himself equally inconsistent and politically corrupt. When utterly and palpably ignorant ofthe elemen tary principles of currency and finance, he agreed with the sapient Legislators, who voted that a pound note and one shilling were equal to a guinea, then worth eight and-twenty shillings in the market ; he defended the virtues of an inconvertible circulating me dium ; lie was then the main manufacturer of " Peel's Bill," which, by returning to conver tibility without any alteration of the standard, robbed every debtor in the kingdom, and broke down every existing contract. He was party to those ministerial majorities which subsequently refused to inquire into the causes of national distress. He alternately attributed the evils of his own wilful and ignorant measures to over trading, over-production, a superabundant popu• lation, to good and bad harvests, and the want of proper floodgates of emigration (we do not mean to deny the influence to a certain extent of some of these causes). He was an active party in those various schemes " for sweating down John Bull so as to bring his person and pro perty within the limits alternately of a paper and metallic currency." He always encouraged the adulterous connexion between the Govern ment and the Bank of England. He was one of those ignorant Legislators who tried to force a gold currency into Scotland, where it was neither used nor needed, and when scotched by the active people beyond the Tweed, gravely contended that a small-note currency, though poison for Eng land, was manna for Scotland. Sir Robert Peel now contends, that the currency is " finally settled," when we have a monopoly of banking, Usury Laws in abundance, and public burdens prodigiously augmented by those " tricks of trade" played off - by the Right Honourable Ba ronet. So much for money-legislation, to which we shall return. Now for the Right Honour able Baronet's achievements on the subject of Parliamentary Reform. The artful opponent of the East Retford Bill, and affecting, not withstanding, the greatest alacrity to enfranchise the large unrepresented towns—this cunning and blind Legislator opposed Lord John Russell's motion. Although entreated to influence the Duke of Wellington (subsequent to the French Revolution of July, 1830) to concede a small portion of the popular claims for an amended representation, he was party to the King's speech, and to the Duke of Wellington's de claration that no Reform was needed ; and throughout the debates on the English, Scotch, and Irish Reform Bills, he has never dared to define what alteration in the elective system he would tolerate or recommend. His foreign policy needs no commentary ; how is it crumbling to dust ! We further appeal to the whole of Han sard's reco• d of the Parliamentary debates, whether this " puffed-up Legislator" ever ut tered a speech containin g one passage for fu turity—one new principle—one new illustration of a principle ? But the Right Hon. Baronet is the last " Leader " of the last unreformed House of Commons. His expert and artificial style of Parliamentary discourse, among the re presentatives of schedules A and B, will expire with this Session ; in a reformed Parliament he will be tossed in a political blanket ; there will be no respect of persons—commonplace and exploded fallacies, cunningly devised Parlia trient-irY Hill lose their vii toe and efficacy„ Totals of the 38 not Metro_ Titan • 1,578,1701 289,995 ?3,916 294,70 4 Thus it appears that the 4 metropolitan bo roughs contain of the population more than 4-7ths of an amount equal to all the other 38 boroughs. Houses, very nearly half as many as the 38 boroughs. Houses, 101. and upwards, 1,542 more than all the 38 boroughs. Assessed taxes twice the sum, and 78,0401. more than twice the sum paid by all the 38 boroughs. The 42 new boroughs will return 64 Mem bers thus :- 22 new boroughs, each 2 44 20 new boroughs, each 1 2O-64 The 4 new metropolitan boroughs, 2 each 8 The 38 new boroughs not metropolitan will return —56 If, then, the 38 new boroughs, not metropo litan, having 56 Members, the 4 new metropo litan boroughs should have, For population 32 Houses 27 instead of 8. Houses worth 101. and upwards 64 Assessed taxes Comparison of the Mel Boroughs in England to Parliament. :ropolitan Boroughs with the whole of and Wales, which are to send Members .£lO Popula- Houses A e s . Houses. tion. and up- Taxes. wards. The 4 new Metropolitan - --- Boroughs 916,265 144,279 84,488 667,148 London City 122,395 17,315 14,564 205,476 Westminster City and Liberty.... Southwark 2 10 234 : 4 16 i4 7) 2 2 .e 1 :4 892 ,2 1 9 7 :9,2. 681 4 30 , 5,, 4 1 2. 3.2 1 - --- Totals of the 7 Mettopo litan Boroughs 1,374,967 205,969 126,65 A 1 ,•227 ,607 - - Totals of all the 80. roughs in England anti Wales which are to send Mem bers to the House of Commons 193 4,748,809 999,965 332,510 2,081,105 Totals of the Metro politan Boroughs 7 1,374,907 205,969 126,656 1,227,607 - ---- Totals of all the Bo- - roughs, omitting the 7 Metropoli tan Boroughs lO6 3,373,842 792,996 205,854 850,498 Times. Much, perhaps ionstrances and ;, canna :olicitati be added to the re ma which have been already addressed to the reformers of England. Ind most of all to those of the metropolitan dis tricts, upon the necessity of securing, by active and immediate efforts, the return of Alembers to the pew Parliament who shall not betray their trust. It is known on all sides, that the Con servatives have long been in the field. They have have the balance of tact and dexterity in their favour , let it not be said that they have that el zeal and energy also. We are sure that the miserable Portuguese or Spaniards never were charged with any thing more disgraceful,—with any vice or weakness which appeared to the eyes of Englishmen more unnatural,—than their alleged indifference to the means of freedom which the Constitutions established in their respective countries had actually placed in their hands. Will Englishmen fol low that ignominious example ? Will they let it be said they clamoured for Reform with out having sense enough to appreciate what they called for ? Or that, having gained their play thing prize, they flung it, like spoiled children, into the fire ? If the Reformers do not at once buckle on their armour, and manfully take up the ultra-Tory gauntlet, they will prove to the world, that it is they, and not the enemies of all Reform, who may fairly be accounted " hypo crites ;" because the Tories were in earnest in their opposition to the Bill, while the professed Liberals have not been so in their support of it. We have received an hundred letters on the con temptible and criminal apathy displayed in this respect by a large portion of the new electors throughout Great Britain.--Times. SECOND EDITION. SUN OFFICE, Seven o'Clock. IM PERIA LPAR LIAMENT THIS EVENING. HOUSE OF LORDS. Lord DENBIGH presented two petitions, one from Innley, praying for the abolition of the punishment of death in cases of forgery, and the other from Chelsea, praying for measures for the better observance of the Lord's Day. Lord RADNOR presented two petitions from Ireland, praying for the abolition of the punishment of death in cvses of felony, where there was no personal violence. Lord KING presented a petition from Lincoln, pray ing for the abolition of punishment by death in cases of felony where there was no personal violence. The Marquess of LANSDOWNE presented a petition from Weymouth, in favour of the system of education in troduced into Ireland by his Majesty's Government. The Earl of WICKLOW ireseuted a petition agaiusi that system of education. The Archbishop of CANTERBURY presented a peti tion from the Presbytery of Edinburgh to the same effect. Lord RADNOR presented a petition from a parish iu the county of Mayo, in favour of the system. Lord RADNOR presented a petition from the Drawford street Political Union, Manchester, praying the Bouse not to throw any obstacles in the way of his Majesty's Mi nisters caerying into effect the Irish system of education. Lord MELBOURNE presented a petition from Poole, praying for a revision of the Criminal Laws. Lord KING, in rising to present a petition which he held in his hand, had a few observations to make. The petition was on the subject of tithes. On the last occasion on which lie presented a similar petition, he was asked a question by a Rev. Prelate on the subject. He would now take the liberty of putting the question to the Right Rev. Prelate—" Was the Church and tithe property originally the gift of pious persons for the support of religious worship ?" If it bed the use of it had been grossly perverted. If it was not but an impost laid on property by the State for the support of the public ser vants, then it was a tax imposed by the Crown, and liable to be interfered with by the Crown, or by the Legislature at pleasure. It had been interfered with on various occasions. It was a tax not on the land itself, but on theproduce of the land—a tix of the worst nature; and suppose the Bishops were to forsake their religious duties, and become political prelates, and suppose upon some great question, they were to render themselves in the vote they gave so odious to the public as to be unable to chew themselves in the street— suppose that his Majesty's Government might find it expedient of depriving the Bishops of a seat in that House—nay, even to alter the Church, and convert it into a Presbyterian institution altogether—would the Bishops not either have to alter their princi ples, or to give up their claims entirely to tithes ? His Lordship then laid upon the table a petition from Beaminster against tithes. The Bishop of LONDON thought it inconvenient to raise incidental discussions upon the presentment of peti tions when the whole subject of tithes would probably soon come before them. He should, therefore, simply content himself with denying that he ever asserted that the Legis atute had not a right to interfere for the regula tion of Church property, or to take care that the holders of it did their duty. SENTENCE OF DEATH BILL. At the earnest request of Lord TENTERDEN, the second reading of Sentence of Death Bill was postponed till this day se'nnight. NORWICH ASSIZES REMOVAL BILL. Lord SUFFIELD moved the second reading of the above Bill, and entered at length into the advantages Nor wich possessed over Thetford. (LYFT SITTING.) HOUSE OF COMMONS. Mr. PALMER. was introduced, and took the oaths and his seat as Member for the county of Berks. Mr. D. W. HARVEY was instructed to present a do cument somewhat unusual in its style. It was not a peti tion, fur it prayed for nothing; it was not a remonstrance, for it was filled with gratitude. It was an address from Worcester, and signed by a Magistrate as Chairman of the Meeting, expresNing their gratitude at the course pursued by this House in regard to the Reform Bill, but it contained no prayer. The SPEAKER said he was afraid the House could not receive it.—The address was withdrawn. Mr. STRUTT presented a petitiou from Derby, signed by 1,100 persons in favour of the Government plan of Education in Ireland. The petitioners would have been content to have left the subject in the hands of the House, but for the fact that four petitions had been presented from the same town against the measure. Upon looking at those petitions, he found the whole of the signatures amounted to but 300, and lie trusted that the present petition would be an answer to the attempts that were making throughout the country to raise a cry against the plan proposed by the Government. The most unfounded allegations bad been made, and even the pulpit was used for the purpose of creating an opposition. Mr. GORDON having been the person who presented the petitions for Derby against the measure, said they were signed by more than 300 persons, and no person who was not an adult and a parisioner was allowed to sign them. In getting up the petition now before the House, a good deal of political feeling had manifested itself; and the signatures to it were almost exclusively those of Dissenters. Mr. STRUTT said he had counted the signatures to the four petitions, and found they amounted to 292. Whether the present petition was signed chiefly by Dissen ters or not he could not say ; but he saw the names of two Magistrates amongst them. The petition was ordered to be printed. Mr. STRICKLAND presented a petition from the to Arnshipof Ella n d, i n t h e parish of Halifax, praying for an extension of the franchise for the borough of Wake field under the Boundaries Bill. This was the eleventh petition upon the same subject from that neighbourhood. Th e parish of Wakefield consisted of seven or eight townships. The township of Elland consisted of 6,000 inhabitants, and the whole parish contained about 110,000 inhabitants. If the borough of Halifax extended to all the townships it would take in a constituency of upwards of 3,000 beyond what was proposed by the present Bill. He could not agree with the argument that suc h an exten sion would interfere too touch with the county representa tion, for that argument could nut apply to such a district as Yorkshire. Sir G. MURRAY resented a petition from the occupiers of lands in the neighbo ur h oo d o f P ert h against the Scotch Boundaries' ; also a petition Irons the members of a society for a due observ ance of the Lord's day at Chelsea, praying fur an alteration in the law, in order to compel a proper obedience to the sanctity of that day. Loi d AIORPETH supplied the petition, and regretted , he laxity of observing the Sabbath in other classes beside 4iopkeepers. Mr. GORDON said that very early a proposition would be made to the House to alter the law regarding the ob •crvance of the Sabbath. The present laxity in obsceKing that day was chiefly attributable to the neglect of the offi cial authorities. The RIGHT HON. BARONET also presented a petition from the proprietors of farming-stock in Perth, praying !or the repeal of the stamp duties on fire insurances. Mr. BLACKNEY presented a petition from 'Jacket's- Town, in the county of Carlow, praying for the total abolition of the tithe system ; also a petition from Borris, in the county of Carlow, praying that an equal measure (4' Reform might be granted to Ireland as to England and Scotland. The Hon. Member, in moving the reading of the petition, took occasion to complain of the inconveni ence attending the registry of votes in Ireland. Mr. O'CONNELL observed that if the present system of registry went on, it would take the Learned Recorder of Dublin 208 days, at 12 hours a day, to complete the task assigned to him.—(Laughter.) Mr. SHAW said it would require the year to contain 374 days, at eight hours a day, to accomplish the work. Mr. HUNT congratulated the Learned Recorder upon the beneficial nature of the office he was likely to enjoy. Dr. LUSHINGTON presented a petition from the Grand Jury of Londonderry against the punishment of death in cases of forgery. Also, similar petitions from Portarlington, Cavan, Carlow, and several other places. Mr. LENNARD said that the feeling of the country was very strong on the subject, so much so that he, and he had no doubt other Hon. Members, had innumerable petitions to present on the subject ; but owing to the regulation which had lately been made as to the presenta tion of petitions, he had not been able to present them. Mr. WILKS bore testimony to the feeling that existed throughout the country on the subject. Dr. LUSHINGTON presented a petition from Maiden head in favour of the Factories' Bill. Also a petition from the inhabitant householders of St. Margaret's and St. John's, Westminster, in favour of Reform. Mr. BROWNLOW presented petitions from different parishes in Armagh in favour of Reform and against tithes. Also a petition from the city of Armagh, praying for the introduction of Poor Laws into Ireland. Also a petition from the Conference Presbytery of Bangor in favour of the new plan of Education in Ireland. Lord MORPETH presented a petition from Dewsbury, lamenting that the Reform Bill for Ireland did not extend to the people of that country the benefits which the English Reform Bill gave to the people of England, and praying that the House would so amend the Irish Bill as that every inhabitant of that country might enjoy the same benefits as the people of England. Mr. O'CONNELL was sure that a petition like the present, coming from enlightened Englishmen, would be received with heartfelt gratitude by the people of Ireland. Mr. STRICKLAND congratulated the House on the alteration of the tone of the Hon. Member for Kerry from that which he took last night, and denied that the people of England were indifferent to the interests of Ire land. The wishes of the people of this country were to see Ireland prosperous and happy. After some observations from Mr. BLACKNEY, the peti tion was read. Dr. LUSHINGTON then presented peti•ions from Thirk and Denby, for a modification of the penal code. After some observations from Air. HUNT, the petitions were ordered to be printed. lnd the astonished Right Hon. Baronet will discover himself seated for the little family bo rough of Tamworth in a new political at niosphere—his superiors, not his inferiors, com passing him round about. Sir R. Peel was bred up in the Chesterfield school of public speaking—the first lesson of which was as fol lows, in the letter of the Noble founder to his son :—" No man can make a figure in this country but by parliament. Your fate depends upon your success there as a speaker; and, take my word for it, that success turns much more upon manner than matter : even trifles elegantly expressed, well looked, and ac companied with graceful action, will ever please beyond all the homespun sense in the world." The late Mr. Canning was a master of this school of oratory. Sir Robert would also wish to be a master, but is merely a mannerist. Such is a rough sketch of the political career of this great beau ideal of Tory statesmen. We will perfect the picture some day, especially in this adult legislator's labours on the article of money. We will record what he has collected for him self since his advent in political life, and how he has meddled with the property and pecuniary transactions of the whole kingdom. Though so bitter an enemy of Reform, he little opines that he is the parent of the Ministerial measure. He is so short-sighted as not to know his own progeny. His Bill of 1819, the 4 and 9-10ths per cent. " depreciation," his utter want of po litical foresight, preceded and chiefly originated the Reform Bill. But Sir Robert Peel never did or will see the shadow of a coming event ; he will never have sagacity to foresee, nor cou rage to propel or stay political circumstances. Nevertheless this is the public man—tried and found wanting—the real destroyer of European institutions, by allowing the rust of time to eat into their core—whom the Tories wish to act as Aide-de-Camp to the Duke of Wellington. To what miserable shifts must they be put — the ends to be intrusted to those who have thus virulently and wildly opposed the means ! Can men gather figs from thistles ? The idea of Sir Robert Peel ruling this country is preposterous ; he must make several more political somersets before he can perform that singular feat.— Morning Chronicle. Were we going to argue the Reform Bill over again, and more particularly that much-contested branch of it,—the representation of the metro politan districts,—our text-book should be the admirable speech of Lord Durham, delivered in Committee on the Bill, and on the 22d ult. It is curious enough, that whether we take the democratic test of qualification—viz., numbers or the opposite test—namely, wealth, and the conservative tendency growing out of it, the claims to representation on the part of the me tropolis are even more difficult to be resisted by a tory reasoner, on his own principles, than if he looked exclusively for materials to the popular data. For example, the four great towns of Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, and Sheffield, whose rights to the franchise are now admitted by all the conservatives in the country, contain a population of little more than half of that com prised within the metropolitan districts ; they contain in houses of 101. and upwards, little above one-third, and they pay in assessed taxes, as compared with Marylebone, Finsbury, the Tower Hamlets, and Lambeth, less in amount than 'one-sixth. Therefore, it may be alleged, that if there be one ground more prominent and unassailable than another, whereon to justify the grant of the franchise to the districts of the me tropolis, that ground was furnished by the Tories themselves, whose opposition to the mea sure has been marked by the grossest and most revolting inconsistency. In subjoin ing one or two of the tables annexed to Lord Durham's printed speech, we must hint to the inhabitants of those very metropolitan dis tricts, that, unless they act with a spirit and energy in the exercise of the privileges with which the Reform Bill has clothed them, and greater than they at present manifest, they will have supplied the Anti-Reformers with a power ful objection to the enfranchisement of those districts, which no man's ingenuity could have anticipated—namely, that the elective qualifica tion is an honour of which its new possessors are insensible, and a trust which they are incom petent to discharge for the public good. This, we repeat, will be echoed throughout the country, as a valid reason for having attempted to with hold an extended franchise from the metropolitan population, unless they who are thus enfran chised shall display a much increased alacrity in their preparations to employ the power. As yet no such measures are apparent. Comparison of the Four New Metropolitan Boroughs with the whole of the Forty- two New Boroughs. Totals of the 42 Boroughs... Totals of the 4 Metropolitan Popul, tion. 2,494,435' 916,1263 Houses. 433,2'741 144,2791 £lO I Housesl and up wards. 158,4341 84,4881 k Assessed 1 Taxes. 962,152 667,448 MESSAGE FROM THE LORDS. A message from the House of Lords brought up several Bills, to which their Lordships had agreed ; among which were—The Bristol Damages Compensation—the Edin burgh Police, the Chorlton.row Improvement, &c. Their Lordships also requested to be furnished by this House with a copy of the report and minutes of evidence relative to the Exchequer of Scotland Bill. The messengers having retired, and the question, that the request of the Lords being complied with, being car ried in the affirmative, they were again called in, and in formed that the copy of the report of the minutes of evi dence would be furnished to their Lordships. Mr. O'CONNELL presented a petition from the Mem bers of the National Political Union of the Working Classes, praying for the repeal of the taxes on newspapers. The petitioners stated, that having now the certainty of a Re formed Parliament, it was incumbent to repeal all taxes on knowledge, so that all information should be obtained as cheaply as possible. Mr. HUNT supported the prayer of the petition, and promised that when the Hon. Member (Mr. Bulwer) brought forward his motion upon this subject, he would give it his hearty support. Lord KILLEEN presented a petition from the land owners of a parish in the county of Meath, praying for an abolition of tithes or for a different appropriation of them. Mr. H. GRATTAN supported the prayer of the peti tion. Tithes were now at an end in Ireland. On Mon day last there was to have been a meeting in Dublin of 60,000 people belonging to the county of Wexford, upon the same subject. It was impossible now to collect tithes in Ireland, except at the point of the bayonet. He hoped the serious attention of Engliah Gentlemen and of the Government would be speedily called to this subject. Lord KILLEEN confirmed the statement of - the Hon. Member who had just sat down. From what he had learned lately he knew it would be impossible any longer to collect tithes, and, therefore, he hoped the attention of Government would be turned to the subject before the Ses sion terminated ; for it was quite clear that tithes might now be con iilered to be at an end. Mr. O'CONNELL had, on a former night, heard one of his Majesty's Ministers speak of his desire for an extinc tion of tithes, and consequently in Ireland it was believed that the word was taken literally ; but it now seemed that there was not to be an extinction but an adoption of tithes in some other form. Sir C. WETHERELL had never understood that there was to be an extinction of tithes without compensation. Lord ALTHORP said he had used the words extinc tion of titles, and it certainly was the intention of his Majesty's Government to extinguish tithes, but not with out making a compensation in lieu thereof to the clergy. The mode of collecting the tithes, and various other cir cumstances connected with them, were very great evils, and such as could not be got rid of so long as the present system existed. Mr. HUNT said the Right Hon. Secretary for Ireland had used the word extinction without qualification or ex planation, and so it bad gone abroad ; it was not until af terwards that an explan.tion was given. Mr. WELLESLEY did not think that any Govern ment would entertain an idea of taking away the tithes without considering and having due regard for the rights of the clergy. He knew that most of the clergy were anxious that tithes should be done away with, but they were equally anxious that their rights should be re spected.—(Hear). Mr. BLACKNEY :said it was certainly understood in Ireland that tithes were to be wholly extinct. He de tailed at some length the evils of the present system. The great miseries of Ireland were owing, first, to the cursed system of tithes, and then to the oppression of the peasantry. He was convinced there was an end to tithes in that country. There was great danger in the coercive system. The people were disposed to keep the peace, but oppression had its limits. After some further observations from the Hen. Member, the petition was ordered to be printed. Mr. BEAUMONT wished to ask the Right Hon. Gentleman below (Mr. Lamb) the Under Secretary for the Home Department, whether Government had re ceived authentic intelligence respecting the murder of a Magistrate in South Shields, under most atrocious circumstances, by two individuals belonging to some Trades' Union in that part of the country ? Mr. LAMB said Government had certainly received in formation of the melancholy nature alluded to by the Hon. Member ; and the proper steps had thereupon immediately been adopted. _ . Mr. BEAMMONT did not wish to make any particu lar remarks on the present occasion, but he thought it was quite necessary some means should be adopted by that House, to relieve the country of the evils entailed on the industrious classes by means of these illegal combinations. Sir 11. HARDINGE hoped the lion. Member would take an early opportunity of bringing the subject before the House. He had seen several letters relative to the matter in question, and it was much to be regretted that a Magistrate, in the discharg e of his public duty, should so atrociously have been murdered. Sir R. PEEL had alaiays felt upon the subject of those Unions, that the industrious classes were more interested in their suppression than those in the higher classes. The latter had generally the means of escaping from their fury, but the industrious classes we! e necessarily exposed to in sult and danger, if they did not belong to them. They lived by their labour, and they could not be allowed to take their articles to the most profitable market without being dictated to by these most illegal and hazardous com binations. It was, therefore, the duty of the Legislature to interpose, and afford some protection to those who did wish to involve themselves in them. Mr. E. L. 13ULWER then rose to bring forward his motion for the abolition of all taxes on knowledge. lie said that almost all lion. Men - wls who entered that House, did so with some favourite notion—.his, how . vi r, wis the abolition of these taxes. W'hat, indeed, had considerably strengtened his opinior. on the subject was the uncommon increase of small pub lications, some of which, if not seditious, were at all event.. very detrimental to the feelings of the community at large. He believed that lie would not have to call upon the Noble Lord (Althorp) to make any, the smallest, reduc tion in the revenue. He has clone down to that House with sufficient facts to show that his plan, so far from re ducing the revenue, would have a most beneficial ten dency, viz., to increase it. What stronly illustrated his position was shown in the criminals who were tried in Berkshire and other places on the occasion of the incen diary fires. He found that of the 13S prisoners tried in Berkshire only ten of them could read or write, and the same lamentable ratio was to be found in all those places where incendiarism had predominated. On the other side it might be said that poverty was the cause of all that, but Honourable Members would credit him when he denied that proposition. His station i❑ life had led him to see many of those who followed literature for a livetihood, yet from his own dersonal knowledge he could say that there wac as much poverty amongst many of that class, yet amongst them as poor as they were (and they were quite as much so as any of those who were called the poorer classes, and had more to struggle with), yet amongst them crime was sel dom or ever heard of. To what could this be attri buted but to the enlightenment they had received by education. It was acknowledged that newspapers were the success of diffusing more knowledge than any other component part of the system of literature. This could not well be devised, and the reason was plain—they were more nire populous than any other part of that system could well expect to be. He remembered a story told by a traveller in the United States, who asked to what cause it was to be attributed that so few persons in that country were found who were not able to read ; he was told that every person found in his neighbour's hands a newspaper, and he was ashamed to own that he could not read ; therefore, in the course of a short time this caused the whole of the population to be a reading one.—(Hear, hear.) These papers contained a great deal that was necessary and valuable to the power, but they did not contain that advice and admonition upon points of law and of trade which they ought to do. He should like Hon. Members to be aware of the vast number of publi cat'ons that were now in the hen is of the lower order. It was true that, in some instances, they we e obscure to the classes to which they were addressed; but in a great many instances, the number sold of them was much greater than that of the legiti mate journals.—(Hear, hear.) Some of those publica tions struck at the very root of property, and advocated the seizure and equal distribution of all the lands in the kingdom. Some of them even advocated assassination itself. These doctrines were circulated weekly, to the amount of several thousands of copies, to which there was no reply, unless it could be said that the reply was to he found in the legitimate Journals, if so in answer to hat he would say the poison was sold for a penny, and the antidote for seven pence. What he should propose therefore was, to take away the stamps from the sevenpenny paper, it would fall at once to threepence three farthings. Probably on an average they would not be more than twopence each. When the legitimate papers were sold at so low a rate those who now went into a public-house for the purpose of reading them would buy papers for themselves. As an in stance of the effect which the stamp duties had upon the sales of papers, he would instance that of "Carpenter's Po litical Journal," which, at the period when it sold for 4d. had a circulation of upwards of 6,000 ; but the instant a stamp was affixed to it, its sale fell down to 500. (LEFT SPEAKING.) POLICE INTELLIGENCE. MAR YLEB ONE. A young man, named John West, a medical student, and enveloped in an ample cloak, was charged under the following circumstances : About four o'clock yesterday morning he met Mrs. M. Jones, who had been to see her husband off in a coach in Park-road. He had a mask on. As soon as he saw her, he pulled this off, and threw open his cloak, which displayed a tall ungainly per son, and a bare lanky neck, attired in a kind of flesh coloured vest. Notwithstanding this attractive ex hibition, Mrs. Jones refused to accompany him home, and he struck her, for which he was taken into custody. Mr. RAWLINSON deprecated his foolish conduct, especially his wearing his mask in the streets. A policeman saw that morning a barouche and four rattle down the New-road, and it was filled by per sons of both sexes, who were half.naked and were returning from the masquerade. Mr. RAWLINSON fined the defendant 205., and said it was the duty of the police to inform against taverns where such scenes as masquerades were carried on. HATTON-GARDEN. Yesterday Celia Bingham, a middle-aged woman, of respectable appearance, was charged under the folio wingcircumstances Miss Mary Amsdall, an interesting girl, about fourteen, who resides with her parents in Huston square, went in consequence of what she was told by one of the servants respecting th e p r i soner ' s powers of telling fortunes, to the residence of the prisoner in Queen-street, Hatton garden, where she found her seated amidst maps, books, cards, and pa pers, with strange figures marked on them. The prisoner told her to sit down, and she kept her in the room for two hours, during which time she looked at various papers, and mysteriously pocked the fire. The prisoner at length referred to Buona patte's Book of Fate, and astonished her by saying that she had an aunt Graham (the fact), who was her enemy. The witness gave the prisoner two shillings. and went home with the servant who at tended her, and who bad sat in another room, by the prisoner's orders. She was so uneasy at what she had been told, that she disclosed the circum stances, and her friends got a warrant against the prisoner. _ The prisoner, who denied that she was a fortune teller, was committed for three months. Charles James, a vagrant, was charged with hav ing stolen 9s. 6d., the property of Ann Dixon, a fish-woman. Mr. ROGERS (to the prosecutrix)—Where was the robbery committed ? Dixon—At a fourpenny lodging-house in Charles -street, Druty-lane, while I was in bed with that man, pointing to a low•looking Mr. ROGERS—IS he your husband ? Dixon— No, Sir, we sleep three in a bed.—(Laughter.) Mr. ROGERS—HOW did he steal it ? The pro secutrix's bedfellow (hoarsely)—l vos in bed with her, your Vorship, vhen be took her pockets from under her head, vich sarved as her pillar. Mr. Roca:Rs—Surely you don't sleep thus thickly and indiscriminately in one bed ? Witness—Oh yes, ve does, your Vurship, the partment full every night. _ _ _ Mr. ROGERS (to the prisoner)—What have you to say ? Prisoner—l deny it your Worship; there are twenty-four beds in the room, and three in a bed, men, women, and children, as long as they pay 4d. The officer, however, said that it was true. The prisoner was remanded. THAMES. POLICE. Yesterday, Henry Kirkman, a man of strange ap pearance, whose head and face strongly resembled the Rev. E. Irving's, particularly in the disposal of his long black hair, was re-examined on a charge of having in his possession several hundred weight of old and new serviceable metal, suspected to have been stolen or unlawfully procured. I. F. BURDEN, a respectable solicitor, of Pratt street, Camden-town, attended to prosecute the case, and one of Mr. Harmer's clerks for the pri soner. It appeared that the prisoner, who has been three times convicted at this office, twice at Marylebone, and once at Queen-square, for having stolen and suspicious property in his possession, for whi c h h e could give no satisfactory account, resides at No. 42, College-street, Camden-town, and is a collector of metals. A few days since, Mitchell, Fogg, and .Joshua Judge, surveyors of Thames Police, searched his house, and seized a waggon load of suspicious property, including fifty-six pounds of copper ; amongst which were several valuable engraved cop per-plates, and 5001bs. of brass, which the defendant said was old, but the greater part of which had never been used. A part of it consisted of new hinges. The remainder of the articles consisted of "ilbs, of serviceable type, but very little worn, 21 bells wit tongues out, 301bs. of new coach-beading cut int small pieces, 14Ibs. of zinc and metal cocks, fot pair of copper scales, a quantity of weights, a mil tary officer's epaulet (quite new), 3lbs. of ne pewter, two cudgaree pots (used by Lascars board ship), a copper, 701bs. of plated and bra buttons, and various other articles. The prisone on being called upon to account for his possessit of such suspicious property, said they were a seri, of collections he had bought of many persons at at sales. Mr. Burden sa;d that the prisoner was a cot plete nuisance in the neighbourhood of Camdel town, and the noxious effluvia which proceeds from his house, while engaged in melting doss metals, was most intolerable; and the houses c each side of Kirkman's residence were unoccupie, and no person could live near him. A true bill ha be'n found by the Middlesex Grand Jury again! Kirkman, as a nuisance, and for ringing of bell firing off guns and pistols at unseasonable hours, it decently exposing his person to females, for bein drank and disorderly, singing blasphemous and of scene songs, and other outrageous acts. The office► said that Kirkman was one of the most extraordi nary characters they had ever met with. His how was in a filthy state, and did not appear to hav been washed for years ; he was a single man, an seldom rose from his bed until three or four o'cloc in the afternoon : his bed was never made, and was surrounded with many thousand old newspaper , Kirkman laid in bed all the morning, reading then newspapers, and as he finished their perusal, h threw them aside indiscriminately. He was in ti habit of driving his horse and cart most furious) along the street, to prevent any officer stopping hit with the stolen metal, while conveying it away t the wholesale dealers ; he once ran over a officer, and injured him severely,—and had ridde ever two children, for which offence he wa tried at tl►e Old Bailey,--once for mw der, and on the other occasion for manslaughter, bu escaped conviction ; he was in the habit of fioggin his horse with a piece of copper wire, placed at th end of his whip before he went out, and the anima which was a very fine one, was so frightened at thi instrument of torture, that it galloped furiousl; along the streets to escape punishment, which wa inflicted with merciless severity if the horse abate his pace. Kirkman had been once fined for cruelt: to his horse. In fact, there was not a police-offic in London at which he had not appeared, and he wa frequently locked up in the station-houses for outra geous conduct. Mr. Burden believed the prisoner was labouring under insanity. He was the terror of the district and the inhabitants of the Camden estate were de termined, if possible, to get rid of him. He rr sooner made his appearance with his horse and cart than men, women, and children fled within doors ti save themselves from being run over. The officers said that Kirkman, with all his ex travagance, was a very clever chemist, and by scum process was enabled to remove the gold from ail buttons, and drove very hard bargains in purchasing metal. He had netted large sums by his dealing with thieves. Captain RICIIDELL, the Magistrate, convictet him in the penalty of 5/. for unlawful possession o the metal, which was declared forfeited to the Crown COURT OF KING'S BENCH, JUNE 13. INSURANCE.-LEVEBRE AND OTHERS, TRUSTEES 01 THE PROMOTER LIFE INSURANCE OFFICE V. BAYLE. This action was brought by the plaintiffs to re. cover all the sum of 850/., paid to the defendant under a misrepresentation. The cause was tries before Lord Tenterden at Guidhall last year, and s verdict found for the plaintiffs. In January last, the Attorney-General obtained ft rule nisi, for setting aside the verdict and entering e nonsuit. This was moved on the ground that the plaintiffs were not the proper parties to bring the action. The Attorney-General contended that the proprietor of the Promoter Company only could bring the action. He also relied upon a presumed misdi• rection on the part of the Learned Judge. This day Counsel appeared to show cause against the rule. Lord TENTERDEN read his notes of the trial, from which it appeared that in 1828, Miss Jane Lydia Simpson effected an insurance on her life for 8501. She stated to the office on the occasion, that she was preparing to open a school at Kennington, and that the insurance was intended to be security for the payment of money lent to her. She a lso represented that she was in good health and had no complaint tending to shorten life. She referred to two persons, named Edwards, who confirmed her statement. The necessary inquiries appearing ate tisfactory, the policy was made out, signed and de livered to Miss Jane Lydia Simpson. In January' 1829, she applied to the Company for permission to transfer the policy to the defendant, for money ad vanced to her. The Company consented, and transfer took place. Shortly after the defendant communicated to the Promoter-office the death of Miss Simpson by brain fever. He produced t he documents relating to her death, and obtained a check for the amount insured. In conse quence of a discovery subsequently made by the Company, they wrote to the defendant stet ing that policies on the life of Miss Simpson had been effected at the Globe, and four other offices, precisely under the same circumstances. The whole having been a misrepresentation, they d ec l are d t h e ir intention to resist payment, and requested the de fendant to return the money erroneously p a id to him by the company. The defendant did not com ply, and the plaintiffs brought their action. It WO' proved that Miss Simpson, in 1825, was in a s tate of pregnancy, and at the time she effected the in surance ‘s as in bad health. Her condition was the!) most melancholy. The Jury found a verdict for the plaintiffs. Mr. CAMPBELL and Mr. HILL, in this instance, showed cause against the rule obtained by the At torney-General, and Mr. White was heard in sup port of it. The Judges were of opinion that the action Was warranted, and that the verdict of the Jury ought not to be disturbed.—Rule discharged. A great many of the pitmen still remain employed, and miners are daily arriving from various par t° of the kingdom to fill the situations of the refractory' &niers. Th e w or k o f e j ectment still continues, a° " twenty families were turned out of their cottages 00 Monday, by the owners of the Sheriff-hill colliery, Gate 4 ; head F e ll, i n thi s county. The trade of the Tyne, ovulr, to the long con ti nuance o f t h e diff erences b etween the co s owners asd their workmen, is in a most deplorable st 4te j and many of the colliers have to pro cee d t o S ea h aw sa,. e Stockton for cargoes, owing to th e scarc i ty o f coa l s on W Tyne.--Sunderland Herald. On the 12th inst. at Upper Clitton-street, Finsbury, .'"° Black, of a son. On the 11th inst. Mrs. J. Allen Adamthwaite, of Woodhe rrl. lake, Stoke Newington, of a son. On the 9th inst. at Stone, Kent, the lady of the Rev. Th° l° Deacon, of a son, still-born. MRIE. On the 12th i ns t . at Pelha AR m Chapel, D Hastings, the Rev. Ca> l Molyneux, eldest son of the late John Molyneux, of Grave."' 1 Ludlow, Esq. and gran d son o f t h e late Right Hon. Sir C a f e Molyneux, al olyneux, Bart., t o M ar i a , secon d daughter of Vice.MM l James Carpenter. On the 13th inst. at Fulham, John Bruce, F.sq., of Stimburg, strOeent, the Strand,l3th inst. o s C l Catherine to Mary, secon d surviving daughter of the late J o h n WilliaP Nelson, Esq. eFriunle Anna haPa m rk ar N ia, el o so n n ly , daughter Es o of fs tet late Robert John Nelson, Esq. DIED. he 00' Harrietoo i n i t t h iw e c2 l as 2 rt t oh h l ou i , n ict s . t i: i nm n bb C ota l o ci ,d , t l Cleveland-row, daughter r i g n i, h her r aos l ft B lL t e h c:or y dfl e . a vl r ,:u, e t r f far on the passage home from Bengal, Elizabeth, the wife of ' I'ersse, of the 16th Lancers, eldest daughter of the Hon. Justice Moore. t er of On the 13th inst. Helen Frances, th e younges t datigO` , r e. George James Squibb, Esq., of Orchard- s t ree t Portman-sl u- c lict On the 12th inst. at Nori-place, Kingsland.road, Anne, of H. Perkin, Esq. °On the 12th inst. in the 12th year of h i s age, H ey d on , sec son of William Batley, Esq., of Blackheath. prer°ll' On the 13th inst. Sus an , th e w i fe of the Rev. Ph ili p Le of Lwer Seymour-street Prtman-square. On the Bth inst. in the, Wa o ndsworth-road, Mrs. Ann Bulln3n' aged 71, late of Upper Clapton. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY MURDO YOUNG, I T T° SUN Of FIOE, 112, Swan), LorrpoN,