The Sun. — London, England, 1832-01-16 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. The death of Colonel Brereton has produced every where a very painful sensation. It is ma nifest from the whole course of the trial, that nothing but the most refined and active huma nity could have induced this amiable officer to abstain from the employment of the force under his orders, since it is on record, from the evi dence of four or five witnesses, that he all along persuaded himself he would be able to prevail with the rioters by conciliatory means to dis perse. Undoubtedly it requires some expe rience of mobs to understand how we ought to deal with them. A slight effort on the part of soldiers or constables may suppress at the outset, and without bloodshed, a tumult which, if dal lied with, will cost an hundred times as much of exertion and punishment to overpower. But in Bristol it appears that there was, in fact, no civil power of any description organised, so as to present a front to the mob, or to act as an in termediate body—an object of immense im portance between the populace and the army. The blame of such an omission must rest ex clusively with the Magistrates, and to it as a di rect and immediate cause, must be ascribed the whole of the dreadful destruction which followed. Next, after the absence of the constabulary or civil power, comes the obvious insufficiency of the mili tary means which were placed at the disposal of Col. Brereton. It is not enough that the number c3i troops provided against an apprehended mob should be able to defeat it in case of actual hos tilities. The politic and humane proceeding would be, to have at hand a force so abundant and imposing, as to deter the multitude from the work of mischief, by making it plain to the most stupid or desperate among them, that their resistance would be absolutely unavailing.— Here were, so far as can be conjectured, a sum total of about 80 or 90 horsemen, to put down the most daring mob in England, in a city of 60,000 or 70,000 inhabitants. Now it is plain, from much of the evidence, that had the cavalry made 100 charges, the rioters would have eluded the most vigorous efforts of dragoons, by slipping into lanes and alleys, where it was impossible for cavalry to pursue, or act against them ; an infantry force ought therefore to have been prepared to support the horse, and this omission, added to the former one, of which the Bristol Magistrates stand guilty, takes off a second share of blame from the shoulders at Colonel Brereton. Why is it that a large military force is preferable to a small one, especially its civil tumults ? Not, surely, for the sake of shedding a greater quan tity of blood, but for that of more effec tual intimidation, and the consequent preven tion of all recourse to arms. We are not sure that a mind of sterner mould than Colonel Brereton's would have been more fitted to such trying circumstances, but of this we are sure, that his error, if it were an error, was wholly " on virtue's side," and one by which the univer sal compassion for his fate, and affection for his memory, will be greatly enhanced and perpe tuated. If we were to indulge, at this moment, la remarks upon the spirit evinced by military men in general, we should unquestionably cen sure it for characteristics directly opposite to those for which the brave and humane Colonel Brere ton was subject to a public trial. The hue and cry raised in military circles against that unfor tunate gentleman, for his backwardness to em ploy the sword against unarmed Englishmen, even though guilty, affords an index of the besetting sin of many amongst our military Aristocracy, which- is, in truth, a too great forwardness to substitute force for concilia tion. We speak what is notorious in society, that some at least of the condemnation of Colonel Brereton, for " not at once putting down the mob," was, because the criticising parties chose to regard the Bristol tumults as the work, not merely of a mob, but of a mob of Reformers and radicals. A " Church and King mob," of the olden time of Priestley, would have found more favour in their eyes. Against this description of soldier severity, which de rives its sanguinary tinge from politics, in the name of our constitutional Sovereign,—of the people,—and the law of England,—we openly and decidedly protest. The heads of the Tory aristocracy are not the only parties chargeable with using unseemly threats or boastings of future chastisement, to be inflicted on the middle and poorer ranks of Englishmen engaged in the cause of Reform. We have heard language in other quarters which calls for severe animadver sion. It is to the credit of the British navy that many officers of that noble service have, to our knowledge, declared themselves strong advo cates for a Reform of the abuses in the compo sition of Parliament, and have expressed their hopes that the Sovereign and his Mi nisters will succeed in a peaceable and ex peditious accomplishment of the great mea sure which they have so honourably under taken. But the profession of a navy man has a direct tendency to exercise and open the reason ing faculties of its members,—t o throw them, in various unforeseen embarrassments, on the resources of their own intelligence,—and, by en abling them to think originally and correctly, to give them the habit of just and upright feeling. We meet but few officers bred to the sea who do not impress their acquaintances with the convic tion that they have carefully educated their own minds, or have profited largely by instruction re ceived from others. Is it so in the case of mili tary men? We fear not in the same degree as with their gallant brothers of the quarter-deck. Zealous in the discharge of their own appointed duties they may be, an d we b e li eve are, in a vast I majority of instances. Brave in battle, and humane in victory, their enemies confess them ; but they undoubtedly have not an extensive re putation for capacity to form very sound opinions on subjects altogether extra-professional, parti cularly if such subjects should happen to in volve a set of interests and sympathies at variance with those which are naturally gene rated in the course of military service. Naval officers are, no doubt, formed, like soldiers, in the school of peremptory command and prompt obedience ; but they can look on, as distant and calm spectators, at the affairs of political society ashore, where the maxims of free agency are more current than those of personal subordina tion or authority ; and not being called upon to take part on the scene, they can judge on ques tions agitated there as if they belonged to history or to abstract speculation. Political interests, regarded collectively, seldom come home to the persons, or excite the passions, of seamen. 'Their minds may, therefore, on such themes, afford to be unclouded, because their passions are untouched. This advantage is not possessed by guardsmen, dragoons, or marching regime nts. Their service, when at home, consists exclusively of endeavours to uphold some branch of the public authorities against those who defy or me nace them.- The mob are the only enemy they ever hear of while in home quarters. At the same time the powers of the State, and mainte nance of the laws, have long been vested in the English oligarchy ; hence the natural bias of a military man, both here and in Ireland, is in favour of oligarchy, and adverse to the lower orders of the people. These two com ponents of the political character of an officer, when he acts from pure impulse, not giving himself time or trouble to consider both sides of an important question, go to render him neither more nor less than an habitual (though perfectly well-meaning) Tory. It is not surprising, that if the oligarchs themselves regard all attempts to disseminate more widely the various descriptions of power which they have managed to wrest from their fellow-subjects and concentrate in their own gripe, as so many conspiracies to overturn the State, military men, a large proportion of whom take pride in consi dering themselves as subordinate members or attach& of the oligarchy, should imitate their patrons, and give Reform, however safe or salu tary, the vulgar nickname of revolution. Nor is it more extraordinary, that when the chiefs have deliberately confounded all ranks of Reformers, and denied the least distinction between the middle classes and the populace, imputing to both indiscriminately a design to outrage the laws, and trample on all property,-4 does not, we say, by any means astonish us, that soldiers should become the dupes of this fashionable slander, and should repeat with eagerness the lesson taught them, that " a little mititary exe cution would be a wholesome cooler of this epidemic malady of Reform." That there exist hundreds of enlightened gentlemen in the servie, who would laugh to scorn such stupidity, or treat with grave indignation the proposal to act upon it, none are more convinced than we are. It is known to all the world, and will be known to after times, that there are in the British army minds great and powerful, as well as common place and little ; but it is likewise true that such minds are not always placed where they ought to be—at the helm of the military machine. Men holding high official rank as officers should be careful of their expressions. The people of Eng land, the Parliament of England, will not en dure to be talked at by those whose professional existence hangs on a single vote of the House of Commons, as if the creatures of our in dulgence were our masters, and we, their creators, were their slaves. " Let out the army, and put down Reform." Dare you breathe such sounds again, even in the ears of your own menials ? Do so in that of gentlemen, and we will denounce you to the empire by name. It may be added here, that the first article in the United Ser vice Magazine for December (upon the whole a very clever and useful publication), which is entitled " Bristol Riots," and the first article in the number for the present month, display some what more of the anti-popular vapouring than either becomes an English military work, or was provoked or called for by the subject. In allu sion to the melancholy subject with which we in troduced this article, it is our duty to add tlu not merely the suicide of the lamented Colonel Brereton, but the condemnation to death of five unhappy men at Bristol, and four others under the Commission at Nottingham, have been the blessed, though indirect, fruits of th e o bd urate resistance to 'Constitutional Reform, and conse quent agitation of the whole frame of England, for which a certain Tory faction will, one day or other, have to atone.—Times. In the Quarterly Review for January, just published, there is a long and laboured article, in which the mischief produced by the continued agitation of the Reform question is very chari tably transferred from the selfish and unfeeling opponents of the measure to Ministers, and an argument against all Reform is drawn from the mischief caused by its enemies, who ought to benefit by their own wrong. It is taken for granted, that if the Lords only hold out a third time, Earl Grey would find it difficult to reconcile his longer continuance in office with his past declarations or his personal honour, and that the country is now so sobered down by the sufferings caused by the agitation, that a general election would now return " a better House of Commons." " Every election, it is said, which has taken place since the general election (we do not even except that for Cambridge, where the Tory candidate was unsuccessful) has given token of a better spirit. The agricultural popu lation, in all parts of the kingdom, are now, we believe, very generally become sensible of their danger. The political spirit is up in Ireland ; and had the strength of the conservative party been displayed with the same energy through out the kingdom a year ago, as it has lately been at the meetings (of Lairds and corruptionists and their retainers !) held in Scotland, the Reform Bill would not now have been in existence." Want of space prevents our noticing further at present this extraordinary article. The moral of that seems to be, that if the Lords will only kick the English people sufficiently hard, they will be compliant enough. Nothing succeeds, it seems, with all Englishman so well as treating him with insult and contempt.—Morn. Chron. The flames which civil tumult had kindled in Bristol were quenched by military execution in blood. The humane officer who hoped to be able to restore the public peace without turning the edge of the sword against the lives of his countrymen has fallen by his own hand, the vic tim to that " sensibility of honour, which felt a stain as a wound"—a stain which the stern spirit of the military code could not forgive, because that code speaks the language of a system or ganized for the purpose of human destruction : but his error, if it be one, is hallowed in the eye of mercy. It will do more honour to his memory than the guilty glory of civil slaughter, tarnished by the tears of the widow and the orphan, and pursued by the curses of suffering humanity. He has gone down to the grave without the honours of the soldier, but not without the nobler and more lasting recollections of the virtues of the man ; and indeed we do not know that even the soldier's fame can be the worse because his sword was pure of the blood of his fellow-citizens. The rash act which hur ried him into the presence of a n omn i sc i ent Judge, before whom his accusers must one day appear, would indeed have been a great crime, if it were not the act of a sensitive spirit stung to that degree of madness which precludes the idea of moral responsibility. It is lamentable to think that a generous aversion to take the lives of others should have placed him in circum stances which drove him to lift his hand against his own. But why has Colonel Brereton, of all the persons whose duty it was to protect the peace of Bristol, been made the scape-goat to bear the sins of so many who wer e recreants to their trust ? lhe Magistracy of Bristol were, in the first instance, responsible for the public peace. Great and serious complaints of dere liction of duty were made against several Magis trates of that town. Those accusations may have been true or they may have been false, for no legal decision has been had upon them, there having been no legal inquiry. Why has there not been a legal inquiry into all the circum stances of the riots at Bristol, that the °rip,' and causes of those deplorable events might be ascertained, and the blame of the consequences might rest upon those who were really culpable ? The inhabitants of Bristol called upon Govern ment over and over again to institute such in quiry. Government evaded the demand for some time. Lord Althorp gave the alleged indisposi tion of Lord Melbourne as the reason for the delay, although, as we showed at the time, on the authority of the Court Circulars, Lord Mel bourne was actually attending Cabinet Councils at the time when his excuse was offered to the in habitants of Bristol for his inattention to their demands. At length Lord Melbourne came forward alid pretended that no precedent could be found to authorise the Government to com ply with the request to send a Commissioner to Bristol to inquire into the whole ot the circum stances connected with the disturbances. In vain we suggested that, if there were no precedent, the case was of such a nature as would justify the creation of a precedent, that there might not be a defect of justice. At the same time we showed that there was a precedent, by referring to what Government had recently done in the Newtown harry affair, on which occasion they sent down a King's Counsel as a Commissioner to collect evidence relative to the whole of its case—the origin, the causes, and the result. Ultimately Lord Melbourne informed the people of Bristol that; if they were resolved to have an inquiry, they might institute one themselves, and send,up the evidence which they collected at the Home office. But this they might have done without asking the permission of the Home Secretary; and as to any evidence which they chose to transmit to the Horne-office, it could have no legal consequence, because the inquiry had no legal character. In the mean time the Govern ment, though they refused the inquiry demanded into the conduct of the Magistrates, put Co lonel Brereton on his trial. We admit that Colonel Brereton was responsible for the exe cution of such orders as he received from the Magistrates, and his great error, in our opinion, was his not insisting upon the Magistrates ac companying him to every place where there was danger, that the orders might be executed in their presence. But the persons to whom the the olrdf;e uponr sema- a Government were b oun d to l oo k i n the , first ema nated, w ere as the those civil from whom authorities. proper legal inquiry, it appeared that they were guiltless of the serious charges of timidity, vacil lation, and desertion of duty—if it also appeared that they had given the proper orders, and without any default of theirs, those orders were not executed, the persons to whom the Govern ment had next to look was the military officer on whom the execution of the orders devolved—and then the trials of the rioters should have fol lowed, by which arrangement the causes of crime, as well as the amount and extent of crime, would have been investigated by the operation of im partial and comprehensive justice. But Go vernment began with the lowest class of the accused, and the highest have not been subjected to the ordeal of any legal investigation. Special Commissions are of plentiful growth in these days of a liberal Government, but, upon Special Commissions, the causes of popular tumult and crime cannot be investigated. The bare facts of criminality or innocence can only be ascertained, and consequently no such trials can lead to the removal of'the causes. They, however, autho rise the application of the almost universal remedy of our criminal law—that of hanging—a sharp remedy indeed, but which, like all quack medi cines, only attacks the symptoms of distemper on the surface of the body-politic, and, by driv ing the malignant humours back upon the vital parts, aggravates the disease. There are now five wretched men condemned to death, awaiting the execution of their sentence in Bristol. We cannot but admit that their offences are of a very serious nature, though there are .tircumstances which ought to have weight in mitigating the , severity of the law—crimes of impulse and sudden excitement may be very dangerous in their effccts, but are far less malignant in their motives than those of cold, studied, and deliberate inten tion. If a party had conspired of malice afore thought to burn down Bristol and murder the inhabitants, whose property was doomed to the flames, the law could inflict upon them no more than death. It is possible to aggravate even that punishment by torture; but even if the law allowed its infliction, public opinion would not tolerate it. This shows that for a crime of such deep malignity the simple infliction of death would not be considered too light a punish- ment ; but wide is the difference between such a crime and that for which the five convicts have been ordered to perish on the scaffold. Their crime was, from all that has transpired, without premeditation, and during the whole ofthe tumults they did not destroy a single life. We are glad to hear from our Bristol Correspondent that a petition, very generally supported, will be forwarded from that city to Government, pray ing for a commutation of the punishment of those unfortunate men. In the prayer of that petition we heartily and earnestly join. We do not say enough, but too much blood has been shed already in consequence of the Bristol riots. Many perished in the fires—many have been slaughtered by military execution, and many more maimed for life. The judicial de struction of five more human beings in cold blood will not be of the least advantage to the in terests of society—justice does not demand their lives. We implore the kingly prerogative of mercy to in im te m rf o e l r a e t , e l d e st on the tile countryaltarsofmraeyvenb,eglei:e The proceeding; of the Military Court of Ju dicature, which sat during the last week upon the alleged misconduct of Colonel Brereton, who commanded the troops stationed at Bristol during the recent riots, have been interrupted in an abrupt, unexpected, and most melancholy manner, by the suicide of the ill-starred subject of their investigations. We have given the full particulars of this lamentable event elsewhere ; and we now refer to it, not for the purpos e of exciting sympathy with the fa;;(3 of the gallant man who fell a sacrifice by his own hand—for that would be a useless as well as needless task— not for the purpose of passing umningled com mendation or unmingled censure upon him, but of expressing what we conceive to be the truth with respect to him, both as a man and an officer. That Colonel Brereton was not possessed of ta lents and energy equal to the task in which cir cumstances had placed him, no one can v.-ell eiJubt who has perused the evidence adduced upon his trial. His defence we have not, and how far that defence might have wholly contra dicted the evidence adduced, or in part mitigated the charge brought against him, it is theretbre impossible to say ; but even supposing the de fence to have been capable of bearing the most ftvourable construction, we cannot see how it could have been possible for him to have escaped censure, not for wilful negligence of duty, but for the absence of that energy which the greatness of the emergency, and the extent of the mischief, and the madness of the rioters, demanded. With part of a great city blazing about him—with hundreds of rioters setting fire to public and private edifices, and committing every species of plunder and devas tation around him—who that had arms in their hands, even supposing him not to have received sufficient authority from the Magistrates—much less who that had the command of an armed force, and saw the civil authority insufficient for the preservation of the peace—would have refrained from employing those arms, and that force, which were at his com mand, for the purpose of quelling riot, and putting an end to conflagration and plunder ? It is true that the officer so act ing would have incurred a heavy responsibility ; but what is it that distinguishes the man of decision and talent from the common herd, but that of adopting, with all its difficulties and dangers, the line of conduct which circum stances prescribe as the most necessary and proper ? Colonel Brereton, no doubt, knew his duty well, and no doubt saw clearly what ought to have been done ; but he neither pos sessed the energy sufficient to enable him to carry his views into effect, nor the talent which was necessary to persuade others to the adoption of more vigorous measures. He was beset by a stupid and vacillating Corporation, which had drawn upon itself difficulties and dangers which it was unable to encounter, and from which it was glad to seek personal safety, instead of ' seeking for the means of retrieving them ; while his own humane disposition coun selled him to employ all and every peace ful means, even to cheering with the rioters, to put an end to the disturbances, rather than, by employing force, to imbrue his hands in the blood of his countrymen. So much for the late Colonel Brereton 's military qualities and conduct. As a man, he may be spoken of in far higher and more unexceptionable terms of praise. He was a favourite in his neighbour hood—and he is deplored by his servants. There is no slander against him in his private capacity—there is no accusation of his having been, in his public conduct, actuated by his private principles—there is no imputation that he was destitute of courage—that he was a bad man— a bad master—a bad father of a family, or a bad husband. The only accusation against him, is, that he had too high a sense of honour, and that, seeing that the trial, according to the evidence adduced, might end in his disgrace, he had not the nerves which were ne cesssary to bear up against it, or the activity which might have satisfactorily repelled it. He felt that he was a doomed man—that he had no chance after the adduction of certain evidence, of averting his fate, and he determined to en counter the fate apparently awarded to him before hand, than that the ignominy of it should rest on his family. We pity him from our very heart. He was a good man so far as our information ex- tends, and he has fallen a sacrifice to his o‘sn humanity, and to the pitiful conduct of a pitiful corporation. May every British officer die a better death than Colonel Brereton; but may no one be less abundant in humanity I—Morning Advertiser. That s eI f to o t portiontho seservice of the Press v io o of t hepresent Ministers devoted and the promotion of the particular measure of Re form, by means of which the Administration has roos c i o ,l n o t r i , i t i l tied ors, so to long, keep notwithstanding its elfio office, its be me gniluisto manifest some not unnatural impatience for the announcement in the Gazette of the new Peers, who are to be appointed for the purpose of overruling the independent judgment and sub verting the legislative power of the House of Lords. If we had no other grounds for the conviction that this revolutionary project of Ministers had encountered difficulties far greater than were anticipated in its execution, we should be satisfied that such is the fact from the feverish anxiety manifested by those who have hazarded their reputatation for political sagacity upon the vigour, the firmness, and the success of the Administration. Our contemporaries, before they pledged them selves so deeply, would have done well to recol lect that Ministers might be very vigorous in their measures and very firm in their detennina tion to pack the House of Lords, and that never theless they must fail unless they could find a sufficient number of natural-born subjects of the King willing to co-operate in their undertaking. We were always of opinion that it was one thing for a revolutionary Ministry to hawk about the offer of a title, which in being offered by them, and for their purposes, ceased to he a badge of honour, and became a symbol of baseness and guilt, and another for English gentlemen of honour and integrity to accept it. Ministers we suspect begin, now that it is too late, to discover that we were right ; that having overcome the constitutional scruples of their Royal Master they have done no more than half, and by far the easiest half, of their work ; that instead of drawing round them, as they hoped, a troop of accommodating and subservient Peers, by an abuse of the Royal prerogative, their enterprize is likely to end in leaving their abused and betrayed Sovereign the only English Monarch upon record in whose name the Peerage was extensively offered and generally spurned. That this distinction has been offered and has been rejected, in some in stances at least, is not denied. We are yet to learn in what instance, if in any, it has been offered and accepted. The only persons, we are told, upon whom the Administration can yet venture confidently to reckon as likely to submit to their proffered indignity will constitute a class of Peers of a quality similar to those whose creation farmed one of the peculiar characteristics of the reign of Charles the Second. There is m uch to pity, no doubt, in the situation of these individuals, since they are not at liberty, like other men, to spurn at any thing which the King's Ministers may be authorised to offer them. Having no choice, they of course are exempt from all responsibility for the conse quences which may ensue from the extinction of the House of Lords as an independent branch of the Legislature. Theirs is, however, an iso lated case ; and it seems generally to be felt that their example ought to have and can have no weight with other persons who, without any con troul, legal or moral, compelling them to acqui esce, may be invited to share the criminality and the danger of the Ministerial design.—Morning Post. The East India Company's ship Waterloo, arrived in China on the 31st of July ; the L , idg on the Ist of August ; and the Buckinghamshire, on the 4th of the same month. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE. (From the Portsmouth Herald of Sunday.) PORTSMOUTH, JAN. 14.—H s Majesty's sloop Dispatch, 18, Commander E. A. Frankland, arrived on Wednesday, from Lisbon with dispatches fiom Rear-Admiral Parker, and upwards of 3,0001. in specie on merchants' account. She left the Tagus on the 3d instant, at which time were lying there, his Majesty's ship Prince Regent, 120, (bearing Rear-Admiral Parker's flag); his Majesty's ship Asia, 84, Captain Hyde Parker; his Majesty's ship Revenge, 76, Captain D. H. Mackay, in quarantine, and Victor, 18, Commander Ellice, the two latter had arrived a few days previous, the former from Plymouth, and the latter from Oporto. His Ma jes'y's ship Briton, 46, Captain J. D. Markland, C.B. sailed on the 17th ult. to cruize off the Wes tern Islands for the protection of British interests. The Prince Regent was expected to leave Lisbon for Spithead, immediately the Revenge was released from quarantine. The Dispatch has, during her short run, encountered severe weather, and was struck by lightning the day after her sailing, when seventeen of her crew were violently alf cted and biuised, but we are happy to add, the whole have recovered from the shock. She has brought home four discharged marines from the Prince Regent and Asia for misconduct, and sailed yesterday for Chat ham to be paid off, having been three years in com mission. The Hope transport, Lieut. Ryder, Agent, sailed on Monday from the river for Plymouth. The Amphitrite transport, Lieut. Cooley, Agent, arrived yesterday from Deptford. His Majesty's ship Galatea, 42, Capt. C. Napier, C.B. and Stag, 46, Capt. Sir E. Troubridge, Bart. are daily expected from Leith, the former to be paid off in►o Ordinary, and the latter to proceed hence for Cork, to lie there as Guard-ship in the room of his Majesty's ship Semiramis, 24, as mentioned in a former Herald. At Spithead—Melville and Recruit. In Harbour— Victory, Britannia, Royal George, Madagascar, Pearl, Childer•,Viper, Coufiance, Sylvia and Pantaloon. PROMOTIONS, APPOINTMENTS, &C.—Commander W. Hewitt (b), and Lieutenant G. Williams, are appointed to his Majesty's sur►.eying vessel Fairy. — Lieutenants T. Tribe and W. Knight are appointed to the quarantine service at Standgate Creek. — Lieutenant J. Maxwell is appointed to his Majesty's ship Stag, vice Hoare.—Mr. J. Barrard is appointed Master to the Fairy, and M. J. Menzies, Assistant Surgeon to the same.—Mr. W. R. Crispin, and Mr. J. W. Nicholls, are appointed to his Majesty's strip Melville, as secretary's clerks to Vice-Admiral Sir J. Gore, K.C.B.—Rev. C. W. Dodd, chaplain, of his Majesty's ship Madagascar, is appointed to act as schoolmaster on board that ship. Vice-Admiral Sir J. Gore, K.C.B. arrived from London yesterday and immediately re-hoisted his flag on board his Majesty's ship Melville, 76, Captain H. Hart, which ship will proceed on Wed nesday for the East Indies, via Cape of Good Hope. Commander Robert Gordon, la e of the Herald yacht, took command of his Majesty's ship Pearl, 20, on Monday, vice Broughton, who has been pro rooted to the rank of Captain since November last, for his gallant conduct while in command of the PriMrose on the coast of Africa. Second Lieutenant John M. Coppinger, of this division of Royal Marines, embarked yesterday on board his Majesty's ship Madags-car for a passage to join his Majesty's ship Actreon in the Mediterranean. The 28-gun frigate named Vestal, ordered to be Built at Sheerness, has been proposed by Captain Symonds. We understand the principal feature in her form is that of carrying her main breadth above the water line; in fact, being similar to the razees. His Majesty has been pleased to commute the sentence of death lately passed upon Thomas Lap ham, private marine of Lis Majesty's ship }Etna, for mutiny, into that of transportation for life, and he will accordingly be sent to New South Wales by the first ship proceeding thither. It is now reported, we know not with what truth, that the contemplated reduction of clerks in his Ma jesty's Dock-yards and Victualling-offices, is for the present suspended, until the completion of a general survey and valuation of stores about to be taken in each of those departments. Two new 16-gun brigs for his Majesty's Navy are now in progress of building in private yards on the River, to be called the Serpent and Snake. Orders have also been given for the construction at Woolwich of a new packet, to be named Pandora. carry two The large steam-vessels which are now in pro gress Woolwich s of building, ock bomb cannons, mounted on pivots , so as to swivel and command an extensive range without altering the course of the vessel. This is certainly a vet), ar in Sheerness, are and severaily Chatham, to desirable property, as it will enable a steam-vessel to be put in the best possible position, relativ e ly to an enemy's armed vessel, so as to protect or keep the paddle wheels free from shot. This seems to be the grand desideratum in the introduction of staam-vessel warfare. One cannon is to be so si tuated on the aft part of the deck, as to range en tirely over the arc of the stern, and as far forward as the paddle boxes will permit. The other is to be mounted before the wheels, and will command an arc on each side, from the bow to the fore part of the casing of the wheels; the latter prominence will, however, interrupt much of the service of this piece of ordnance. The calibre of the cannon in question is ten inches, and the weight upwards of eight-four cwt. (From the Devonport Telegraph ) DEVONPORT, JAN. M.—His Majesty's ship Fly, 18, Commander P. M'Quhae, went out of harbour into the Sound on Wednesday, and will sail for the North American and Wrest India station, as soon as the weather permits. His Majesty's brig Leveret, 10, Lieut. Lapidge, also went out of harbour on Thursday. The Spey packet arrived from Falmouth on Tues day,and has come up harbour to refit. The two troop ships now fitting at this port, to be commanded by Masters, are, we understand, to have Pursers. With reference to the various reports respecting the Packet Service at Falmouth, it is now ru moured that ten of the sailing vessels on that esta blishment will be reduced. Alfred JohnsOU, Esq., formerly Agent-victualler at the Cape of Good Hope, retires from the Secre taryihip at this Deck-yard, the latter situation now abolished ; a Clerk of the first class will hereafter be invested with the duties attached to the immediate office of the resident Commissioner. Remaining in Hamoaze—San Josef, Wellesley, Harrier, Pike, Spey packet, Diligence, and Supply, naval transports. At the Island—Leveret. In the Sound—Caledonia and Fly. ROYAL PATRONAGE.—The Civil List of Louts Puir,Lim contains some items, which, we con ceive, would not figure to a useless purpose in that of a King of Great Britain, whether in a political, or literary and scientific point of view. Those to which we refer are— Library Department (for subscriptions to publications) £lO,OOO Music, boxes at theatres, and benefits 12,000 Manufactures 23,500 Museums and the Fine Arts Works of Art 20,000 Medals and Mint It would therefore appear that the French So ercign has a sum of nearly one hundred thousand pounds placed at his disposal, for the special encouragement of native arts, sciences, and manufactures.—Athencum. THE PRAYER FOR THECHOLERA.—A few weeks ago the form of prayer appointed to be read in our churches, deprecating the spread of the above disorder, was received from the post-office by the carrier of a village not one hundred miles from Calverton. As it was directed to the officiating clergyman, the carrier of course took it to him ; but as there was Is. 61. to be paid for it, he said, "Oh ! I have nothing to with it, take it to the churchwarden," which was accordingly done; the carrier was there equally unsuccessful, as he made him a similarly reply, adding " tike it to the clergy fnan."• The poor prayer, after two or three week., delay, was at last re ceived, and is now " solemnly used."—Nottinyhan; Rev. ADMIRALTY COURT OF THE CINQV PORTS, JAN. 9. THE KING, IN HIS OFFICE OF ADMIRALTY, AGAINST T 1 LORD WARDEN OF THE CINQUE FORTS, IN THE GASEOI, A WHALE. This was a proceeding instituted for the condemnstioe of a whale discovered off the coast of Kent by some fisbe men, who drove it into Whitstable Bay. ne transaction taking place as ithin the jurisdiction of the Cinque Pore ) the Duke of Wellington, as Lo r d W ar d en an d L or d Ad .+ took steps for the cond emnat i on o f t h e fi s h in this Court. The fishermen, by whose address the animal We, stranded and secured, claim e d sa l vage f or t h e i r services, an d s the Lords of the Admiralty claimed the whale itself an 6 , droit and perquisite of the King in his office of Admiralty' Dr. PHILLIMORE gave sentence. The right Royal &Il i ' as the whale and sturgeon are denominated, is a right 0 , which our ancestors attached very great imp ortance; it is an undoubted law of this realm, that when a whale 1 6 found on the shore, er is caught near the coast of Great Britain, it is to b e cons id ered t h e property o f t h e C.owl d When, therefore, the case was before the Court on f inner occasion, the question of salvage was readily dit• prsed of; neither of the parties who claimed a right to the whale contesting the claim of the salvors to remuneration' But the question to whom the condemnation of the, whale was to pass, is one of great difficulty. Al' though the wh de unquestionably belongs to the Sovereign, yet the Sovereign may transfer Imo right to another; and it is clear, that by his letter' patent he has transfi rred it in this instance ; but the question is, to whom ? On the one hand, the Lords of the Admiraliy claim it as a right transferred to the high Tune' tions which they represent; on the other, the Admiral 01 the Cinque Ports has a right extended, at least, to every other perquisite of the Crown within his jurisdiction. DI 6e patent of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty t':ere is no mention of royal fish ; but the grant to them is Of all duties, rights, and privileges to which the Lord High Admiral and other Admirals were entitled. On reference t° the patents of the Earl of Pembroke and Prince George of Denmark, the royal fish to which they were entitled are specified. So with respi ct to the Lord Warden, his pa' tent gives hint the same rights which his predecessors ea' joyed ; and there is every presumption that immunites and rights as ample as those conferred en the Lord High Admiral were conferred on the Admiral of the Cinque Ports. In a charge given at a session of Admiralty within the Cinque Potts, in 1668, Sir L. Jenkins distinctly states, that " all fines and amercements imposed by this Court are the Admiral's ; all royal fishes, such as whales and sturgeons, are his ;" and, in the state in which I an ) left with respect to evidence, I am disposed to place consider' able reliance o n thi s aut h or i ty. If i t b e correct, there is an end of the question; and if we look to probabilities, they strongly aid the presumption ; for is it not 89 probable that the Lord High Admiral would be excluded from the right to whales, as that he should be expressly excluded from the right to wreck, flotsam and jetsanh within time Cinque Ports? Under a choice of cases, this is one of the last which I should have wished to decide, as i el ra t e i s 3u t o t c jurisdiction ts of the Courthaveot l er a t o e v d e • whichunderpre side.ilmii s; circumstances, and I have been able to discover no special ground on which I could claim an exemption. I have brought my mind to a clear conviction that the right is in ' the Lord Warden ; but it is a great satisfaction to me, that ' if my judgment is erroneous, it Inv be corrected by the Court of Delegates. COUNTRY CORN MARKETS. DURING LAST WEEK. Wheat. Barley. I Oats. I Beans. Per Quarter. Cat lisle Hexham Morpeth Penrith Sheffield „ Winchester Per Bushel. Coventry Newcastle (Staff.) Nortliallerton Swansea Warwick I s. to 8. 8. to 8. 57 34 58 65 32 38 53 59 32 33 60 ! 35 61 39 51 64 29 3.5 I s.d. s.d. s.(l. 60 69 36 40 I 7 0 90 48 54 I 8 9 90 64 66 • 70 93 36 46 • 90 93 58 60 7 6 8:0 42 46 9 0 10 0 4 6 50 14 9 17 0 9 0 10 0 140 163 90 100 146 166 96 100 139 143 96 100 s. to 8. . 8. al ...... 21 30 20 23 '2l 22 24 s.d. s.d. 18 20 36 40 36 49 33 40 36 40 . 22 26 22 26 ' - 02 4 0 Per 8011. Barn ardeastle --. Durham ----. Richmond —....—. Stockton —............... 40 42 46 s. d. cd , 00 0 0 56 6 0 53 5 9 56 6 0 76 8 0 00 0 0 73 7 8 50 60 53 79 50 68 50 70 00 11 0 90 10 0 90 10 0 00 00 WAKEFIELD CORN MARKET.-Jan. 13 Wheat, Red, Norfolk and Sußblk -s. 545. to 595. fine 625. Lin. and Cam. -s. 535. to 598. fine 61s. Yorkshire -s. 565. to 595. fine 61s. - White -8. 58s. to 635. fine 665. - Foreign, Red 4Bs. to 535. fine 615. White -a. -s. to --s. fine 608. Barley, Norfolk and Suffolk - Lincolnshire 33s. to 365. fine 38s. - Yorkshire Wold 335. to 365. fine 388. - Foreign -s. to -s. fine Beans, Small Tick 33s. to 3fs. fine 37s Oats, Potato 235. to 265. fine 27a. - Poland -s. 225. to 255. fine 265. Friezland and Small ...... 19s. to 225. fine 246. Dealing I Id. to 12;6d. per Stone. Shelling .355. to 365. Od. per Load. Malt 355. 425. fine 455. per Load. Rapeseed 'CR MARKETS. SCO' Wheat. Barley Oats. I Beans. Oatmeal , Aberdeen 45 CO 27 32 21 23 —32 36 38 42 20 22 15 21 26 27 37 40 Coldstream 40 42 20 22 16 18 30 31 Cupar 42 58 29 32 25 26 38 39 Dundee....._ 50 (4 21 24 16 17 35 36 Elgin 52 56 32 35 20 22 20 24 —.- Inverness—. 50 56 32 33 20 22 30 34 48 Kelso 36 42 21 23 17 18 29 32 Kirkaldy--- 40 45 27 39 25 32 45 48 43 44 Perth 60 65 28 31 20 25 20 25 ... 1 - "" The size of the measure varies throughout the ceuntrf• EDINBURGH CORN M A RM.:l.—Jan. 11. We had a large supply of all kinds of Grain to-day, and sale considerably better. Wheat up Is. on the top, and Bd. on the average Barley 319 quarters ; up 6d. on the top, and Is. 10d. 00 the average. Oats 380 quarters, same top, and up 9d. on the averagt . Pease and Beans 42 quarters ; down 3s. on the top, and 3d. on the average. . _ Wheal. First lss Od Second 6os Od Third 44s Od Barley. Oats. 37s 6d 25s 4d 35s 0.1 23s Od 29s 6d 17s 4d Pease. 35s Od 32s Od 30s Od Beans. 353 Od 33s Od 30s Od • • PRICES OF PROVISIONS, &C. Beef, pecr 1b... Os. 3d. to Os. 6d. Fresh Butter, lh. s. 10d. to Is Od, Mutton 0 3 0 6 Salt 010 1 0 Veal 0 8 010 Ditto, per ca 1.84 0 100 0 Pork .0 4 0 6 Eggs, per dos. 1 0 0 0 Lamb, per. qr. 1 0 2 6 OatStraw(kp'.)ll 6 12 6 Tallow, cwt.... 38 0 39 0 Wheat Ditto...lo 0 11 0 Quartern Loaf 0 7 0 8 Barley Ditto —9 0 10 0 Potatoes. 1741 b. 0 3 0 0 Hay, per 1 2 1 6 EDI NBII ItG II MEA I We had a large supply of which met with a better sale. at Per Sack of 2801 b. Imp. First Oatmeal Second ditto 1 16 0 Barleymeal 1 10 0 Peasemeal . 1 10 0 Pot Barley—No. I, per cwt. 124 GLASGOW CORN A fair business doing in all Wheat, per 2401 b. s, d. s. rt. British, old 250t0.100 MARKET. —Jan. 10. Oatmeal at this day's market, last week's prices. Per Stone of 141 b. Imp. First Oatmeal 40 2 Second ditto Barleyincal (b 1 8 Peasemeal• S 155.-3 d. 18s —feat 1225. -- new 26 0 Canada, free Irish 23 0 290 Barley, per 3201 b. English 0 a Scottish O7 6 • 28 0 Irish 111ARKE rids of Grain, at full prices . Oats, per 2641 b. s. d. Irish l6 otolB 8 British 0 — 0 Beans, per 2601 b. English Scottish Pease, Scottish 17 0 19 0 Oatmeal, per 1401 b. 15 0 17 0 Flour, per 2801 b 47 0 48 0 CORNWALL. MARKETS. TRURO—Wheat (average) V.a. 12a.—Oats, Be. g u . ST AUSTELLWheat. to to 125....0at0s Oa. to Ba. tid. Booram—Wheat (avers ) 225. 01.—Barley, 124. O& Oats 7s HELSTON—Wheat, 225. 6d.—Barley, 12s thi. PeNzAscz—Wheat, 20s. to 22 s.—Barley, —B. to 125.....0at5, Os. to Butter, '7s. I Id. 6d.— peßr eef and Mutton, sd. to Oct.—Pork, 3ad. t o 0d . .. lb. LtsKEAan—Wheat, —5. Od. to s.—Barley, Bs, 6d —Oats, Os. to as. Od. us C N—NV hea t (average) 245. o.l.—Barley,l Is. 6d I .—Oats. 6,l.—Beef, s .l.—Mutton, sd, Sr. Comma—Wheat, 225. to 2 3s.—Barley, I Is. to 15.—Bca, and Mutton, 4d. to s d.—Veal, 4d.—Lamb, sd. MINING INTELLIGENCE. Tons, Cwt. QQuantity of Copper Ore sold at Redruth last Thurday 3,1(18 0 uantity of tine C0pper...—••••,•««•••••••.,.........w0nw• 291 17 Average Produce N 0 Amount of Sale, 19,7711...115. 6d.---Average Standard. 971 I. 12 s. Od, - - On Thursday, at Kippax Park, an inquest vas held on the body of liExay, third son of TuomAs DAVISON BLAND, Esq., when a verdict was returned of " died by the visitation of GOD." The young gentleman had been out shooting with his father for a few hours, when he was seized with apoplexy, and died immediately. On the 13th i ns t . at Cheltenha ßlßTHS. m, the lady of W. C. Cooper, Esq., of a son and heir. On the 13th inst. in Great Surrey-street, the lady of the Rec. C. H. Gaye, of a son. On the 14th inst. Mrs. Phippen, of Fleet-street, of a son. MARRIED. On the 11th in s t . at Catherington, S. Risky, Esq., of ay's inn, to Emm a , y oungest daughter of the late E. Dampier, Gr Esti., of Chewton, Hants. D. On the 14th i ns t. Martha, w ire of Mr. Benjamin Eddowes, of Jermyn-street, St. James's, aged 55. On the 13th inst. Emilia, fourth daughter of J. D. Aubert, Esq., of Upper Bedford-place, Russell-square. On the 13th inst. at Notting-hill -square, Kensington, the infant son of J. P. St. George, Esq. On the 14th inst. at Derby, Miss Henley. On the 14th nit, at Tottanham, Richard Cooper, Esq., in the 81st year of his age. • PRINTED AND-PURIASIIED u UH1)0N" 0 U X (i, AT MO SUN OFFICE, 119, STRAND, LONDON, 6' L ' day tier rn) I el fee yo , un eli u 1 lc tie