The Sun. — London, England, 1847-12-28 00:00:00

THE HAMPDEN PERSECUTION. A troublesome disputant of Doctor Johnson's day waintained that a conge d'elire had not the force of a command, but was to be considered only as a strong econimendation. " Sir," observed Johnson, "it is such a recommendation as if I should throw you out of a two-pair-of-stairs' window, and recommend you to fall soft." To this it nevertheless may be replied, that where those who are thrown out of window have 'it in their power to fall soft, they are fools for their pains if they prefer to fall otherwise. The High Church party have committed many blunders, but the greatest of all is their movement against the rights of the Crown in the appointment of Dr. Hampden. That these rights are plain and indisputable, we are not aware that any one has been found hardy enough to deny. The Dean of Hereford's memorial talks of " the strong hand of power," as the Bishop of Exeter's letter brawled against " the Magna Charts of tyranny ;" but both thele learned persons are thoroughly aware that the right by which the one holds his deanery and the other his bishopric is in fact and truth no other than that of the power and tyranny they thus clamour against. Remove it, abolish the practical supremacy of the Crown, and conceive the consequence. The league of the High- Church faction would not survive their victory for a day—well if the Church itself survived it. Its practical power and efficacy are, in reality, much more in issue than the secular predominance of the Crown. A. clash of abstract claims or co-ordinate authorities would be the ruin of the Church. We should like to have Henry of Exeter's private opinion on the pretensions which lurk beneath the Dean of Here ford's memorial. If the functions of a Cathedral Chapter are to be held for other than merely subor dinate and ministerial, and we are to begin afresh with our whole Ecclesiastical system, we more than suspect that the privilege of "falling soft" will be left to very few . . And for what are these dangers incurred ? Why are the peaceful and well-disposed friends of the Es tablishment, the immense majority of moderate and reflecting men, to be disturbed in their enjoyment of what we should probably not err in describing as the most practically tolerant Church system that hal yet been invented ? Where is the necesssity— the excuse ? In the continual and distracting clamour kept up, the real facts of Doctor Hampden's case have as much as possible been kept out of sight. A band of right reverend assailants have resuscitated charges of heresy, but in what circumstances ? Waiving for the present the alleged ground on which the charges rest—the state of things in which they originated, and the facts which accompany their revival are surely matters most materiel to be considered. We shall state them chronologically. In 1832 Doctor Hampden preached and then pub lished his Bampton Lectures, containing the alleged heretical doctrines—without remonstrance. In 1833 he was appointed Principal of St. Mary's Hall, by Lord Grenville, the then Chan- cellor—without remonstrance.* In 1834 he was elected Professor of Moral Philo sophy : the five electors being among the chief officers of the University—still with out remonstrance. In 1836 he was nominated Regius Professor of Divinity by the head of the Whig Go vernment. Then it was that microscopic malevolence detected heresies, till then in visible, in the Bampton Lectures of four years old ; upon which, a vote of censure was carried in Convocation, by a mon strous coalition of Tractarians and anti- Tractarians, who merged for the occasion their theological differences in their com mon political rancour. But, notwith standing this, In 1842 he was elected, by the Heads of Houses, Chairman of a Theological Board of Exa miners, without, as far as we are aware, the slightest opposition. Prior to 1836, therefore, the University, by its silence, virtually declared him to be unworthy of a vote of censure. And subsequently to 1836, the University, by a public act, virtually rescinded its vote of censure. Such is a brief and succinct statement of the case of Dr. Hampden. Nor is this all. Of the hostile majority who procured the vote of censure, one sec tion afterwards endeavoured to cancel it ; another protested against the competency of the very tribunal before which they had dragged Dr. Hampden, upon being cited before it themselves in the person of Mr. Ward; and a third went over to the Church of Rome. It is not impossible that on the day of election to the bishopric of Hereford the Reverend Mr. Newman may reach England with the bishop-making bull lately given to his charge by the Pope, and described as the greatest papal document that has reached our Wand since Cardinal Pole announced from his place in Queen Mary's House of Lords the happy recal of England to the embrace of Rome. Another circumstance, especially deserving of notice, we must not omit from this recital. Doctor Hampden holds the rectory of E welme, which is attached to the Regius Professorship. Now every clergyman, previous to his being admitted to any benefice, must make an explicit declaration of his loyalty and orthodoxy, by signing, in the manner following, these three articles :-1. The Royal Su premacy. 2. Assent to the Book of Common Prayer. 3. Assent to the Thirty-nine Articles. "I, A. 8., do willingly, and ex animo, subscribe to these three articles above-mentioned, and to all things that are contained in them." From which it clearly appears that the only ecclesiastical authority that could legally take cognizance of Doctor Hampden's theolo gical opinions in the year 1836 was his diocesan, the present Bishop of Bath and Wells ; and that, by admitting him to the rectory of Ewelme, this prelate certified to the world his conviction of Dr. Hampden's orthodoxy. On what grounds this same Bishop should now have joined the remonstrant prelates, is not for us to explain. We proceed to speak of the charges themselves ; not assuming to deliver any critical judgment upon them, but in the hope that some doubts respecting them may be cleared up for the general reader. It would be as sarcastic a compliment to the body of clergy who have joined the movement against them, to suppose that they understood the recondite ques tions of historical and logical disquisition involved, as it would be to the University of Oxford to accept without question its judgments of heresy. We have but to recal the days of William and Anne for proof of the value of such judgments, and of the compati— bility of a most active hatred of Protestantism with very zealous professions of upholding it. What the Convocation of Oxford is now, in respect to Iligh Church principles, the Convocation of the Clergy was in those days ; and the condemnation of Dr. Barnett's "Exposition of the Articles" (on the ground that "it allowed a diversity of opinions which the articles were framed to avoid ; and contained many passages contrary to the true meaning of the Articles and other received doctrines of our Church") is the parallel to Doctor Hampden's condemnation. Bur net's book is nevertheless not only now received, uni versally, as a correct statement of the doctrines of the Church, but commonly recommended by the Bishops as a companion to theological studies. The object of Dr. Hampden's Bampton Lectures - was avowedly to " inquire into the effect of the Scholastic Philosophy on the language of certain formularies of our belief." It was a task involving the utmost niceties of philosophical reasoning, and of necessity the frequent use of terms and phrases some what new to religious discussion. Eminently it was a task which imposed upon all that should sit in candid judgment on its execution a liberal and cha ritable interpretation of the obscurities and difficulties incident to words. Yet upon words involving none of the essentials of faith has the entire charge of heresy been trumped up. We cannot undertake to say that Dr. Hampden is a very clear writer, or that what he thus proposed was even capable of satisfactory treatment ; but it it our farm belief, not lightly taken up, that there is not a syllable to be found in his 13ampton Lectures, by any 'one who keeps their purpose honestly in view, incon sistent with the detailed and full confession of ortho doxy contained in his letter to Lord John Russell published a f ew d ays s i nce. Hi s d uty i n t h e one case was negative, in the other is positive : in the one, error was to be confuted; in the other truth is deposed to ; and here lies the difference. The one was a nice criticism on the formulas by which the writers of the various cre k eds and dogmas of the Church have sought to of the Bible ; the otherrna a science of the theology pro fession of entire belief :in is an t unhesitating feet faith in the divine a r. theology, of per it,oainglnof and obligation of the dogmas founded upon trusting f adhe sionhh to every practical principle or religious the inventors of those dogmas (however confusedlyctwle i-nperfectly) desired to protect. This being the ca or —can anything be conceived mere monstrous than that what Doctor Hampden has expressed in his letter to Lord John, namely, the full and real nature of his religious views and feeling., should have been sought for in lectures delivered with the limited and exclu sive purpose we have named ? Yet this is what has been done. The fact of the Bampton Lectures not containing what never came within their design, is the whole foundation of this monstrous cry of heresy. • "I happen to have means of knowing that when Lord Grenville appointed Dr. Hampden to St. Mary's Ilan, he was not acquainted personally with him, but collected to the best of his power, the opinion of the University at that time, when Dr. Hampden 's lectures had alread been for some months before the public. (*opinion was greatly in his favour. ve since been most bitterly violent , . • misicibd I believe that no disapproba :t* ' xproset (AV the publication of his pamphlet _ Caf 44/67 - - the , of Dissenters to the Univer i'4 1- - ,-. ofM . Ptth of Sutherland to the Rev. Lir. ,(..14. For this the charities and decencies of discussion have been outraged, and a good and pious man subjected to a system of persecution without parallel in even religious history. There is a name that few men utter without vene ration and regret—that of Arnold of Rugby. Let us see what he thought of these Lectures and their writer. " Hampden is a good man," says Arnold, in one of the letters published by Mr. Stanley, " and an able one; a lover of truth and fairness, and I should think that the wholesome air of such a man's lectures would tend to freshen men's faith, and assure them that it had a foundation to rest upon. Hampden's Bampton Lectures are a great work, entirely true in their main points, and I think most useful." In another letter he is more emphatic ; and this was written while the original Oxford persecution was in its full fury. " Hampden is doing what real Christian reformers have ever done, what the Pro testants did with Catholicism, and the Apostles with Judaism. He upholds the Articles as true in substance, he maintains their usefulness, and the truth and importance of their doctrines ; but he sees that the time is come when their phraseology requires to be protested against, as having, in fact, obstructed and embarrassed the reception of the very truths which they intend to inculcate. He is engaged at the same battle against technical theologi cal language to which you (Rev. J. Hearn) and I have, I believe, an equal dislike ; while he would join us thoroughly in condemning the errors against which the Articles were directed, and holds exactly the language and sentiments which Cranmer and Ridley, I believe, would hold if they were alive now. We believe this to be true ; we thoroughly believe that it was his agreement with the promoters of the " accursed Reformation" which made Dr. Hampden so hateful to the originators of this persecution ; and we are convinced that the temperate views of such wise and good men as himself and Arnold has been those of good and sound divines in the Church of England's "giant days." We would therefore earnestly entreat no man, how unlearned or unpractised soever in theological discussion, to suffer himself to be turned aside from the real points at issue. They are these. First—that an entire belief in the substantial scriptural truths of the Church is compatible with a belief that the dogmatical language in which they have occasionally been conveyed is perplexing. And secondly—that an entire belief in the substantial truth of the Thirty-nine Articles is in no respect impugned by an attempt to account his torically for the origin of the technical language of those Articles, " and to separate it from the divine truth intended to be expressed by it." It is the duty of all of us, in all conditions of life, and in all call ings and professions, to clear our minds of what tends to obstruct and embarrass truth. Curious subtleties may puzzle every man, but they profit no man. "Avoid them," exclaims Jeremy Taylor, "for not these, but things practical, are the hinges of immor tality." Doctor Hampden's language may not have done him justice, but his intention was orthodox and noble. _ The Minister feels this, and is firm. He stands upon the right of the Crown, and the right is indis putable. If the eonge d'elire is disobeyed, letters patent issue, and the person therein named must be " invested and consecrated in like manner as if he had been elected by the Dean and Chapter." But here a difficulty arises, of which it is said advantage will be taken. The Act which the Bishop of Exeter calls the Magna Charta of tyranny left the ceremo nies of confirmation and consecration as it found them ; simply substituting for the pope the arch bishop of the province, frolli whom it "required" con firmation, and giving the king his remedy. against the archbishop in case of refusal. Thus, confirmation and consecration are essential to the episcopal functions ; and though the Crown can punish the archbishop for not confirming, its bishop wanting that ceremony is not a bishop complete. The question now is, there fore, what view the archbishop will take of his duty in the matter; and it is believed that the object of certain intended proceedings and citations in the ecclesiastical courts is to give him the opportunity of pleading to the Crown the propriety of delay till the question of orthodoxy is legally set at rest. Such is an impartial narrative of the Hampden persecution and the present intentions of its pro 'rioters. These are quite in keeping with the rest of the narrative. To put Doctor Hampden on his trial for supposed errors committed fifteen years ago, would be a worthy carrying out of that malignant spirit which fifteen years' teaching in the highest offices of the University, with unquestioned learning and unimpugned purity of doctrine, has been unable to subdue. And who are to be the Judges ? One sec tion of the Bishops has prejudged Doctor Hampden ; another declares its belief in his orthodoxy ; and a third tribunal, in which reasonable confidence might be placed, the Heads of Houses in the University of Oxford, not only sat and judged, but give in their verdict, when they placed the accused in 1842 at the head of a board of theological examiners. We say that Doctor Hampden has already undergone his trial ; and we defy any one to suggest a fresh tribunal that would not now be a delusion, a mockery, and a snare. But let the true friends of the Church of England see the question as it really is. It is not alarm for Doctor Hatnpden's orthodoxy but the hope to try a successful fall with the Crown. An unseemly struggle ; which can only have results to be deplored and deprecated by moderate men of every shade of opinion. Let the persecution of Doctor Hampden succeed, and an agitatiGn is begun to which no man sees the end, and which is fraught with inexpressible danger.—Examiner. . DR. HAMPDEN'S APPOINTMENT. ADDRESS TO DR. HAMPDEN. The following address, signed by between 600 and 700 of the clergy and laity, was yesterday presented to the Rev. Dr. Hampden, at Christchurch, Oxford, by a deputation of clergymen from London, accom panied by the Rev. Dr. Jeune, master of Pembroke College, Oxford : " TO THE REV. RENN DICR.SON HAMPDEN, D.D , REGIUS PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. " Reverend Sir,---We, the undersigned clergy and 13ity of the Church of England, beg to offer to you our sincere respects and . good wishes, in the prospect of your advancement to the see of Hereford. " Called by his late Majesty to fill the dignified and important office of Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford, in trying times of the Church, and under circumstances of singular perplexity, you have, in our opinion, discharged the duties of that office in a manner which has completely justified the confidence then reposed in you. "The public announcement of your religious views, which you made when entering upon your office, and the sermons which you have preached before the University as Regius Professor, and subsequently published, as well as your other official acts, hive, in our judgment, fully evidenced the soundness of your theological opinions, and your high claim to the pro fessorial chair. " We possess the fullest confidence that, under the weightier responsibility of the episcopal office, you will maintain the genuine principles of the Chnrch of England, and exert your utmost energies to pro mote the cause of scriptural religion in this realm. " Whilst we thus rely on your integrity and zeal, we cannot but feel how weak are the purposes of man without Divine guidance and support. We, there fore, join with you in prayer, that you may be enabled to evince your fitness for the episcopal office, by the efficiency of your endeavours to advance the spiritual welfare of your diocese and of the universal Church of Christ." To this address Dr. Hampden returned the follow ing answer : "My Lords and Gentlemen,—Your address is peculiarly gratifying to me at this moment of so much anxiety and trouble. "Pray, then, accept my heartfelt thanks for this kind and welcome expression of your feelings. "I am far, however, from regarding this address as a mere matter of personal concern to myself. The cause in which you are engaged is a much greater one than anything simply relating to an individual. Con gratulations are much more due to you, my Lords and Gentlemen, for your strenuous support of our true Protestant Church, the doctrines and principles of which, as faithfully handed down to us by our Reformers, and maintained by our standard divines, I have in my place, as a minister and teacher of the Church, earnestly endeavoured to set forth and incul cate. " I heartily join with you in prayer that the hearts and hands of all may be strengthened by the Holy Spirit to the defence of that pure faith which we possess through the teaching of our own apostolic and scriptural Church. And I venture to hope that the benefit of such prayer will not be withheld, and that He who gives the will and the hearty desire to pray, will both bless your exertions for the truth, and my humble endeavours to serve Him truly in the high office in His Church to which He has called me. " I have th e h onou r t o r em ai n , w ith th e g r ea t es t respect, my Lords and Gentlemen, your very faithful humble servant, "R. D. HAMPDEN. , " Christ Church, Dec. 27, 1847." ARRIVAL OF THE EAST INDIA MAILS.---SOUTIP. AMPTON, DEC. 27, Six O'CLOCK, P.M.—The Oriental Company's steam-ship Hindostan, Samuel Lewis com mander, arrived here from Alexandria, at five o'clock pot., and landed her mails, under the charge of Lieu tenant Brady, RN., Admiralty agent. Her dates are— Constantinople and Alexandria, Dec. 9 ; Malta, 14th ; Gibraltar, 20th. Her cargo consists of Indian silk piece goods, bales of silk, spices, 100 casks of gum, barrels of dates, cases of bitter apples, oranges, eleven packages of specie (5,000/.) The Hindostan brings a full comple ment of passengers. The Marchioness Brea dal bane, of en route Penintsou Alexandria.land Oriental LAW INTELLIGENCE. COURT OF BANKRUPTCY, Dec. 27. Mr. Commissioner Shepherd was the only Commis sioner sitting to-day, and the cases heard before him were few in number, and of an unimportant nature. POLICE INTELLIGENCE. MANSION-HOUSE. Ferdinand Meyer, a German, who has been for some time travelling between his own and this country as a sort of agent, and who pretends to I barter pigeons for poodle dogs, was brought before I the Lord Mayor, charged by an officer of Customs with having been unlawfully concerned in unshipping certain goods liable to customs, namely, 541 b. of tobacco (cigars), contrary to the statute, by which he forfeited the sum of 1001. Mr. Beverley attended for the Customs. The defendant pleaded not guilty. The case was one of those in which ingenuity was exercised in the concealment of the contraband goods. Mr. Samuel Muliens, an officer of the Customs, said, I was on duty on Brewer's-quay, in the im mediate vicinity of the Customs, on Friday afternoon, when the prisoner came to me and asked me to exa mine a case of pigeons which had arrived by the City of Rotterdam steamer. I told him he might have the case landed, as I had the entry for it, and that I would examine it for him. The case was afterwards landed without my knowledge, and conveyed to the warehouse, and he applied to me sub sequently to go to the warehouse to examine it. On going into the warehouse, I found that it was stowed away in a dark corner, and my suspicion was excited ' by that fact; and I ordered that it should be brought out for examination. When it was brought out, I saw the defendant and his friend who accompanied him were walking away, and I sent after them, and directed a constable to take them into custody if they did not at once return. They did return, and the defendant produced a letter, written in the Dutch language, to, it is believed, an imaginary person, re siding at the vague address of No. 96, Pimlico, stating that the pigeons were consigned to the de fendant, and expressing a hope that he would be amply recompensed. The letter also stated that poodle dogs were expected in exchange for the pigeons. I proceeded to examine the case, and found that in the interstices of the back and sides 541 b. of cigars were carefully deposited. The defendant de nied all knowledge of the tobacco. The defendant—l had no idea there were any cigars, or anything but pigeons in the case. The defendant was fined 1001. Five young women, who have been long hangers on at the City of London Union, were charged with having severely beaten one of the officers of the house in Cannon-street. Upon being asked why they assaulted the poor man, they burst into laughter, and swore they would, as soon as they could get him properly in their power, completely demolish him, as they did not wish him to be in their way, or in any way to meddle with them. Alderman GIBBS said he should commit them for the assault. They said they would take care that the Alderman should come in for his share of punishment, when they were dealing with the other. Upon being sent to prison, in which they had been all frequently locked up, they set up a screaming concert, in which they were joined by the laughter of the rabble, who always are ready to urge offenders of this sort to acts of violence and outrage. Mr. Thwaites, one of the relieving officers of the union, stated that the lives of the sub:,rdinates in office were in constant danger from such women as had just appeared before the Alderman. CLERKENW ELL. CHARITY.—Our reporter is requested to communi cate that Earl C. has forwarded his accustomed donation of 51., through:the Commissioners of Police, in aid of the poor-box funds of this Court; that "M. F." has sent 31.; and "A Gentleman," at Pen tonville, 11., for the same benevolent purpose. MARY L EBONE. John King, a boy, sixteen years'of age, was charged by police-constable 43 S, who stated that on Friday evening last he saw the prisoner climb over the rail ings of the house 38, Stanhope-street, Hampstead road, and go down the area steps. Witness having knocked at the door and procured a light, went into the area, and in a coal-vault there he found the priso ner, who, upon being questioned as to why he had se creted himself, there, replied that he was seeking for his cap, which another boy had, as alleged by him, thrown over; his object was, in witness's opinion, that of stealing something from the safe, which description of robbery by boys was of very frequent occurrence in the neighbourhood. The prisoner was a well known thief, and many of his companions had been committed. The Magistrate sent him to hard labour in the House of Correction for a month. Henry Atherton was charged with the following assaults : It appeared, from the evidence, that on Friday evening last a female, named Mary Ann Price (a widow), went into the Gardeners' Arms, Crescent street, Euston-square, accompanied by another woman, her friend, to partake of a little refreshment, when the prisoner grossly abused her (Price) without any provocation, and knocked her down twice, by two violent blows, upon the eye and mouth. She bled profusely ; and three of her teeth were, by one of the blows, loosened. The prisoner was subsequently taken into custody, when he assaulted police-constable 347 S. Mr. BROUGHTON convicted in two separate penal ties, one of 405., or six weeks' imprisonment, for the attack upon the woman, and 205., or one month, for that upon the officer. He was then locked up. Sarah Jones, a miserable-locking woman, was charged with having stolen a soup-tureen, the pro perty of Mr. Tuck wood, No. 22, Homer-street, New road. The prisoner, on Saturday evening, walked into the shop, took up the tureen, and made off with it. She was pursued and captured, with the article, valued at ss. 6d., in her possession. The prisoner, who had nothing to say, was com mitted for trial. MARLBOROUGH-STREET. Simon Callaghan was brought before Mr. Bingham, charged with having broken open the door and forcibly entered the house No. 16, Poland- street, in the occu pation of Mr. Airey, surgeon. A good deal of interest was occasioned, in conse quence of the proceedings having arisen out of a question of disputed title, involving a very consider able property within the vicinity of the office. The property in question has been claimed by various parties, and the efforts they have made to substantiate their respective claims have brought them for the last dozen or fourteen years occasionally under the notice of the magistrates of this court. From the evidence it appeared that Mr. Airey's lease expired on the 20th December last, and that in the afternoon of the 21st of December possession was taken by two men on behalf of the alleged landlady. Mr. Airey, who did not recognise the title of the parties in possession, caused the two men to be forcibly ejected. On the 24th possession was again sought to be obtained, but Mr. Airey resisted, and the door was then broken open. The police interfered, and the defendant was taken into custody. Mr. Clarkson appeared for the defendant, and argued that the defendant was justified, under all the circumstances, in acting on orders he had received, to regain possession of the premises. Mr. BINGHAM was inclined to think that the pos session on the 21st was complete ; and, if so, the turning of the men out would constitute a trespass. However, as this was not the court to try a question of disputed title, he should send the case to the ses sions, if the parties chose to proceed further. BENEVOLENCE.—C. J. C. sent the half of a Si. note for the poor-box. Also a donation of 51., from the Earl of C—, for the poor-box. SOUTHWARK. William Perryman, a well-dressed young man, was brought before Mr. Seeker, charged with steal ing a leg of pork, a piece of beef , and other articles, the property of Mr. Gould, Brunswick-street, Black friars. Sergeant Derrig, M division, said that on the morning of Christmas-day, between one and two o'clock, as he was passing in front of the complai nant's house, he turned his lantern down the area and saw the prisoner concealed underneath a large meat safe. He knocked at the dour, and having roused the family they proceeded into the area, and found the prisoner there, and on examining the meat safe dis covered that it had been forced open, and the pri soner busily engaged in replacing the articles which he had previously taken out of it. When accounting for his being found in such a situation, he said he was quite incapable of accounting for the circumstance of his getting down the area otherwise than by suppos ing at the time that he was getting over the railings of his own house instead of those of the complainant's house. Unfortunately for the prisoner, however, when taken to the station-house he was recognised as an old offender, he having been tried, and convicted, and sentenced to transportation, which was subse quently commuted to five years' imprisonment on board the hulks. Since his liberation he had also been in custody with an accomplice, for robbing a man of 131., but owing to some defect in the evidence was discharged, and had been at large since that period until he was taken on the present occasion in the act of plundering the meat safe. He was committed. Two men of respectable appearance, named Robert Lewis, described as a tailor and draper, and Robert Mills Worst, an Excise-officer, were charged with stealing a half-crown at the London-bridge Tavern. Henry Williams, a waiter, stated that on Friday night the prisoners called for a pint of porter, and, having paid for it, they stood before the bar drinking THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 28, 1847. it. While there another customer called for some-- thing else, and at the moment witness threw down al half-crown piece on a sideboard near the spot where the prisoners stood, intending to hand it over to the barman to give change. Witness turned round for an instant, and found that the half-crown was whipped. up, and no other persons being within reach of the, coin but the prisoners, he charged them with stealing it, and gave them into custody. He added that he, saw a half-crown piece in Lewis's hand at the mo-. ment he missed the coin he had placed on the side board. Lewis denied the charge, and said that when he was accused of stealing the halfcrown, he put his hand in his waistcoat pocket and drew out the coin, which the witness claimed as the one he had pre viously laid on the sideboard. He (prisoner) was in business and respectable, and it was not probable he or his friend, who also held a respectable situation, could be guilty of such an Act. Worst also denied the charge, and said that he knew nothing whatever about it; that all he knew was that he went in with Mr. Lewis to take a draught of porter, and that before they had finished it they were both given into custody for stealing the half crown, and that they had been locked up since Friday night. 'The waiter having persisted that nobody but the prisoners could have taken the half-crown, Mr. SECHER said, that if that was the case, he should adjudge the prisoners to find bail to appear at this Court on the 6th of January, and that the waiter might indict them if he thought proper. LAMBETH. John Tarnell and Mary, his wife, were placed at the bar before Mr. Elliott, on a charge of working an illicit still. _ Mr. John Lewin, an officer of Excise, deposed that on Friday evening last he went to a house occupied by the prisoners, in Mortram-street, Old Kent-road, and found the prisoners employed in working a still, which had then a fire under it. The place was fitted up with all the necessary apparatus for carrying on an illicit distillation, with a quantity of wash, and seven gallons of spirits, two of which were in bladders ready to be carried out. Mr. John Bradnell, a second officer of Excise , corroborated the evidence of the last witness. The prisoners said nothing in defence, and Mr. ELLIOTT convicted the husband in the penalty (the lowest the law permits) of 301., and in default of payment to three months' imprisonment. Eliza Dove, Eliza Lewis, Margaret Wall, and Sarah Cross, inmates of Marlborough-house, Peckham, were charged with creating a considerable disturb ance in that establishment on Christmas evening. John Attery, the gate-porter of Marlborough house, deposed that on Saturday evening he was sent for to go to No. 32 Ward, and on proeeding there he found the prisoners, who had got over the palings which separates the males from the females, seated there with the male paupers, and singing as loud as they could. He requested hey would at once leave and proceed to their proper place, but they refused to do so, and it required the exertion of himself and four policemen to remove them. The prisoner Dove, he said, used violent threats towards him, and she as well as Cross had been before in prison. Mr. ELLIOTT ordered the prisoner Dove to find bail, and discharged the others, but the latter prisoners in sisted that all were equally guilty, and should be punished alike, and actually went so far as to refuse to leave their companion, but clung to her in the dock. They were with some difficulty removed, and cau tioned as to their future conduct, and their companion was sent to prison. George Wilson, Cold Harbour-lane, Camberwell, a man of gentlemanly appearance, was convicted in a penalty of 31. or one month's imprisonment, for as saulting a little girl of 12 years of age. BENEVOLENCE.-gr. Elliott received a 101. note, No. 22,876, and Mr. Norton a 51. from the Earl of C. (through the Commissioners of Police) for the poor. box, which the donor requested might be acknow ledged in the daily journals. THAMES. James Johnson, alias Robinson, and Thomas Lich fold, were charged with being on the river on Christ mas morning, at half-past three o'clock, with the in tention of committing felony. For some time past numerous robberies have been committed on board ships in the river, between sunset and sunrise, by a class of thieves called " tier rangers," who have carried off money, watches, and clothes, to a large amount, from cabins and state rooms, while the masters and mates have been asleep. Many of those thieves have been brought to justice through the vigilance of the Thames police, and either convicted at the Old Bailey Sessions, or sum marily punished by the magistrates. The depreda tions, however, have not entirely abated, and the river police have kept a sharp look out. On Christ mas morning, Inspector Hambrook and the crew of his galley were rowing past the ship Anna, lying in Mill-stairs tier, Bermondsey, and saw a strange boat alongside, which excited the suspicions of the in spector. He hailed the vessel, but no answer was returned. He then went on board, and after searching for a long time, he found the pri soners concealed under a long-boat on the quarter deck of the ship. He asked them what they did there, to which they replied that they had given some of the crew of the Anna a cast from the shore to the vessel in a boat. The master, mate, and all hands were fast asleep in their berths, and, on being aroused, denied all knowledge of the prisoners, whose intentions were evident. They had come on board for the purpose of stealing the clothes and money belonging to the master and mate, and they would have obtained a rich booty if they had not been so opportunely detected. The cabin and state-room of the ship alongside the Anna was plundered on the preceding night, and the thieves contrived to carry away the clothes, money, and valuables belonging to the mate without disturbing him. The boat found alongside the Anna belonged to a waterman named Banks, of Mill-stairs. It was removed from its moorings at the stairs, and the padlock which fastened the oars broken. The prisoners, who are good swimmers, made a desperate resistance, and endea voured to overturn the Thames police galley, but were overpowered and fastened to the bottom of the boat. answer to questions by the Magistrate, am at H , said roo that in etJohnson was convi c t e d on the 2d of May, 1844, at the Central Criminal Court, and sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment and hard labour. On the 4th of May, 1845, he was again convicted of felony at the same place, and re ceived a similar sentence. The same prisoner had been twice convicted of " tier ranging " by the Ma gistrates, and on each occasion sentenced to three months' imprisonment and hard labour. Potter, 212 IC, knew Lickfold to be a notorious thief, and he had been frequently in custody for felony. Witness knew the prisoner to be a returned convict, and gave the date of his first conviction. Mr. YARDLEY said if the prisoners had committed the robbery contemplated by them, there was no doubt they would have been transported for a long term. He had no doubt they were on board the Anna for the purpose of committing felony, and that they were most dangerous thieves. He sentenced them, as rogues and vagabonds, to three months' imprison ment and hard labour in the House of Correction at Brixton. Fanny Smith, Rarriet Downie, and Charles Winter were charged with hocussing William Edwards, a sailor, and robbing him of seven sovereigns. The prosecutor, who came home about three weeks ago, in the Canton, from Quebec, summoned the master of that vessel on Friday for his wages, and they were ordered to be paid by Mr. Ballantine, the magistrate. The prisoner Winter became acquainted with Edwards, and knowing that he was likely to obtain his wages, stuck very close to him all last week, and when the wages were ordered by Mr. Bal lantine, followed him from the court to the offices of Messrs. Stainbank, the ship-brokers, in the City, where the sum ordered was paid. The sailor, after paying the solicitor's charges and meeting other claims upon him, had eight sovereigns left, and he changed one and gave Winter half a sovereign to pur chase a Christmas goose for his dinner. Edwards then tied up the remainder of his money with his re gister ticket and certificate of service and discharge, in a corner of his h an dk erc hi e f, which he depos ited in his bosom, in Wi n t er ' s pr e sence. The prisoner then said he could take him to his house and intro duce him to some very nice girls, and persuaded i Ed wards to accompany hi m t o an i n famous house n St. George's in the East, where he found the two women. After having dra n k some thi ng the prisoners began pulling him about, an d unfastening his clothes, and removing his money from his handkerchief; but al though he knew they were robbing him, he had not sufficient strength t o ma k e an y resistance, and suf fered himself to b e pl un d ere d. The prisoners di rectly afterwards left the room. Edwards staggered out of the house, and proceeded to the station-house in King David-lane, close by, and made his loss known to Potter, a police constable, 211 K, who exa mined bis handkerchi e f, an d found his register ticket was gone, and in place of the gold two penny .pieces were substituted. Potter apprehended the two fe males the same evening. Winter was apprehended on the same night. H e tendered to Potter a half sovereign, which he said Edwards hid given him for the trouble he had taken with him. After some further proceedings, Mr. Yardley com mitted the prisoners for trial. THE SEWERS COMMISSIONERS.—Two of the Chair men of the old Sewers Commissioners for the Metropolis (one of whom is an Alderman of London) have refused to hand over their accounts and their cash in hand to the new Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers, whose ap pointment has superseded all the others. A meeting of the Central Commission will be held at Gwydyr House on Tuesday, when it will be decided what steps shall be taken for the transfer of all documents and powers from those bodies which have actually ceased to exist as Com missioners.—Observer. LAW OF LUNACY. TO THE RIGHT HON. SIR GEORGE GREY, BART., M.P., SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT. Sir,—l have the honour of calling your attention to the case of a Mr. Owen, a chemist, residing in Marchmont-street, Brunswick square, which has excited considerable attention in his neighbourhood, owing to his having been forcibly seized in his shop, by order of his brother, about the Bth of December, handcuffed, thrust into a cabriolet, and driven off to Mr. Warburton's asylum, Bethnal-green, from whence he was fortunately delivered by the unusual and public-spirited exertions of one of his neighbours, who having employed a solicitor, and formed a com mittee of his neighbours, procured eleven affidavits to his sanity, and having obtained a writ of habeas cor pus—before one of the judges—procured his release. I saw Mr. Owen last night, who appears to be a highly respectable, sensible, and quiet man, and he informed me that the doctors of the asylum, Mr. Warburton and Mr. Phillips, honourably acknow ledged to him that they saw no symptoms of de rangement in him, but that he could only be liberated in due course of law, as they were bound to detain him upon the order of his brother, and upon the cer tificates to his insanity which his brother had pro cured against him. In consequence also of his brother's orders, Mr. Owen was not allowed the use of pen or paper, or permitted to see his friends who went to call upon him at the asylum. A stronger instance of the impropriety of allowing the liberty of the subject to be thus jeopardised upon the authority of a relation, in some cases of a stranger, backed by the certificate of two medical men, with out the previous examination of the party at least by a magistrate and a clergyman, if not before a jury, an impropriety which the members of the Alleged Lunatic Friends Society have individually or collec tively been remonstrating against for two years, can not be submitted to your attention, nor can it fail of impressing upon your mind, that the existence of such a society is not unnecessary, and that their objects are entitled to respect. I beg leave, at the same time, to direct your atten tion to the second annual report of the Commissioners of Lunacy, and their last half-yearly report to the Lord Chancellor, printed Dec. 15, 1847, by order of the House of Commons, wherein the amount of the visits of the Commissioners to asylums is stated. It is there shown that Dr. Turner visited 167 asylums, saw 8,270 patients, and travelled 3,877 miles, and Mr. W. G. Campbell vjsited 165 asylums, saw 9,939 patients, and travelled 2,798 miles, during the six months ending August 4, 1847. The committee of the alleged Lunatic Friends' Society have had several complaints made to them, by persons who have suf fered in asylums, of the present system of inspection by the Commissioners resulting practically in a mere show. One gentlemen informs them, that on his preparing to make his complaints to them, they told him they were very much pressed for time ; they begged him to postpone his complaints to another opportunity, and at last one of them left the room, leaving the other to collect what he could of the applicant's case in a short conversation with him. It is not surprising that this should be the case, when the amount of the visits made and of the patients inspected by a Commissioner in six months is consi dered, and that besides this they have to inspect the wards, the books, and provisions of each asylum, if they thoroughly discharge their duty, and to make their reports to, and to discharge the other duties of, the board of which they are members. When, how ever, to these considerations is added the reflection that the Commissioners acknowledge that in some cases they can with difficulty procure the regular visits required by law from the magistrates who are appointed to visit the asylums in the country, the jus tice of the representations of the Committee of the Alleged Lunatic Friends' Society, that a complete rt.form is required in the present system of inspecting asylums, must be admitted. The importance also of, and the necessity for, a frequent inspection of asylums must forcibly strike you, Sir, as during the present year no less than three coroners' inquests have been holden on the bodies of patients who were found after death to have had their ribs broken on both sides of their bodies, through the violence of their attendants. One of these cases occurred in the asylum at Lincoln, the other two in a private asylum. I feel called upon to lay these facts and these obser vations before you, in order to make you aware of the'nature of the system against which the society I have the honour of belonging to is complaining. I have the honour to remain, Sir, Your obedient humble servant, JOHN PERCEVAL. Campden Cottage, Kensington, December 24, 1847. DEATH of a VETERAN REFORMER. One of our old friends has departed, and few re main that can tell the tale he once did. We allude to Mr. William Lang, late printer in this city, who died at Dunoon on Tuesday last, in the 76th year of his age. Mr. Lang was gifted with strong natural powers, which were governed with unbending integ rity. He was all his life long warmly attached to Liberal principles, not by violence or revolution, but to constitutional reform, comprehending civil and religious liberty, under proper safeguards. Thirty or forty years ago, it was dangerous in this city to moot even the most moderate principles of reform. A remarkable proof of this is to be found in the case of Mr. Lang, which may well startle the youth ful advocates and printers of the present day, and demonstrate the astonishing change which has taken place in public opinion, from the Government itself downwards. In the year 1816, as we well remember, Mr. Lang, then a most peaceable and respectable master printer in Glasgow, was taken up, along with his brother-in-law, the venerable Mr. Turner, of Thrushgrove, who still survives, on the charge of high treason. Those were the days of Sidmouth and Castlereagh. Those were the days of Richmond the Spy. The high treason consisted in this, that Mr. Turner gifted his ground for a meeting of peaceable reformers, and that Mr. Lang printed the calm and dignified resolutions adopted thereat. But Mr. Lang, though dead, yet speaketh, and we quote the follow ing account of this interesting matter, as delivered by him at the anniversary of the Thrushgrove reform meeting, 29th October, 1831—Mr. - Wallace, of Kelly, arid the late Sir John Maxwell in the chair : " Mr. Lang, in returning thanks for the honour of his health being drank, said, that the present was a compensation for all his sufferings. He alluded to the origin of the Thrushgrove meeting, and said their object was to give the citizens an opportunity of speaking their sentiments legally. At that time, if five met together, there was no security that one of them, at least was not a spy. They had asked, from the Dean of Guild, the Merchants' Hall to meet in. He said he had to consult his council, and the answer was, it could not be granted. They asked the Trades' Hall, but it was also refused, though let to a man salamander.—(Great laughter.) They next wanted to get the court of the Eagle Inn, which was granted, and the meeting was advertised; but next morning they received notice that the factor of the landlord would not allow them to meet in it. They ultimately met in the open air, expressed their sentiments, and sent them to the Prince Regent, signed by from twenty to thi r t y thousand people. During the meeting, the 42d Regiment stood under arms in the barracks, with eighteen rounds of ball cartridge, and the cavalry were under arms in another quarter ; but they risked the meeting, because they knew the people would be quiet; and when the meeting was over they retired as quietly as from a church. Meetings followed in all directions, and even in America the Thrushgrove meeting was noticed. Sir Philip Francis, the reputed author of "Junius," had written to them, applauding their intrepidity. He then detailed the circumstances of his imprison ment. On a Sacrament Sabbath morning, at two o'clock, while he and Mrs. Lang had just retired from the bedside of a sick child, and were scarcely in bed, a loud knocking was heard at his door. On asking who was there, he was told it was police officers. On opening the door, h e f oun d t h ree or four soldiers with drawn bayonets, an officer carry ing a torch, and a band of officers behind. He asked their object, and was told it was to search for papers. They then searched his drawers, his pockets, and his pocket-book ; and when towels bad been filled with papers, tablecloths had to be re sorted to. They next proceeded to the parlour and examined his books. One man, after spelling the title of one, made out Age of Reason,' and took possession of it. Another spelled 'Apology for Bible.' The leader said they would have nothing to do with that; but he (Mr. Lang) insisted there should be no selection, as Tom and the Bishop always went together. Having given them both the bane and the antidote, he offered them the Bible, telling them it was the most radical book extant ; but they refused it. They then went to his office and took every paper from his desk, along with his books of business, an d l e tt ers from Lord F o lk es tone, Major Cartwright, and Lord Castlereagh. Of the latter he said, if there was treason in his possession, it was in that letter; it related to an altera tion in the militia laws, which his Lordship was to bring in a Bill to effect. He was then taken to the police-office, and put into the prison room with other prisoners, and kept there till twelve o'clock at night, when he was sent to Bridewell, guarded by military, where he was kept till Friday ; and, after a long course of suffering, ultimately dismissed with out trial, apology, or compensation." Would such things be permitted now ? Truly we live in a world of progression, and thi s good and amiable man, after rising to high posts of honour in this city, which obliterated the stain of the accusation of high treason, and made him speak of it often with the smile of innocence and proud congratulation, closed his eyes at last in a mature age, and in the blessed hope that he would secure an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, eternal in the heavens.— Scotch Reformers' Gazette. THE CORN TRADE. The year 1847, now about tc draw to a close, will be long remembered as one of almost unprecedented disasters in the commercial world. We shall not pause to consider whether the ruin which has over taken many of our most extensive merchants has been caused by the progress cf free trade, the Bank Char ter, or other Legislative measures ; but that the im portation of food to the value of thirty millions of pounds could not fail to raise the value of money, and depreciate that of all other articles, is self.eri dent. The agr i cu lt ur i s t s h ave pro b a bl y felt the effect of the money crisis less than any other class of people; for though the harvest of 1846 was, taking all kinds of grain together, deficient, the extraordinarily high prices obtained for their produce during the period the Government were busy predicting famine com pensated in some measure for the deficiency in quan tity. Subsequently, when the fall came, the growers had managed to getpretty well out of stock, and were there fore but little affected by the rapid depreciation in prices. The future prospects of the farmer may also be considered as tolerably cheerful. With the excep tion of potatoes, the crops have unquestionably yielded abundantly; end though he cannot expect to realize very high prices, the extra qumtity of corn produce will place him in a very good position. That farmers are generally well off, is shown by the cautious man ner in which they have since harvest brought forward supplies ; and as they are likely to have the coin mend of the market for some months to come, it is not improbable that they will during that time be enabled to dispose of a considerable proportion of their wheat at prices varying from 50s. to 60s. per quarter, according to quality —no bad return, when we con sider the number of quarters grown to the acre. The declaration made by Lord John Russell, not long since, that it was not the intention of her Majesty's Government to propose the further suspension of the corn laws after the Ist of March .next, is also in favour of the British grower; and, on the whole, we may, we think, in wishing our agricultural friends a happy new year, venture to say that their prospects are at least as bright as those of any ether class of the community. The trade in wheat has throughout the week maintained a very firm tone, and the tendency of prices has been decidedly up wards. As yet the condition of the wheat of this year's growth has not been much benefited by the change of weather; but should the frosty air continue a few days longer, we may expect a material im provement to be wrought thereby in the quality of all kinds of new corn in stack. It is probable that far mers will, when this occurs, supply the markets more freely; but as it is tolerably certain that no further supplies of foreign grown corn can now reach us till after that period when the corn-laws shall again have come into operation, an increase in the deliveries from the growers need not necessarily be accompanied by a fall in prices. Owing to Christmas-day, the markets usually held on Saturday have been held out of the regular course—a circumstance which has interfered more or less with business; still the transactions of the week have been to a fair extent, and the advance established at Mark-lane on Monday last has been resrmded to, prices having risen since then ls. to 2s. per quarter in most parts of the kingdom. The arrivals of wheat coastwise into London have been tolerably good, 6,717 quarters having been re ported. The quantity exhibited at Mark-lane by land-carriage samples from the home counties has, on the other hand, been quite unimportant; indeed, there was scarcely anything offering either on Wednesday or Friday from Essex and Suffolk, and the show on the Kent stands consisted of the few runs left over from Monday. At the same we have had a very thin attendance of buyers (as is not unusual immedi ately previous to Christmas), and, small as has been the supply, factors have been unable to obtain any advance on the currency of Monday last. A few cargoes of wheat have again arrived from abroad ; the quantity reported within the last eight days has, how ever, amounted to only 3,905 qrs. The demand for foreign wheat has at no period of the week been active, the country inquiry having fallen off, and our own millers having manifested some unwillingness to add to their stocks so near to the close of the rear. Holders have nevertheless remained exceedingly firm, and, so far from showing any disposition to give way, have rather raised their pretensions, particularly for the finer qualities, which have now become very scarce. The transactions in town-manufactured flour have been on rather a restricted scale, nor has country made flour been in much request, but the quotations of last Monday have been steadily maintained. Holders cf the finest brands of American have de manded rather more money, which has checked the sale, and the bargains closed have not been of much importance. the arrivals of barley of home-growth have been good since our last, but from abroad we are without receipts. A considerable proportion of Monday's supply having, however, on that occasion remained unsold, and the demand having throughout been slow, this grain has been very difficult of disposal. Really fine malting qualities have brought nearly former terms, but the common runs were certainly Is. per quarter cheaper at the close than in the commence ment of the week, In foreign their has been little passing, but good heavy grinding sorts have not been sold lower. Malt has been influenced by the dull state of the barley trade, and the turn has been rathar in favour of the buyer. Though only 423 quarters of oats have come to hand coastwise, arid 120 from Ireland, the arrival of 25,838 quarters from abroad has kept the trade very dull, and we can note no improvement in the inquiry for this grain. Some quantity is known to be still on passage from near continental ports to this market, and the dealers appear determined to await the arri val of this expected supply. Meanwhile the setting-in of winter will prevent further shipments, and as there is not much prospect of the supply from Ireland in creasing, we are disposed to think that a small ad vance on present rates is more likely than any re duction. The quantity of English beans brought forward has proved fully equal to the demand, and sales have proceeded very slowly at the recently reduced terms. The operations in Egyptian beans have been on a retail scale, and quotations have undergone no change. The fall in the temperature has caused white boil ing peas to be rather more sought for, and this article was quite as dear on Friday as earlier in the week. Grey and maple peas have not varied in value,!aud but little business has been done in either. The value of Indian corn having lately risen in Ireland, rather more money h as b een as k ed for parcels here and to arrive, but the inquiry has not been suffi ciently active to allow of any advance being estab lished. By the packet-ship I saac W r i g h t, we h ave adv i ces from New York of a few days later date than the accounts per Acadi a . M oney was very ti g h t t h ere, in consequence of the continued shipments of gold to Great Britain. The weather, after having been very cold, had again become mild, and it was not deemed improbable that the inland navigation might be freed from ice, and further supplies of bread stuffs be re ceived from the interior. This, and the increased stock of flour on hand, had caused the article to become dull of sale, and prices had rather tended downwards. Western Canal was then quoted 6 dolls. 18c. to 6 dolls. 314 c. per barrel. The accounts from the north of Europe are not of much interest, except in as far as the latest adviees from some of the near ports inform us that winter had set in, and it is therefore more than probable that a stop has ere this been put to shipments of grain from the Baltic. Letters from Dantzic ' of the 18th :inst. ' state that very little business has been done there daring the preceding eight days; but the supplies having been unimportant, sellers had declined accepting less money. The weather had become cold, and as ice was rapidly forming, a stop would, it was believed, be put to further exports. Only about 80 lasts had changed hands. Letters from Hamburgh, of Tuesday's date, inform us that the weather had for some days been cold, and that the navigation of the Elbe had become a good deal impeded by floating ice. The advices from hence were considered e ncouraging, and holders of wheat had declined selling the best heavy Upland below 50s. per qr., free on board. By the latest accounts from the Mediterranean it seems that, in consequence of large arrivals of wheat from the Black Sea, holders had become more anxious to realise. At Marseilles business was very dull on the 16th December, and fine Polish, weighing 621bs. per bushel, was then offered at equal to 435. per qr., free on board.—Marh-lane Express. [ADVERTISEMENT.]--CARRIAGE FREE.—Families residing in the country are supplied with Teas and Coffees at the lowest wholesale price, in quantities not less than six pounds, delivered carriage free to any part of England. Orders must be accompanied by a remit tance, or if a reference be made in London, payment will suffice on receipt and approval of the goods. A list of prices and samples free, on application to G. T. Man sell and Cu., wholesale tea-dealers, 2, Bueklersbury, Cheapside. LADYERTISEMENT.] - A DREADFUL ABSCESS UNDER THE CHIN CURED BY HOLLOWAY'S OINTMENT AND PlLLS.—Robert Davidson, shoemaker, of An struther, had suffered for more than five years with a very dreadful abscess under his chin. During this time he had been under the care of two surgeons in Anstru ther, and one in Edinburgh, without the least prospect of a cure ; in this miserable conditipn be began to use Holloway's Ointment and Pills, which in the short space of two months soundly healed the wound, and he is now enjoying the best of health. These fine medicines are admirable remedies for King's evil, wounds of all kinds, burns, scalds, piles, fistula, and bearings down. Sold by all druggists, and at Professor Holloway's establish ment, 244, Strand, London. CALNE ELECTION. • CALNE, MONDAY EVENING.—The election for the borough of Caine, arising out of the vacancy occur ring by the acceptance of a Lordship of the Treasury by the Earl of Shelburne, took place in the Town hall, at eleven o'clock to-day. The Earl of Shelburne having arrived in Caine from Bowood, was escorted to the Town-hall, attended by a number of friends, and at eleven o'clock the pro ceedings commenced. The preliminary proceedings having been gone through, MAYOR (Dr. Page) rose, and having alluded to the cause of the vacancy, called upon any elector to propose a candidate. Dr. GREED UP then nom/noted, and Mr. L ADD se conded, the Earl of Shelburne as a fit and proper person to represent the borough. No other candidate having been proposed, the Right Hon. the Earl of Shelburne was declared duly elected, amid loud cheering. Lord SIIELBNRNE then rose, and said he had in the first place to thank most cordially his honourable proposer and seconder for the very flattering manner in w hich they had spoken of him, though the latter had placed him rather in a predicament, although no doubt unintentionally, for he had recited such a long list of eminent men who had represented that borough in Parliament, that he (Lord Shelburne) must feel himself an unworthy follower of them.—(No.) When he last had the honour of being elected by them, he had riot the slightest idea that he should have so soon to again appear before them in the agreeable position in which he then stood, for he called it an agreeable position to stand as the successful candidate before a body of electors.—(Cheers.) He had always, as they knew, been an advocate of Whig principles, and a sup porter of the Whig Government, when he did not hold office. He had now accepted office, but he de clared, as a man of honour, that he would not have done so if he had not had full confidence in her Majesty's present Government, and had approved of the mea sures which they had proposed. He would, however, as sincerely say, that no love of place should induce him to hold office for one moment longer than he could conscientiously do so without either abandon ing his principles, or sacrificing his self-respect ; and he sincerely hoped, in the words of the gentleman who had nominated him, that he should not prove less worthy as a Member, now that he held office, than he had before. Of the session, or rather the preliminary part of it, which had just been closed by the adjournment, he had but little to say, as the single measure which had been settled was the Irish Life Protection Bill, but he would observe that he had supported that Bill because he thought it necessary to put down the outrage, the crime, and the assassination now so openly practised in Ireland ; and he would add, that while the Govern ment showed itself willing to aid and relieve distress in Ireland, they were equally determined to put the law in full force to put down the present abominable assassinations which disgraced Ireland—assassinations in which the assassins were not actuated by pa s sion, or frenzy, or hatred, or revenge, but solely by base lucre, and in which the parties assassinated were the resident landlords, in many cases most estimable men, but who had been, which was far worse, denounced from the altar b 7 the priests. The N o bl e L or d then alluded to the Education Bill, and having expressed continued confidence in free trade, for which he had voted, but which he contended had not yet had a fair trial, he sat down by thanking them for the honour which they had done him. A vote Of thanks was the❑ given to the Mayor, and the proceedings terminated. RAILWAY SHARE MARKETS. LIVERPOOL, Dac. 27. STOCK EXCHANGE.—The sales are—Glasgow and Gree nock, 16 1 / 2 —Glasgow and Dumfries, 71 / 2 —Great Western, Quarters, 1 1 / 2 p. —Lancashire and Yorkshire, Fifths, 1 4 c• dis.—London and North-Western, 146—North Staffordshire* 1 / 1 dis.—South-Eastern and Dover, No. 4, Thirds, 151 dis. MANCHESTER, DEC. 27. STOCK EXCHANGE.—The sales are—Leicester and Bed ford, 4s. 6d. dis.—London and North-Western, Quarters (B) , p Ditto (C), 3 11..16 p.—Manch ester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire, Preference, par—North British, Thirds, 1 / 2 dis. North Staffordshire, par—Shropshire Union Railway and Canal, 2) dis.—South-Eastern and Dover, No. 4, 1 13-16 dis. EDINBURGH, DEC 24. STOCK EXCHANGE.—The sales are—Great Northern, 85s. —North British, Quarters, 86s. 6d. ex int.—Ditto, Neff Quarters (scrip), 10s.—Ditto, Thirds, 379. AN IRISHMAN CHLOROFORMISED.—The Carlisle Patriot says that among the out-patients of the Cumber land Infirmary was an Irishman, an itinerant vendor of tracts, w ho applied to have his, as he termed it, " axle tooth" (the last of the lower jaw) removed. The tooth was examined, and he was desired to seat himself in a chair, when a few drops of chloroform sprinkled on 5 handkerchief were held before his face; in a few minutes he began to fumble in his waistcoat pocket, from which he withdrew a short pipe and some tobacco, and re quested that the lady (a nurse) might fetch him a light. By this time the effect of the vapour had ceased, and he apologised for the liberty he had taken, which he con sidered was " all owing to that beautiful perfume:" the quantity of chloroform given had not been sufficient to produce a state of unconsciousness. A larger quantity was now sprinkled on the handkerchief, which was again held before his face, and in less than a minute he ‘ , ;s sound asleep, the tooth was extracted, and he con tinued snoring for a minute longer, when he began to show symptoms of awaking, and the following dialogue ensued.—" How are you now? where have you been? " Well, I'll tell you; I was at Carlisle, and I went to the infirmary there, and at first I sat down in a room with a lot of people, and then a gentleman whom I had never seen before called me out, and asked me what I wanted, and I old him that I wanted to have an axle tooth taken out, for it had been troubling me long • and he told me to sic down in a chai r , an d I did, and then I breathed • beautiful perfume, and then—" " Well, what then?" " Why, then I went to that world that sinful mortals on earth often think about;" and here he paused as if con sidering, and then suddenly exclaimed, " I think I am that same old sinner that went to the infirmary myself," and again paused to consider; " but if it's the same I've got a loose axle tooth in my head." " Then you must feel if you have." The Irishman did as he was desired, and carefully examined his jaw, and having apparently convinced himself, said, " No, there is no axle tooth; then lam not the same." The effect of the vapour now rapidly subsided, and he speedily came to the conclusion that he was the same person, and that there must have been magic, and left the room evidently well satisfied at having so agreeably got rid of his troublesome com panion. - BREACH OF REGULATIONS ON THE QUEEN'S VISIT. —lt will be recollected by many who witnessed the landing of the Queen, on her visit to the Castle of Dumbarton, in August last, that a breach of regula• Lions, issued on that occasion by the Sheriff of Dum bartonshire, in conjunction .with the Magistrates of the burgh, for the protection and safety of the public, was alleged to have been committed by James Lang, one of the steam-boat masters of Dumbarton. The regulation referred to was to the effect, " That no boat or vessel of any description was to enter the Leven, on the day of the expected visit, between nine in the morning and the departure of the Royal Squadron." This order was extensively circulated in Dumbarton and at Glasgow, and to enforce it, six guard-boats, with sufficient crews, were placed in the Leven, to cruize in the immediate neighbourhood of the Queen's land ing -place. Mr. Lang was brought upon on Tuesday last, on a complaint, at the instance of the Procurator-Fiscal of the Sheriff Court, in which he WAS accused of culpably and recklessly steering the Lochlo. mond steam-boat into the Leven, in breach of the regu lations, and in the face of all opposition on the part of the crews of the guard-bouts, to the danger and alarm of the lieges, and the terror and consternation of the persons assembled at her Majesty's landing, as also a breach of the public peace, aggravated by being com mitted when the Sovereign, in person, was nearly ap proaching. The prosecution was conducted by Mr. Young, Advocate-Depute, and the defence by Mr. Archibald Graham, Advocate. Numerous objections were stated to the relevancy of the complaint; but those being all repelled by Mr. Sheriff Steele, who presided at the trial, the case went to proof, and, after the exami nation of a great number of witnesses, the Sheriff found the complaint established, and fined the accused in 51. sterling. The counsel for the panel stated, that he was instructed to appeal the judgment to the first Circuit Court; and a bond of caution to abide the issue of the appeal was then entered into for the panel.—Greenock Advertiser. STATISTICS OF OUR TAXATION. Every pound sterling, or 205., raised in taxes in the country, it is computed is thus divided:—Army and navy, 6s. 2d.; civil list, including Queen, ministers, judges, sinecureo, &c., lod.; interest on the national debt, 13s. .81 RTLIS. On the 2lst inst., the lady of George Roch, Esq., Butter Hill, Pembrokeshire, of a daughter. On the 12th inst., at Kempston Hoo, Bedfordshire, the lady of Robert Hobson, Esq., of a son. On the 27th inst., in Carlton-terrace, the Countess of Arundel and Surrey, of a son and heir. On the 22d inst., at the Vicarage, Hindringham, Norfolk, the wife of the Rev. Edward James, of a daughter. On the 23d inst., at Caller, county of Tipperary the lady of Clarmont Skrine, Esq,. 47th Regiment, of a son. On the 23d inst., at Upton Gray, the lady of I'. H. Mackay, Esq., of a daughter. On the 24th inst., at Oving Rectory, Bucks, the wife of the Rev. H. L. Bocce, of a daughter. On the 24th inst., at Cheltenham, the lady of Colonel Russel, Royal Artillery, of a daughter. On the 25th inst., at the Retreat, Rushy-green, Lewisham, Mrs. John Smith, of a son. AfARICIED. On the 24th inst., at St. Pancras Church, Mr. John Crick ford, to Annie, youngest daughter of R. B. Ellam, Esq., of Tonbridge- place. DIED. On the 24th inst., at Brighton, the Hon. Mary Anne 'Ursula Addington, eldest child °lithe Right Hon. Henry Ad dington Viscount Sidmouth, aged 65. On the 25th inst., at St. Leonard's-on-Sea, the Dowager Countess of Romney, aged 53. On the 20th inst , at Walham- green, W. T. Scott, plumber. On 'he 20th inst., Miss Gough, of Camden-row, Camber well, aged 70. On the 22d inst., Henry Dinham Chaele, Esq., Lough borough-road, North Brixton, aged 88. London : Printed and Published by MURDO YOUNG, at No. 112, Strand, Printer, at The Sun Office, No. 112, Strand, in the Precinct of the Sayoy, in the county of Ididdlesez, Tuesday, December 28, 184 f.