The Express.
London, England, 1848-01-13 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENIN(I, JANUARY 13, 1848.

expressing himself :—" I do hope," said his lordship, "that,
when the house does oome seriously to wonder any
bill having the question of transportation directly in
view, it will consider the benefit of the colonies,
as well as the benefit of the mother country. I
own I think it hes been too much the custom both to par
acts imposing the penalty of transportation, and to per sen-
tences of transportation, with a view rather to the conve-
nience of this country than to the reformation of persons
known to be of vicious habits, or the interests of the colony
to which they were Pent. We ere bound to consider those
interests likewise. We are bound, when we are planting
provinces, to endeavour that they should not be merely seats
ci• malefactor. and of convicts, but communities fitted to set an
example of virtue and of happiness."
The truth is, the free colonists of Van Diemen's Land had,
until these generous utterances became the vogue last year,
beets regarded merely as so much penal machinery. They
supplied a body of masters for the feted convicts or ticket
men ; they afforded a fund for the remuneration of labour
and so many examples of good conduct in the social rola
tions of life. They paid for police and polo, and supported
a large body of chaplains. Any risk, however, to their own
morals, or the morals of their posterity, any insecurity to
person and property, seemed to have been wholly lost sight
of. Lord John Russell cams forward with different senti-
ments, and he was well and ably supported by his colleagues,
so welt as by Mr. Ewart, the member for Dumfries.
But now more male convicts are to be sent out ; ticket-
men from Bermuda. Bare the government no resolution,
or do they only inculcate principles for the sake of a little
rhetoricel effect in the houses of parliament ? The fact to,
Van Diemea's Land requires to be purged of many of the
convicts now in the island, instead of having more of that
class sent thither, under whatever designation ; while any
addition to the population should be of free male and female
emigrants. This is the outcry now in the colony ; and the
demand is one which, io reason and justice, and in con-
formity with their own loudly enforced principles, the
government should hasten to comply with.—A COLONIST.—
London, Jan. 12.

ecnnplezionamKmild expression. After stating the birth of
the child, and that the rev, defendant was the father, she
said she had attended the church and the Sunday school
many years and had had a Bible given her for good con-'
duct. One Sunday before Christmas. 1846, Mrs. Seddon
sent her from the Sunday school vs the vicarage for some
magazines. Mr. Seddon was at home, and looked for them
in the parlour or dining-room, and afterwards went up
to seek for them in the drawing-room or study, and called
her after him. [The witness then detailed some liberties
which the defendant took on that occasion.] The
second occasion was on Christmas-day, when witness
went to the vicarage in consequence of • message
from Mr. Seddon, conveyed to her by James Mellor, a
teacher in the Sunday school. She waited in the kitchen
' till the vicar sent for her into the parlour, and then told her
he would give her a new 2s. hymn-book, if she would return
a Is. one she had. She went home directly, sold her Is.
one, and returned to the rectory with the money. Mr. Sed-
don was then in the parlour, directing letters, which he
sent by • servant. \Vhile witness was waiting William
Harrop, the parish clerk, came in with the money collected
at service that morning, and he laid it on the table and went
away. When he was gone, Mr. Seddon took up Is., put it
into her hand, and told her to put it into his hand again,
saying that would be the same as paying for the hymn-book.
He told her to take the other money in her frock up stairs
into the drawing-room, which she did. He went up with
her, and gave her a 2s. hymn-book and a catechism. No one
else was in the drawing-room.—[The witness described a
repetition of liberties taken with her.)—He told her to stay
all the afternoon and dine with the servants, and she did so.
On the Sunday after Christmas-day, after morning serene,
Mr. Seddon sent for her into the vestry, and when alone,
asked her if she was going anywhere that week. She said
no. He asked her on what day she should wail, and she
told him Wednesday. He then asked if he might come to her
father's to see him, about his attending church and lectures.
She said she did not mind. On the following day (Monday)
Mr. Serleon came to her father's, when witness was washing
herself in the back kitchen. A young woman, named Ann
Hobson, came in, and when witness had put on her dress she
went into the front room of the cottage, where they were.
Mr. Seddon asked her for the catechism he had given her,
and gave it to Ann Hobson, and said he would bring witness
another. Mr. Seddon and Ann Hobson went away, and
he returned in the evening between six and seven and
brought another catechism; but he had not been there
more than two or three minute., when Aan Hobson came
in. She went to fetch some sewing, and he left directly
afterwards. On another Saturday night, about the time that
Ebenezer Woodward died (in March, 1847), Mr. Seddoa
came to her father's. Witness was alone. She went into
the back kitchen. He followed her. [Witness descried
some improper liberties, and indecent conduct.] While they
were in the back kitchen Ellen Reigate, a young woman,
came in. and witness went to her; and the defendant,
after picking up two potatoes from a quantity near the
slopstone, followed her with the potatoes in his hand, and
asked what price they gave for them. She said she did not
know ; her father bought them. He talked to Ellen Hol-
gate, and en learning her mother was ill, he went out, but
returned in ten minutes, Ellen Holgate having then
left. He asked witness if she thought Ellen Holgate
had noticed them, and witness said she thought not. He
gave witness a shilling, and went away, but came again
a third time, and while he was there her father came
in, and a girl named Sarah Platt, and he Mon afterwards
went away. On the following day, Sunday, Mrs. Seddon
sent witness from the Sundae school to the rectory, to
fetch a memorandum-book. "'Witness stored in the lobby
while Mr. Seddon looked for it in the parlour, and then he
said he could not find it, and went upstairs into the drawing-
room, calling her to follow. He placed her on • chair.—
[Witnesedescribed a repetition of the liberties and indecent
conduct, and said that :—] Hearing a step he desisted,
opened the door, and seeing hie aervant Nancy Robinson, he
told her he could not find the book, and sent her to seek it.
She brought it, and witness then left and took it to M rs. Sed-
don. The same Sunday evening witness gave her Bible to
her teacher (Miss Fanny Cooper) to have her name written
in it; and the following Sunday Mrs. Seddon sent her to the
vicarage to fetch it. Mr. Seddon was not in, and she was
returning to school with the Bible (in which het name had
not been written) when she met him near the vicarage, and
he told her to turn beck and he would write her name for
her in the Bible. He went up with her into the drawing-
room. [Witness described further improper liberties, and
said that Mr. Seddon only desisted on her telling him some-
thing.] While she was in the drawing-room, Mr. Harrop,
the clerk, came in. Mr. Seddon wrote her name in the
Bible, and she then left. On the evening of Tuesday, the
16th March (which she knew because it was the first Tues-
day after she begun to work short time at the factory
where she was employed), she went to the weekly evening
lecture, at Broadbottom, and after lecture witness and a
girl named Elisabeth Holt returned homewards, by
the old road. Having parted with Holt at the door e itness
proceeded homewards, to do which she had to pass the
vicarage, and while passing it, on the opposite side, Mr.
Seddon, who was at the gate, came across to her, and told
her he wanted her. He took hold of her arm, and led her
towards an old building near the vicarage. She said some-
body would see them, but he raid nobody would, and she
went with him. (The witness Hated that the offence was
completed in this building, and that while there, in reply to
questions from the defendant, she told him that she had had
no improper intimacy with any one since about a month be-
fore Christmas, and that man was Thomas Jackson, a ser-
vant of Mr. Sidebottom, surgeon, Mottram.) On the fol-
lowing Tuesday morning, Mr. Seddon came to her father's,
between seven and eight o'clock, and then questioned her
about herself. (The details we cannot publish.) Witness
saw Nancy Sinister (a neighbour), at her door, while Mr.
Seddon was in the house. On Monday nights a class of
young women went to practise singing at the vicarage, and
while there one evening, in the kitchen, Mr. Seddon asked
her further questions (which she stated; amongst others, if
she had seen the doctor) ; and she having told him what she
thought to he her condition, he suggested that the father
must be " that young man," Thomas Jackson. She told him
that was impossible. Other girls were present singing when
thin conversation took place ; but witness did not sing. Wit-
ness first told her father about this, on his questioning her.
The witness was cross-examined by Mr. Greene, at very
great length, but nothing material was elicited to shake her
evidence in chief. She said that Mr. Seddon had never
spoken totter before the Sunday when she went to fetch the
magazines.
W. Harrop, parish clerk of Mottram since 1810, said—Oa
Christmas-day 1846. when he took the collection money to
the vicar, he did not recollect whether anybody was with him
or not. One Sunday morning after Christmas, about the
time the new hymns were introduced, witness went to the
' vicarage, to get some papers for the singers. Being told the
vicar wai up stairs in the drawing-room, witness went up.
The door was shut, and he knocked. For a few seconds
there was no answer, but after the lapse of that interval,
Mr. Seddon called out, " Come in ;" and witness went in,
and found Mr. Seddon and Mary Green in the loom ; she
was seated upon the sofa. Mr. Seddon said, " Clerk, vou
want your papers?" Witness said, " Yes, sir." Mr. Seddon
then rang the bell, and told his servant, Nancy Robinson, to
bring a book out of the parlour. She returned, saying she
couid not find it. Witness got his papers, and went away.
He had seen Mary Green at the vicarage four or five or six
times. Mr. Seddon once, on • Sunday, told him to tell Mary
Green to go to him in the vestry, as he wanted her. She
, went, and remained there five or six minutes. After witness
' had toll her, he went into the vestry, and stayed till she
came, and then came out and shut the door, leaving her with
Mr. Seddon.—Mr. Hudson : When you saw Mr. Seddon and
Mary Green together in the drawing-room did you think it
was proper or not? I did think it was not proper.—ln cross-
examination by Mr. Greene. witness said he was in his G9th
year. He had seen various Sunday school girls at the vicar-
age besides Mary Green, and had known Mrs. Seddon send
them on errands thither from the Sunday school.
Ellen Holgate, aged 18, stated that, about the time of
Woodward's death, she went one night to Mary Green's.
The door was latched. On opening it, she saw nobody in
the front room, and, after shutting the door, she stood for
about a minute and a half, hearing no noise, and then saw
Mr. Seddon's back, in the back kitchen, as he stepped back-
wards. He was near the elop.stone, and seemed, by the
motion of his arms, to be doing something at his dress. Mary
Green then came out of the kitchea into the front room, and
Mr. Seddon followed her in about a minute. He first
stooped down near the edge of the slop-stone, and when he
came he had two potatoes in his hand. The witness corro-
borated Green fully as to what passed subsequently.—ln
cross-examination she said this was about three or four
weeks before We:Award's death.—ln re-examination, wit-
ness said she thought nothing more about it, till the report
broke out, and then she mentioned what she had seen.

Nancy Siei.ter, an old woman, said she had seen Mr.
Seddon at Green's hoarse " three times of a day." (A dis-
cussion ensued as to the purport of this expression. It ap-
peared ultimately that the witness had seen him there thrice
on one particular day.) She saw him there before 8 o'clock
one Tuesday morning in May last. As he crossed to enter
the house, Mary Green came out, and he tapped her on the
shoulder. She flushed in the face, which caused witness to
take notice. Mr. Seddon went into the house, and Green
went to a neighbouring shop, and returned in a minute or
two. The door of the house was closed as soon as she went
in. Witness suspected something, and mentioned it at the
time. In cross-examination, witness said her house had
been searched on ono occasion. She had seen Mr. Seddon
altogether about a dozen times at Mary Green's. Neither
witness nor her husband were against Mr. Seddor. She
did not think she had ever spoken against him ; but she
would not swear she had not. The morning Mr. Seddon
tapped Mary Green on the shoulder was the Ilth of May.
Witness had not then heard any report. —ln re-examination,
the witness said she had lived in Mottram 35 years. When
her house was searched nothing was found, and no proceed-
ings were taken against any of her family.
Ann Ogden, aged 21, went with others on Monday even-
ing, to practix singing, at the vicarage. One night, on
leaving (Mary Green, and Mary Swann, and witness being
there, with others), as the girls were coming out of the lobby
at the door, Mr. Seddon put his band indecently upon
witness, and said, "Mary." Witness said, " No." He said,
" Who are you ?" She replied, " Me, sir." He said," Good
night, and make haste home." At this time Mary Green,
Mary Swann, and others were standing near the rails out-
side the house, about a yard and a half from the door, and
Green and Swann were laughing because Mr. Seddon mis-
took witness for Green.—This witness was cross-examined
at some length, and explained that it was dark in the
lobby ; there wan no candle ; and at first Mary Green was
the last of the party ; but she pushed past, got out of the
house, sod witness was left the last of the girls. She
supposed Green and Swann were laughing at her because
they could hear what Mr. Seddon said to her. Before
the trial (the inquiry at Mottram) witness had said to
Charlotte Shaw that what she (witness) had said about this
was a lie ; that Mr. Seddon had done nothing, but had
only spoken to her for her good. Witness had not been wild,
any further than not going to school on the Sunday. She
had said nothing to Charlotte Shaw about it since the trial

Witness bad said, on coming away from the at
Mottram, " They have puzzled me so, I don't know what I
said ; if I had known I should have been asked so many
questions. I would not have come for all Mottram." In re-
examination, witness said that Charlotte Shaw was a weaver
at Broadbottom, and a teacher at the school. She asked
witness if Mr. Seddon had ever done so, and said she could
not believe it. Charlotte Sbaw is a young woman. This
conversation took place in the mill: five or young women
who went to the school were present. It is true that Mr.
Seddon did take the liberties with witness. She told Char-
lotte Shaw differently, because she did not want to have any-
thing to do with it.

Frederick Tinker, surgeon, proved the birth of the
child on the morning of Tuesday, the 30th November, and
stated that it was full grown, and its appearance agreed with
the dates given.
This closed the complainant's case, about twenty minutes
to 5 o'clock.

Mr. Greene addressed the court at considerable length
for the rev. defendant. He commented upon the evidence,
observing that according to Green's own statement, Mr.
Seddon did not seek her, but she was sent by Mrs. Seddon.
It was incredible that he should so far have misconducted
himself to a girl to whom he had never before spoken, as on
the occasion when Green went for the magazines. He said
that all the probabilities were against the truth of the story.
There was nothing remarkable in a Sunday scholar going
into his study, for such was the drawitt,roem, and having
her name written in her bible; nor in the vicar visiting her
father, to induce him to attend church and lectures. Then,
the doors were never locked ; according to Green they were
several times interrupted ; at.d, had Green's tale been
true, why Mr. Seddon's conduct would amount to sheer
insanity. What security had Mr. Seddon that, as-
suming he took liberties with a girl he bad never
before spoken to, she would not go and tell her companions
and sohoolmates ? lie commented on discrepancies as to
dates and times, especially as to the vicar having been at
home an hour on Christmas-day, and stated that be had not
been at home more then a quarter of an bone He urged
that the familiar terms with a girl in Green's circumstances,
which might be unbecoming is many, was in a clergymen
rather praiseworthy than blameable. As to Ellen Holgate's
story of what happened at Green's house, it was madness to
suppose that anything criminal was intended, when no door
was fastened,and anybody who had looked in at the kitchen
window must have seen. Then all the vicar did was to give
linen Ilolgate a catechism, and to visit her sick mother.
He argued that Ann Ogden was not to be believed, and
would be contradicted by Charlotte Shaw. Or, if true,
might not Mary Green, in pushing past her in the lobby,
have pushed her against the vicar ? He would show that
what passed between Green and Swann and Lee was not, as
Green alleged, on another night, but on the 16th of March,
and that, consequently, the offence she alleged could not
have been committed that night. This would be a conclu•
sive answer to the whole case.

Mary Swann, a dressmaker, and teacher in the Sunday
school, stated that, on the evening of the 16th March, she
attended the lecture, and did not see Mary Green there.
I The witness entered into a long statement to prove how she
knew it to be the 16th, and no other night. On the let
March she was on Mr. Woodhead's coach on the Hyde new
road, and the coachman said it was a fine morning for the
Ist March. She then accounted for her time, working at
various customers' houses, till she returned home on the
evening of Tuesday. the 9th March, too late to attend lec-
ture, and she then learned that that evening Mr. Farthing
had been lecturing. The evening she met Mary Green was
the following Tuesday evening. After the lecture on the
16th, by Mr. Seddon, witness and her brother went along
the new road towards home, and Mr. Seddon overtook them
on that road, and ported from them at the gate where
witness lived, and witness went in. She found Mary
Kelsall Lee there, preparing to go home; and, as the
night was fine, witness accompanied her for a walk.
They went past the vicarage' and law nobody there, and
along the old road, a little higher than the school room
(Lee living opposite the steeple of the church.) After they
had missed the vicarage they met Mary Green on the old
road going from 13roadbottom towards the vicarage, and
witness told Green she had been a long time on the way,
as she (witness) had teen at home, and was then so far
on the road back. Green said she had been at the lecture
with Mary Holt, and had walked slowly. Witness then
left Lee and turned back wits Mary Green, and they
passed the vicarage, but saw no one there, and witness
left Green turning towards and near to where she (Green)
lived, and went home herself. Witness never saw the
vicar do anything, or heard him say at the vicarage door
to Ann Ogden, Is that you, Mary 1" or anything like
it; and never laughed at Ogden there. Cruse-examined:
Two years since this Christmas witness went with Mr.
Seddon and a part of the family to London as nurse, and
returned before them on account of her sister's illness. When
examined at Mottram witness said nothing about Mr. Wood-
head's coach and the let March. She only knew from being
told that Mr. Fm thing lectured the night she returned. She did
not recollect being asked at Muttram, repeatedly, if she had
then given her only reasons for fixing the evening as the 16th
of March. She bad heard it said that one evening at the
singing class the vicar and Mary Green were whispering
together; but witness had never said so herself. [Under
re-examination by Mr. Greene this witness became faint, and
she was removed from court. It was stated that she had
been in attendance all day, and hail had nothing to eat. A
glass of water, and subsequently one of wine, was given her,
and when recovered, her examination was resumed.]

In the interim, the Re►. Thomas Newham Farthing, of
Denton, pro►ed that he lectured at Broadbottons on Tuesday
e►ening, the 9th of March. He knew it because he went
o►er to Mottram to a►oid the incon►enience to a bachelor in
lodgings of the birth of his landlady's first child.
Mary Swann's reexamination was then renewed Wit-
ness was quite sure that it was the 16th March, and no other
night she met Mary Green.
Mary Kelsall Lee, aged 17, stated the circumstances, in
corroboration of Swann, but could not fix the date beyond
its being a Tuesday, alt cture night, when Mr. Seddon 'ec-
hoed. She only so met Mary Green on one a- vision.—
, Cross-examined : Witness could not say whether it was in
March, April, or May. Witness got home about half-past
nine o'clock. Witness's aunt had said that it was the same
day that witness had been at Manchester, but witness herself
could not recollect this.

Mrs. Sarah Blenkinsop, the aunt, knew it to be the
16th March they went to Manchester, because the 12th
was her son's birthday, and as he did not come aver
on the 11th (Sunday they went on Tuesday, the 16th,
to Manchester.

Mary Ann Wild was called to speak to having on the 10th
April slept with Mary Green, and seeing her drink herb tea.
[This witness stated that the date mentioned by Green to
her, of a particular matter, was the Ist February. Nary
Green, in her evidence, had stated it to be the 28th Feb.]
In crossexamination the witness stated the had told this
conversation to Miss Cooper and Mn. Seddon. after the
report wee about, and also Mr. Paul. Previously she had
told her mother only. Witness told Nancy Robinson, the
vicar's servant, about it, and witness was then sent for to the
vicarage. When she bad told them, witness was sent by
Min Cooper to Mary Green, to see if she would alter her
tale any, and she went.
--- • •

Charlotte Shaw, aged 31, wife of James Shaw, shoemaker,
Mottram, stated that Ann Ogden had told her that what she
had said about the vicar was a lie ; he bad never done any-
thing improper to her. Witness saw Ogden about ten
minutes after she left the inquiry-room at Mottram, and
said to her, " I hear thou haat contradicted thyself many a
time;" and Ogden replied, " They have puzzled me so, I
don't know what I have said ; but if I had known what
they would have asked me, I'll be d—d if I would have
come for all Mottram." She burst out a.crying, and said
Mr. Seddon had never done anything, only to advise her for
her own good. [Ann Ogden stated afterwards that this
witness was not the Charlotte Shaw she had told with others
at the factory.] This was the defendant's case, which closed
at 20 minutes past 7 o'clock.
Mr. Hudson replied. The last witness had been called to
prove that Ann Ogden had contradicted, when not on oath,
her statements on oath at Mottram, which statement she had
again made on oath at Hyde. But putting her evidence
aside altogether, there were abundant grounds to justify the
magistrates in making an order on Mr. Seddon. All Mrs.
Blenkinsop proved was, that on the 16th March she and her
niece (Lee) went to Manchester; which might be true, bat
Lee did not prove that on the evening of her return she and
Swann met Mary Green on the road. Mr. Farthing proved
nothing material to the case, and the main witness for the
defence was Mary Swann, who had been nurse in the vicar's
family, and who fixed the date only from a coachman telling
het it was a fine morning on the Ist March. Surely her
reasons for recollecting the date were not to be relied
on. Even on Swann's own statement, she did not see
Green enter her house, but only go towards it. Green, on
the other hand, said that this meeting on the road was some
weeks previously to the 16th March. She had every reason
for remembering that date ; Swann none. Was it possible
to conceive a poor girl like Green could have invented such
a story, corroborated as it was at so many points by irre-
proem:6lole evidence ? Even the suspicions of that respect
able old man, the parish clerk, were awakened by what he
saw in the drawing-room. It was absurd to suppose that a
clergyman needed to have Sunday-school girls closeted with
him in his study. The evidence of Ellen Holgate, as to
what took place at Green's house, when Mr. Seddon pro-
duced the potatoes, was not contradicted, nor her credit
impugned. Then, Nancy Simister saw the Tim come at an
early hour in the morning to Green's, and tap Mary Green
on the shoulder. Upon what legal errand could the vicar
be going there before eight in the morning ? Mary Green's
own evidence was the only natural explanation of that visit..
On the whole case, he submitted the evidence of the mother
had received more than a usual amount of corroboration.
The question was not as to the destructive effect to Mr.
Seddon's reputation, but whether he was to support his
offspring. The consequence of his own act must be upon
his head
- - • • - •

The three acting magistrates retired to consider their deci-
sion, and after an absence of nearly half an hour, returned
into court a few minutes after eight o'clock, and Mr. Turner
said,—After very carefully going through the evidence, the
magistrates are unanimously of opinion that an order
must be made upon Mr. Seddon. [The terms of payment
were those usual in cases where the mother's condition is
similar. Loud applause in the court was instantly stopped
by order et the magistrates.]—Mr. Greene I suppose we
shall be prepared to enter into the usual recognisances to ap-
peal.—Mr. Hudson accepted service of notice for the mother,
the act of the ith & Bth Viet., cap. 101, requiring that
notice be given to the mother within 24 hours after the order
, is made, of the intention to appeal to the Quarter Sessions.
—Mr. Paul said two sureties were present quite prewred
but the reputed father ROC being present, the clerk said
that any tine within seven days would do. [The appeal
will be to the linutsford Quarter Sessions; and, as they are
just over, it cannot be heard before the next Quarter
Sessions in AprilA—This investigation occupied upwards of
nine henry.

IRELAND.
Drama, JAW. 11.
The address of the Chief Justice yesterday, in pas&
ing sentence on the prisoners, has been universally
admired for its clearness and simplicity.
A letter from the Scariff Union, administered by
paid guardians, states that the inmates now amount to
1,655, while 3,000 receive out-door relief. The very
heave rate of 7s. Gd. in the pound is variously cone-
dered by occupiers and proprietors, the former striv-
ing hard to realise—the latter to retard the collection.
The current rate amounts to 17,0001., of which the
farmers within the last fortnight have paid 3,000 L,
while not a sixpence has been contributed by the
landlords, with the exception of two. " The vioe-
guardians," observes the writer, " have done every-
thing that men could do to ameliorate the awful des-
titution prevailing in this anion."
The Dart schooner was run down this morning in
the channel by a foreign vessel. Some of the crew
perished.
Tenant-right meetings are on the increase. Yester-
day there was a large assemblage of tenant-farmers,
with long speeches, in Kilkenny. To-day Monaghan
shines forth; and to-morrow the great county of
Cork " pronounces," under the guidance of Mr.
Fagan, M.P.

SCOTLAND.

EDINErROB, JAN. 11.

There has been more than a usual amount of work
behind the scenes in filling up the vacant sheriffdom%
There is a growing feeling in the public mind that
when sheriffdom, are vacant, substitutes are too much
overlooked. These gentlemen work very hard, do
not interfere in politics, and from constant experience
possess much aptitude for judicial functions; but the
practice has been to cut them off from all hope of
promotion ; as no sooner does a vacancy take place,
than younger men, who happen to possess influence,
are at once put over the heads of the veteran substi-
tutes of many years' service. Mere mechanical
seniority would be as bad as the present system, bat
the systematic neglect of sheriff substitutes is not
creditable.

Excise usages are becoming ludicrously strict.
Not only is pager wine charged with duty when
sent from Scotland to England, but the essence of
coffee is also threatened with duty, because, forsooth,
in order to preserve the freshness of the beverage
that " cheers •but not inebriates," a hoinu•opathio
quantity of alcohol is dropped into each bottle of the
mocha fluid. But worse than all, some of the smel-
funguses of the excise, stationed at the border, have
been taking it into their wise heads, that chloroform
is a taxable commodity, and this on the ground that
spirits are some way or other used in its manatee-
ture. Upon the same principle turpentine should be
interdicted. England should really see to the chloro-
form embargo in time, as being best made at the seat
of discovery : the excise by suspending the imported
article may promote an inferior substance of home
manufacture. Its singular utility in cholera is another
reason why it should be allowed to go free.
The Edinburgh Municipal Extension Bill is causing
much local clamour—and the suburbans are demean-

ing themselves as if they were in the same position
towards Edinburgh that America was toward Britain
in the time of Franklin—quoting ore rot mid phrases
about "taxation without representation," and other-
wise trying by rhetorical arts to mystify the very
plain question, that while they enjoy all the advan-
tages of connexion with a city, they will not take their
fair share of its burdens. The Glasgow bill cost
5,0001., and if the threatened opposition to the Edin-
burgh measure be carried into effect, a similar amount
will require to be sacrificed.
The citizens of Aberdeen have obtained the opinion
of counsel to the effect that they are entitled to the
right of way on the south-bank of the Don, recently
attempted to be kept exclusively for the use of Lord
James Stuart. A subscription is to be raised for the
formal trial of the question.
The calendercrs in Glasgow have resolved to limit
credit in their business to three months, from and
after the Ist instant.

EXIBHANOE COMPANIES.-A defence of exchange cons.
panics, by the manager of one of these establishmtnut in
Glasgow, has excite 1 cdnaiderable interest. It appears that
they have been a very favourite kind of investment, CV at
one time eight exchange companies were commenced in
Glargow, afterwards reduced to six by amalgamations.
which latter number were still in existence, although some
of them ore at the last stage of vitality. Besides these,
Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Dundee, have their comp ta.ice.
The " gold mists " out of which these cometary oodles
sprung were engendered by the following considerations :
' "

•The rate of intenst elorged for advances was taken as the oat's of
a calculation. The paid-up capital putdown—under it a own of r_ops.
sititious deposit money—the interest on the whole calculated—a proper
allowance node for the expenses of management —the remit fairly
brought out—and such companies clearly proved to be capable of
paying 20 per cent. per annum. There was the rllm,lAtlon—ra
might cheek it, or, if you were still incredulous, ntake ample ottow.
luxe for exaggeration ; and suppose the business yielded only 13 pt
cent., was that a return to be despised in these times? Woat would
be the value of glares when the company paid annually 1 O per ant. I
Think over it, and you will be sure to put down your name lursnarm.
If you suggested the propriety of making allowance for bud debts you
were told that, however in oper in other concerto, It was whoa* on.
necessary in them. The funds were only to be advanced on security,
and, therefore, nothing could be lon, as If some kind of security bed
been found that might, and ywobably would, increase in value, but
could never decrease, and as tf Glasgow was favoured with the paw.
once of • number of individuals who might become very nob, but
who could never, by any chance, become poor.

• The tricks of ;hare traffic are sharply touched on :
'cannot help referring (says the manager) to the caw men of
wealth and high atan ling m the community, who were not ashamed
to apply for Pharos is c..ch company, as it was projeeted, for the wale
purpose of selling them oc neon as pcoeible at a yet miam. Mire gm.
thanes were in fact wilig, for a few wenho, the toe of the goal name
they enjoyed with theu :.ow citizens for so much moms.. They
were in fact holding out to the public that which war, not the truth.
The public, no doubt, thought they were right and ode iii talung
shares in any concern in which there prudent men of property in.
'ended to hold an interest; while, In fact, there men titter Mit Intend
to hold any interval in it, or to care about its success at aIL All they
intended w►s to take advantage of the existing mania for shares, end
put money in their own pockets. It was painful to hear there gen.
t:emen (I; narrate with scif.satiefaction the pronto of their summate,
operations, an if they expected praise for being clever enough to do.
°rive their neighbours. The amount of talent yequired app,ars to me
very much upon a par with that shown by a pirate when be hauls up

At present the practice of tae company, manage." by the
author of the pamphlet (" The Glasgow Commercial Ex-
change"), is to borrow at tire and a half per cent., and lend
at eight; to the extent of four-fifths of the stock offered in se-
curity. This may or may not be safe data, but there can he
little question of the very striking identification of pro-
prietary interest in companies passing under different names,
as exhibited in the case of nine exchange COMpallitS, the
partners in all which arc, except as regards three of them,
identical.