The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-04-29 00:00:00

Lawry Tickets, 261. 19..

STOCKS YESTERDAY.
llPortoguese Bond.,
Do. for Acct. 954
Dina Scrip Of pr.
Prussiim Bonds 984
Ditto (Itt?)
Russian lids. 914 3
Russian for Acct. 97i 84
Span. Cons. 174.31
Ditto for Acct. f
Ditto 178 & 244 lids.
Ditto 85 Bonds
1)u. 8 per Cents. (1M)
Ditto 10hf. ss. Bonds
Auglo Mex. Mines
Alliance
Dutch Bonds 109
De. Exchange
Fe. Rentes, 191 f.
Do. Es. 281. Mk. 40e. 45e. 60e.
Do. *rip, la pr.
Ditto for Aces. 181 pr.

trite OritifSh iproo.

NSW TITEATRE ROYAL, DRURY-LANE.
This Eyening. viiER,DAY. April Elk will be perfunned
THE LORD Or THF: MANOR.
Young Contreet. Mr. Poster ; 'rraenewe. Mr. Brabant ; La Hipp*,
W. Marley 1 11441, :Ir. Knight. Annette. Mini Stephens.: Sophia.
bi..mCabltt ; :413141 rowel ; M.. 11 Flagguis. Mr. Liston.
To eoneltnie with
ZOIWASTER ; or. THE hPIRIT Or THE STAR.
To.inancie. Rub Muy bleernrier.

THEATRE RoiAI,COVENT-GARDEN.
This Evening. Inv ItSDAV, April 211, will bajparfurmoil
SHALL FILVE A FALL.
Ow", Venton, Mr. W. 1•a; rrn : 'Torrent", Mr. Jones; Loren:a.
Mr. Conan t Colonel I.l,"rileel. Mr. Abbott; Mal"r dshann,"l, Mr.
Ginn ; Cornet Count Tannin,. Mr. Vans; Spook,. Mr. Rianrhard.
Owaaton Vtinese, Mn. Davenport; Leonora. Min Lore; Victoria,
Yte Manneersley. . . . .

Tor etinrlittle with
THE SPIRITS 1W THE MOON;
Or. THE INL'SHATION OP THE NILE
T•serorraw. The Jealous Wife.

TILEATRE 1t0141„ FNGLISH OPERA-HOUSE.
MR. MATHEWS AT HONE!
This Evening. THURMAN, April M).
With his ANNUAL LEX rung an PECULIARITIES. CHARACTER.
and MANNERS:
FOlistilesi on ObservaUous anti Adventures dozing his bb
TRIP TO AMERICA.
In Titres Parts.
Pang Ill.—A Monorolvlumar. galled ALI. WELL AT NATCHITOCHES.
AM tini ‘horartersuf On Evening's Eutertalninent to be represented
In Mr MATHEW*,
avers to be opened at Setae-Performance begins at Eight o'Cloek.
Bosco to he taMell 94 Yr. Mentsuust, at the Buz Oahe, Strand En-
stance. Irons Tan till Vier.
Plana ratnmt potelbly be kept after hair-past Eight crelnelt.
ek.a The Pnagnetur artranthile inehann the *galenite's of tin
Theatre. that their etantert has been fug thee studied by the ailintLa
ut ens ad Mr. Parkins 's Most Powerful warm 10 root ev.

ADELPNI THEATIIE, STR.IND.
TWO 'Craning. THURSDAY. April ^_f I. and s May 1.
will br prrientod
A VARIRTV NP:IV and PLEASING ENTF.RT a INVENTS,
Assoapor whish W:II LIU Introdiaeod, the inuelindmlred and astonishing
LAUGHING UAS!
Roles. as. lit. dn. Gallery. 10.
Laaory open at half past Six and &yin at &Gaut Half. Price at half-
past fight.

111 IT ISM Puss commenced rabbi/tins yesterday owning
at live o'clock.

LONDON, THURSDAY, Aran. 29, 1024.

Last nigh: ac receives' Hunburgh Papers to the 94th of
April. Thrir cont:nts are uninteresting. We copy the
following partglaphs:— _

ST. PET ERSIIURGH, Araltr7•
We leant that his 1111jcsty has assigned a sum of thlnsim Mil-
lions of rubles for public building's in this capital.
In tha sight of the 11th Feb. a slight shock of sn earthisake was
telt at Irkutsk, in Sibmim

The rere.tue of the city of Moscow amounted last year to
2,11i5,000 ruble, and Ow expenditure to 1,71h1,000.

ills Majesty has ordered that all !coats loft by Russian subjects
to ebstitable Inatitutious ta the Kingdom of Hanover shall be ex-
empt from the duty ‘,l li pic cent. imposed by the law oo legacies
via' out of the Lorre.

HANOVER, APRIL 21.

Immediately on the /10.1ieation of the Ain to regulate the navi-
gation of the Weser, thz merchants at klintlen made mnonstranees
@gaunt it, and have even sent deputies to Hanover to explain their
objections at length. They have received fur answer that all must
rimain as determined In tiro Act all the next inertias of die Ikpu.
ties, which will take place in the course of nest year.
4.)4 the 13th, during a hJavy fall of snow, there was • thunder

storm at 31entiorff, in this kingdom. The lightning squelt three
windmills that wee* still going ; it set one in flames; in the second
it struck the miller, whose stocking was berned, and who remained
foe a time senseless; In the third it entered above. and issued
through the done below, which was open. A thick cloud of smoke
immediately arose from this mill ; the lightning had, however,
only set fire to one sack, and die tire wa.s immediately put out by
the boy, who was in the mill.
CHRISTIANA, APRIL 13.

Our Viceroy the Crown Prince, and hi► consort, arrived here on
Sunday night. On the Ist they passed the frontiers between
Rund and Kongsvinger, and were received by Count Widely Jaibt-
, burg, Licutenani-lieneral Kobell, &e. At Kunt,-iivinger they were
complimented by Count Sandels. In the city all ranks vied in giv-
ing their Royal Highnesses' joyful welcame. Yesterday at two
o'clock the Storthing waited on the Prince in a body, and Count
Widely Jsilsburg, the President, made a speech, to which his
Royal Highness replied in the most gracious terms. Ilia Royal
Highness has now entered on the exercise of his functions as Vice-
roy, Chancellor of the University, and Comutander-in-Chief by
sea and land.

The permission given to some districts to pay their taxes in corn
has been made use of by the farmers to a considerable extent.
_ _

(20PF.NNAGEN, APRIL IS.
According to an official statement, the number of births last year
in the kingdom of Denmark eiceetled the deaths in a very re-
markable proportion, Pls.:—Births, 37,9411; Deaths, 20,971.

EXCHANGES.
Hamar:ion, APRIL 23.—London, 3G, 2 months 36,2.
PET I: maim awn, A rat t. 11.—Lopilon, 9 11-32; Paris, 984.
BERLIN, Aran. 211.--Loadon. 3 months, G M.

Monday and Tuesday** Paris Papers reached our office
yesterday. From the Journal du Commerce it appears
that an attempt, on the 14th, was made to burn Madrid.
On the evening of that day a conflagration had broken
r out at the same time, in the four qu:.rters of that city ;
its progress was stopped alone by the presence of the
French troops. Two children arc stated to have perished
in the flames, and it is probable many more lives were lost,
though the French Papers will not acknowledge it.
rhe two contending parties, Royalists and Constitu-
tienalists, were accusing each other as the incendiaries,
and the attempt will probably be made the pretext
for new persecutions (if suffe•rel by the French) again t
the diminished followers of the Constitution in that capital.
The latest accounts, to the 13th, from Toledo, where Fer-
dinand then was, state the arrival of Talaru, the French
Ambassador. Baurmont's recall from the command in
Spain is again asserted to have been decided upon ; but
whether Dijeon or the Duke of Ragusa will succeed him
is not yet stated. Bounnont appears to have lent himself
to the worst prejudices and measures of the Spanish
tyrant, and the vile crew by whom he is surrounded.
Ilia recall therefore became absolutely necessary ; and it
slims the disposition of the French Ministry to subdue
the reign of terror and persecution within the Pyrenees,
when they recall this officer. Bourmont was to be re-
warded by Ferdinand with a patent of nobility before his
departure. Donnadieu, the violent Ultra, who commanded
against the heroic Mine in Catalonia, was distinguished by
the despot in the same way. The report of the sitting of
the Chamber of Deputies on the 2 tth will be found in
our columns. The question relative to the reimbursement
of the Five per Cents., which occupied the Chamber on
that day, created, as might be expeete•tl, the greatest public
interest. A vast concourse of auditors crowded all the ap-
proaches to the Chamber, and the galleries in every pert
were full. On the questian being proposed, M. de La
Bourdonnaye opposed the project of the intended law in a
speech of great length. Its injustice, the Royalist Deputy
said, was evident, since private transactions and Treasury
Bills still bore all interest of 5 or 6 per cent., and upon
'Change reports ware done at from Is to 24 per cent.
Why (the Deputy asked) if money was at 4 per cent. was
not the new loan proposed at that price? It would then,
according to the Ministerial system, have been pos-
sible, at a future period, to reduce the interest of the
public debt another fifth. It was admitted (this De-
puty added) that the loan could not have been ef-
fected at that 'Lice, and such admission proved that the
interest of •y had not really fallen to four per cent.
us was pretended. It was said (he went on to state)
that the new loan was contracted at that rate, since three
per cent., given upon 7.5 f., was the same thing as four
per cent. paid upon the footing of 1001. In this contract
(La Bourtlotinaye stated) there must be a concealed vir-
tue—an occult merit, the secret of which capitalists kept
to themselves. This secret was a speculation, which the
project, if it passed into a law, would tend to cherish
for a lung period. The Deputy went on to oppose the
project in several other points, at great length: it was not
in an age (he said), when acts of authority were judged,
that Royalty, shaken by thirty years of revolution, could
dissatisfy without danger soo,txm faithful subjects, by
spoiling 100,000 fathers of families of their incomes. The
Deputy concluded by expressing his conviction, that the
Chamber would not sanction a project which would at
once violate the faith pledged, and ruin the public credit—
! a law which would ordain the reduction of interest upon
capital, as though it were by order of the Sovereign, and
not by the unfiatt red course of negociations in the public
transactions, that the rate of interest could be fixed. The
Minister of the Finances supported the measure: the ne-
cessity of the proposed law (hc said) was evident to every
one, and the means of effecting it presented the only
difficulty. Under these circumstances there were (M. de
Villele said) two points to be accomplished : the first
was the reduction of the interest on the national debt,
so as to aid the reduction upon private loans ; and the
second, to substitute for the existing public effects such as
were free from the danger of a future reimbursement.
These two objects, be insisted, could not have been se-
cured by any other mode than that proposed, namely, by
erecting 3 per cents. at 73 f. which was the same as 4 per
cents. at lot) f. Whatever, he lidded, was the choice of
stockholders, the operation must be advantageous to the
cot ntry. If they chose to invest their capital, there would
be a saving aims millions, which the nation would enjoy
from the Ist of January, Isla ; if, on the other hand,
they preferred reimbursements, a vast mast of capital would
flow into the channels of agriculture and commerce. The
Minister concluded by recapitulating the advantages of the
measure, and assuring the Chamber that it had been impos-
sible to contract with the capitalists on other terms than he
had done. To me (added Al. de Villele) the advantages
are so evident, that if the Chamber should judge other-
wise, I shall retain the melancholy conviction, that it is
for want of my having been able to present them in their
proper light. It is now dear, notwithstanding the
Royalist composition of the present Chamber, that the
proposed measure will not pass without considerable
opposition, it• it passes at all. The Royalists are most sensi-
tive on every point that at all affects themselves. The discus-
sion on this important question will probably be protracted
for several days further.— The negotiations between Russia
and the Porte are still complicated, and full of difficulties,
even though the principalitks should be evacuated. The
last accounts from St. Petersburgh supply much authentic
information respecting the negotiations between Minsiacky
and the Ottoman Ministry. One relates to the indemnities
due to Rassixa subjects, who have been harassed in their

property or c.rnmercc, during the last few years, by the
firmans of the Gra Seig,nior. nail the Porte shall ac-
knowledge these rechtmations, no Russian Ambassador will
dirpiay a diplomatic character at Constantinople. The fact
is, Russia is studiously increasing the difficulties of negocia-
tion, and gaining time. liir views are not to Le met by
peace with the Infidel. She has far different objects, and
will strive hard for their ultimate accomplishment.

The Adjourned Quarter Sessions for the county of
Surrey, held at Reigate, on Tuesday, before the Chairman,
Lord Eaatnnr, the County Members, and a :arge body of
Magistrates, was distinguished at its opening by peculiar
warmth, and even violence. After the report of the Sur-
geon of the Brixton House of Correction was put in, and
read—which stated, among other things, that no preju-
dical effect bad been endured by the prisoners from the
!operation of the particular species of labour from the
tread wheel, Mr. llriscoe, a most respectable Magistrate,
rose to address the Chair, and stated, that he had a spe-
cific motion to bring under their consideration ; and he
appears to have been met by prejudice and clamour from
the Bench in the very outset. We were surprised to see
Mr. Denison, the patriotic Member for Surrey, and Mr.
Randle Jackson, a leading Member of the India House,
among the most violent of Mr. Briscoe's opponents, and
wishing, at once, to drown his motion by clamour and
numbers. Mr. Briscoe may have taken up opinions too
suddenly, and without due reflection and investigation,
against the punishment now in existence within our
prisons, of the tread-wheel. But his representations,
as an unprejudiced and respectable Magistrate, were
entitled at least to attention and respect ; they were
fairly and openly preferred; and the attempt to get
rid of them by unworthy technical objections—and
these failing, to put down Mr. Briscoe by violence and
vituperation, bears little testimony; we are sorry to say, to
the impartiality and good temper of the Bench of Surrey
Magistrate* in general. IVhen Mr. Briscoe came forward
with an open opposition to the discipline of our prisons,
and to the indiscriminate use of the tread-wheel, he ought
to have been better prepared with his arguments and
proofs, and we do not think that the solitary instance of
cruelty in the case of the soldiers Noggett and Wilson
was at all sustained. These men appear to have acted out-
rageously within the prison of which Mr. Green was the'
governor. They had been refractory ; they had re-
fused
to work upon the wheel when confined, and cut
up all their blankets. One of these soldiers had even
assaulted the Governor so severely, as nearly to break
one of his fingers, and the other had given one of the
turnkeys a most dangerous kick. Mr. Green stated
these decisive facts hitmelf, before the magistrates. When
called upon, he said, that, when he was about to set
out to attend the sessions at Guildford, he was apprised
in the prison, that the moment of his departure was fixed
upon for a general disturbance in the gaol, at the head of
which were to be the two soldiers. On their refusal
to work, he had put them, he said, into solitary con-
finement; while there, they cut up all their bed-things,
and were of course obliged to sleep on the iron. Tiny
were afterwards, he said, handcuffed, and attached to
the tread-mill, when, after a short time, they became quiet,
and contented to work. These soldiers, Mr. Green added,
were the most troublesome of all the prison inmates.
This case appears to have been adopted and brought forward
by Mr. Briscoe without sufficient discrimination or investi-
gation, and the punishment of these men seems to have been
only called for and just. But the object of the worthy
Magistrate evidently was, to obtain a fair discussion from
the Bench of Magistrates assembled, as to whether the
tread-wheel was a legitimate or a salutary instrument of
labour and punishment within our prisons. Mr. Briscoe
humanely and disinterestedly had devoted his exertions to
the investigation. If his opinions were mistaken, clamour
and violence were not time proper arguments either to con-
vince him or the people at large, that they were unthink-
ingly adopted ; and the conduct of the Surrey Magistrates,
on Tuesday, has certainly added nothing to 1/wir reputa-
tion, or done anything with the great mass of the cum-
munity, to convince them that the degrading torture
of the tread-wheel should be generally and indiscrimi-
nately applied within our prisons. The great object of
prison discipline should b.: to reform, and not to disgust;
this the treat-mill, indiscriminately applied, never can
accomplish. As re.;ards unhappy females, it is a re-
volting, and in many instances a shocking, punish-
ment. It does nothing to inculcate habits of sobered
industry, or to afford means of canting honest bread, to the
male culprits confined within the walls of our gaols.
Numbers of the latter are sentenced to imprisonment for
terms of two and three years : within these lengthened
periods they might be instructed in the principles of useful
trades—as carpenters, as shoemakers, as smiths, as work-
men in other capacities—and thus sent from their prison,
at the expiration of their conanement, with all their habits
changed, with their feelings conciliated, with useful occu-
pations, to afford them the means of honest and almost
certain support for the future, and t small fund de-
rived from their prisoh industry, to prevent, at their
discharge, immediate want. The females in the same
way might be employed in needle-work, at knitting,
spinning, platting straw, or any other useful and kin-
dred works, suited to them, at which their feelings
would not revolt, and which would give them habits
of industrious occupation, when again sent upon the
world. Labour of even a humbler description might be
found for those too 014 to tarty to employment of this sort,
whether mules or females. or too dull or intractable to learn.
But the tread-wheel teaches nothing. It brings with it only II
the same torturing succession, day after day, of personal
degrading toil ; it substitutt,s the man and female for
the horse, and compels them to work and grind, hour
after hour, without change, hope, or amelioration of
any sort. It is a horrid labour, harassing to the frame, 1
and front which nothing can be gained or learned. The
prison inmate is sent front it, at the close of his sen-
tence, without any added means of industry—unimprovol
and uncorrected in every way. The capable and the inca-
pable, the hardened rogue and the recent offender, the in-
dustrious and the idle, the mechanic and the labourer, arc
all confounded end linked together at this revolting and
unprofitable toil. The workman can only forget, and r
such degradatiin, the best habits he formerly knew ; and
the prisoner, who had no trade, quits the gaol as he
entered, without any feelings but those of hatred
and resentment in his breast at the cruelty heaped
upon him so long. It is on these principles that our
opinions are opposed to the indiscriminate labour of
the tread-wheel. It may be fitted for hardened offenders,
and properly applied in such cases as that of the two sol-
diers, which Mr. Green explained; but as an instrument
of general correction, indiscriminately applied, it should
not be suffered longer within our prisons. We have often
said, that the great body of the magistracy of this country,
if left to themselves, and unchecked by the control of Go-
t F•vernment and the Legislature, would speedily erect a ty-
• canny, under which no independent man could live, and

the meeting of Surrey Magistrates on Tuesday has done
nothing to change our opinion. It was more violent, cla-
morous, and vituperative than the merest mob meeting ;
prejudice and clamour broke loose at the very outset. Is
this the conduct, we ask Mr. Denison and Mr. Randle
Jackson, that should distinguish an enlightened magis-
tracy? Or can the public look for fair or impartial protec-
tion from men who, even to a member of their own body,
act with such unseemly vi,dence ? An answer front us is
unnecessary.