The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-09-01 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR (IF THE BRITISH PRESS.

should feel much obliged to any of your legal
and well-informed Correspondents if they would take the
tro&de to acquaint me with the precis rules that I sin to
ohserv, in order to avoid the difficul,les and accidents to
which a very imperfect knowledge of your police laws ss
regulations has often exposed me since my arrival in tld.i
country three years ago. 1 am an unfortunate victim of
political persecution, for having accepted a civil employ.
meat under the late constitutional regime of my country.
To England I came, like many others similarly situated,
in hope of finding security against the risk of molestation
and I find myself in London, where, lost in the vortex of
its immense population, and with the aid of some small
pecuniary means which I have been so lucky as to put be-
yond the reach of confiscation, I expected to lead 'a life
of that comfortable obscurity and indcivoidence in which .1
consider true happiness in this world alone to consist. To
my surprise, however, I soon found that in London, more
than in any other city in Europe, the pains I take to live
unobserved and unnoticed, even for an individual as peaces
ably inclined as I am, are totally unavailing.
Permit me, Mr. Editor, to encroach on your columns
by relating some particulars which will strengthen that as-
sertion. A short time after my arrival in London, I was one
night overtaken by a shower of rain in Regent-street. Being
without my umbrella, I hastened to the Quadrant for shel-
ter ; and here I determined to wait until the weather be-
came more favourable. Whilst standing, and amusing
myself by looking at the crowds of men and women who
were hastily driven to this part of the street by the same
cause as I was, a watchman came up to me, and, striking
his stick with violence on the pavement, desired me, in a
very peremptory manner, to" walk on." This I thought
rather hard, considering the torrents of rain sphich were
pouring down at this moment, and I merely went cnra little
way, when I stopped again. The watchman once more came
up to me, and told me, in the same rude way, that if I dad
not go on he would take me to the watch-house. Thus I
was compelled, by the mere caprice of this brute, to ruin a
new hat, to get my clothes wet through, atid to run the
risk of catching cold, in order to avoid that of being taken
to prison, though I had done nothing to deserve such a
punishment.
On another night, a friend of mine, who was iodine on the
Surrey aide of Waterloo-bridge, appointed to meet me at nine
o'clock, at the corner of Wellington-street, in the Strand, that
we might go.together to the English Opera-house. I carne to
the place of appointment a little before my time. and, as the
evening was particularly fine, I walked up and down the
street, stopping every now and then to enjoy the scene of
animation and bustle peculiar to this part of the Strand
during the fine season. On passing before a shop I heard
a clock strike, and, in order to ascertain whether it was the
hour at which my friend was to meet me, I very naturally
put up my glass to my eye (having the misfortune-of being
shot t-sighted), to look at the clock which stood at the bot-
tom of the shop. Just at this moment, a little man dressed
in black came up to me in a bustling manner, and, pulling
me by the coat, told me, in a high tone of authority, that I
had "no business to stand there in that way," and
must be off instantly—that he was an officer; and I was
made to obey him. I was really at a loss to account for
the unlooked-for and strange proceeding of this unceremo-
nious officer, which, however, was soon partly explained,
though by no means justified, by another little man, with
grey hairs, standing behind the police functionary, under
whose auspices he plucked up resolution enough to say
something about my hovering round his shop, looking
into it, and that I had "no business" to stand there st all!
On another occasion, a number of watchmen, assembled
round an oyster-shop where some disturbance was going on,
insisted upon taking me to prison, because I happened to
be passing by at the time, though I had no more to do in
the quarrel than " the Man in the Moon." It was with
much difficulty that I succeeded in extricating myself from
their grasp.
Among my brother emigrants there are many who are,
as you well know, in circumstances much worse off than
I have stated myself to be. One of these, unable to pay
the paltry rent of a miserable room he occupied on a third
floor, on retiring home one morning at one o'clock, was ab-
solutely refused admittance, and told by the landlord that.
his effects should be kept until he came to pay the rent
due. Not knowing where to go at such an hour for a bed,
he went into St. James's Park, where he stretched himself
out on one of the numerous benches vacant at such au
hour, and fell asleep. He was soon disturbed even in such
a place of repose, and obliged by the merciless watchmen
to wander about the Park until day-break. He then came
to my lodgings, overcome with fatigue, and complaining
most bitterly against the absurd tyranny of preventing a
man from resting his wearied limbs on the seat of a public
walk, and condemning him to an unnecessary over-exenion
of his locomotive faculties.
• These incidents may seem insignificant to such as are
accustomed to their daily occurrence; but to me, Mr. Edi-
tor, who have been a perfect stranger to anything of the
kind, even in the most despotic countries, they appear sin-
gularly at variance with those rights of personal liberty
which I have so repeatedly heard your countrymen boost
of enjoying in England. However, as things are, I judge
that your police regulations are of too complicated a nature
to be understood even by one so much used as myself to
gens-iParmes, mouchards, and Austrian guards ; and as I
do not exactly know the way to proceed in order to obtain
the necessary knowledge of them, a hint or two from you,
or some one of your obliging Correspondents, would confer
a favour on, Sir, your very humble servant,
A FOREIGNER.

CALAMITOUS EvexT.—On the 19th of this month a
fire destroyed eight houses in the village of Ghoy, in
Hainault, on which occasion the Clergyman of the parish
set a noble example of courage, humanity, and disregard
of his own safety. The flames threatening to destroy the
whole village if their progress was not stopped in time,
this worthy ecclesiastic, whose name we are sorry that we
are not able to publish, exerted himself to the utmost to
subdue them. Assisted by a young man, he was stand-
ing in a very dat.gerous position, throwing slater a
hay-loft which was on the point of catching fire,
a beam on which he stood broke, and he fell into the AMC
of the fire. Happily we have not to regret the loss of this
worthy man, who was so fortunate as to save himself.--
Dutch Paper of Rag. 30.
THE LATE MUM/Ea.—The poor woman who was so
ferociously stabbed by her husband, Burt, last week, is
now pronounced out of danger. Her case has excited
much sympathy, and we are happy to say that the sub•
seription set on foot for her by Mr. Savage has been
warmly entered into, and has been the means of affording
her relief and comfort in her melancholy situation, of
which she must otherwise have been totally destitute.—
Brighton Gazette.
A most inhuman murder was perpetrated on the night
of Saturday, or early on Sunday morning, at Coolock, in
the county Dublin, by a man named Robert Long. The
victim of this savage deed was his own wife, whom he as.
saulted with the barrel of a gun, until he beat bee head to
pieces. Long is a bricklayer by trade, and a native of
Swords, but has latterly resided at Feltrim, near Malahide ;
he had three children by his wife, the eldest of whom is
only ten years old. For the present he has eluded the pur-
suits of justice, hut his crime cannot long escape unpunished.
—Freeman's Journal.
MURDER IN FRA N C E.—Tuesday week a murder was
committed on the road from Caen to Falaire, near Orgni-
chon. A persen named Samson, a wood-cutter, residing
at Caen, fifty years of age, was returnirg from the fair of
Guibray, with a man who was not known to him. They
entered an inn, and from thence they went and sat down
on the edge of a ditch not far from the road. Samson fell
asleep, and h's travelling companion, knowing that he had
seventeen francs upon him, profited by this circumstance
to execute the horrible design which lie had formed of as-
sassinating him, in hopes of appropriating that sum. He
gave him six stabs with a knife; but seeing several car-
riages appear at the moment, he took to flight. The tra-
vellers perceiving Samson weltering in his blood, ran aftef
the murderer, and succeeded in arresting him. The un-
fortunate Samson, before expiring, had time to make hi.
declaration. Julien (that is the name of the murderer)
is a native of the department of the 0111 e. He is a libe-
rated galley-slave, and had just left the Matte.
The East India Company's ship Marehionesa of Ely was .
all well on the 27th June, in lat. 12. south, long. N. weft,
outward bound.