The Sun.
London, England, 1852-11-10 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 10, 1852.

sources, crippled their efforts in the way of economy,
and prevented them from securing their families from
the misery of what may be called posthumous desti-
tution. Surely in all this there is very grievous

cruelty—cruelty disgraceful to the country, deroga-
tory to the State, and singularly injurious to the re-

putation of the Legislature. The question appears to
us, moreover, one of such peculiarly flagrant noto-
riety as to preclude the House of Commons from the
opportunity of much longer deferring its settlement.
It cannot be set aside much oftener without reflecting

a very disastrous scandal upon the Government. Too
many particu!ars have already been published, by
way of exposure, to admit of the matter being inde-
finitely procrastinated as one simply of official or
Ministerial inconvenience. After all that has now

come to light upon the subject, we do not believe it
possible that it can be coolly denied once more the
chance of the good almost inseparable from a Parlia-

mentary investigation.
Whoever may not be already acquainted with the
nature of the evil to which we are here making refer-
ence, can be afforded within the space of a few sen-
tences the capacity for its fullest appreciation. It
must be, first of all, remembered, that by reason of
the Act already mentioned, that of 1834, being the 4
and 5 Wm. IV., cap. 24, every individual, upon
entering the civil service of the Crown, is compelled
—at the rate of 5 per cent., supposing his salary to
exceed 1001. per annum, and of 2f per cent., suppos-
ing it to be less than loci. per annum—to contribute

to a fund known as the fund of " Superannuation."
Against such a system of compulsory contribution
no reasonable objection could of course for one in-
stant be raised by any person of common sense, com-
mon prudence, or common sagacity—taking for
granted, that is to say, that the amount thus collected
be properly conserved, judiciously expended, and ac-
counted for in every way to the general satisfaction.
Under those circumstances the arrangement could
only be regarded as one entitled to our most earnest
laudation. It would evidence a humane solicitude
for the welfare of the civil servants of the Crown,
mediately on the part of the Legislature, and imme-
diately on the part of the Government. It would be
tantamount to a declaration that the State would itself
regulate to a certain, and, all things considered, very
allowable extent, the economy of its employes, so as
to guard them in the most effectual manner from the
evils consequent upon individual improvidence. It
would be simply bringing upon them most beneficially
the force of law, so far as to oblige them, it might
be in spite of themselves, to lay up a rational store
for their own future advantage in case of emergency.
Experience has, however, unhappily proved to the
civil servants of the Crown that no such benefits are
capable of resulting from the accumulation of the
fund originated by the Act of Superannuation. In-
stead of proving beneficial in any respect, indeed,
that unfortunate enactment would seem only to have
produced the most bitter heartsburnings and the most
lamentable disappointments. And small wonder that
it has ! For, according to the unanimous evidence of
those who have pronounced, and are competent to
prcnounce upon the subject, the only fruits of the
existing system have been those of an injustice so
flagrant as absolutely to amount to inhumanity. De-
ductions, upon the scale before indicated, have :year
after year been made from the salaries—by no means
exorbitant—of a body of men—by no means lightly
tasked, either in regard to toils or in regard to re-
sponsibilities. A really considerable sum of money
has, in this manner, been in rapid course of accumu-
lation. What becomes of almost every portion of it
nobody can discover with certainty—scarcely any one
can even dimly conjecture. The most that is known in
reference to the Fund is, that it is regularly enhanced
by the periodical contributions to it, deducted from
the various salaries, some at the rate of 5 per cent.,
and some at the rate of 24 per cent., according to the
stipulations already intimated; and that the amount
actually paid in the way of superannuation from time
to time is, when compared with the aggregate, ac-
tually preposterous for its insignificance. The reason
why so few individuals obtain assistance from the fund
may, unfortunately, be only too readily specified. It
arises simply from the circumstance of only one small
class of applicants having their claims for aid allowed
by the Government; namely, those who, after ten
years' service, are incapacitated from further labour
by incurable bodily infirmities. A civil servant of
the Crown may have toiled nine years and eleven
months, and disease or accident may render him unfit
for more exertion—yet he can look for no help from
the fund to which he himself has contributed out
of every instalment of his paltry and hard-earned
pittance. He may die before the requisite ten years
have expired—and his widow and children are aban-
doned to privation. Nay, he may slave at the desk
for twenty, or thirty, or forty years, and breathe his
last, after having grown grey in the service of the
Crown, and the survivors of his family can look for
no recompence, however trivial or inadequate. After
labouring assiduously for a quarter or, it may be, for
half a century, the employe in the Government
offices may wish to solace himself in his old age by
retirement. If so, and his health still continues
sound, he must leave without even th• semblance of
compensation. It is only, we repeat, those who, after
ten years' service, are disabled from further work by
either disease or accident, who can look with
any confidence to the Superannuation Fund
for pecuniary assistance under emergencies. Corn-
paratively few, therefore, are aided by the money thus
collected together from the salaries of the employes
themselves. And widows may starve, and orphans
may suddenly be reduced from a position of comfort
to a state of beggary, and aged servants of the coun-
try may retire to repose themselves a while before
dissolution, without one single compensative sixpence
for the protracted toil in which their energies have
been honourably exhausted—and meanwhile 5 per
cent. and 2i per cent. still continue to be struck off
from the earnings of those who happen to be the pre-
sent labourers, in order to swell a fund which has
already reached an extravagant aggregate, and the
application of which is amongst the number of the
inscrutable mysteries of the Administration !
The continuance of this most cruel and irrational
system, we for one, protest can redound but little to
the honour of the Legislature, or to the credit of the
Government. It must be abandoned, or, at any rate,
it must be so far modified that the Civil servants of
the Crown shall not have such serious cause for com-
plaint and lamentation. All they require is justice
—not bounty, but simply justice. The money sub-
scribed to what is called the Superannuation Fund,
is their own—let it be applied, therefore, to their per-
sonal advantage. Do not, in the name of common
humanity, squander the hard earnings of these honest
toilers in the national hire, lavishing it upon some
secret object which continues to this moment name-
less and unimaginable—leaving the relicts and the
children of these good citizens, the prey of undeserved
destitution ! Rather than this, let the scheme re-
cently proposed be adopted by the Cabinet; namely,
that of authorizing the conversion of the assessments
levied upon public salaries under the Act 4 and 5,
Wm. IV., cap. 24, into a " PROVIDENT FUND," for
the support of the widows and orphans of the Civil
servants of the Crown. This would obviate the ne-
cessity of obtaining a specific grant of a Provident
Fund from the Legislature. It would be a remedy
preferable to that capable of being furnished by volun-
tary subscriptions—a source obviously precarious.
It could be still more reasonable than the method of
imposing further compulsory contributions—the in-
comes of the employees of the Crown being already
sufficiently burthened and restricted. It would secure
timely aid in the case of death to their widows, their
orphans, and their dependent relations—and would be
in every respect a generous and just modification of a
really cruel enactment—a modification we should
rejoice to see effected to-morrow, upon the proviso of
its being so conducted as not to prejudice in any
manner whatever claims may be afterwards instituted
upon the subject of Retired Allowances. It is in our
capacity as the advocates of economy, that we urge
this most desirable act of justice and humanity upon
the most serious consideration of the principal Mem-
bers of her AIAJESTY'S Government.

People continue to complain, and assuredly not
without ample cause, cf the high prices of human
food, notwithstanding the great fall in the costs of
the materials. We have bad the price of cattle con-
siderablydiminished by the competition springing
from
oontinental importations; but beef and mutton
and veal maintain the di rates, and sre sclircely

cheaper than before the doctrines of Free Trade
received the legislative sanction. The public should
long since have had the benefit of some part of the
profit on the reduced prices, but the cattle-dealers and
the butchers have cleverly continued to absorb it all.

That ever-grumbling, always dissatisfied individual,
" the father of a family," appealed to the community

some years since on this subject, so peculiarly inter-
esting to every person in a similar position, who had
" many mouths" for which to provide ; and it was
hoped that the exposure which then took place, the
indignant comments then made, and the angry feeling
then expressed, would have shamed dealers and butch-

era into something like fair play. But the hope
was vain, for, although a temporary improvement was
perceptible, matters have been gradually, but steadily,
returning to their former position, and we continue
to pay at least three half-pence per pound more than
we ought to do for butchers' meat. Where there is
anything like good family consumption of this article
of primary necessity, the difference in the price makes
a very serious item in the amount of the weekly bilis
for housekeeping, and there are few families of the

middle class who are not mulcted in far more than

;he amount of the Income-tax, and, we might perhaps

add, of the poor-rates, to enhance the inordinate
profits of the blue-coated gentry, and to enable them,
as a morning contemporary expressed it, " to maintain
smart trotting horses," and gratify their professional
pride.

Corn, in like manner, has fallen in price. It is
now at one-half the cost of seven years ago. The
products of corn have not, however, fallen in anything
like a just proportion. There have been some reduc-
tions in the cost of bread and beer, but not at all what
we should have had. Porter and ale are at the same
prices for which they have respectively been sold
during the last twenty years. There is this peculiarity
in the brewing trade ;—when the price of grain rises,
there is a rise in the price of malt liquors ; but let
the price tumble down as it may, the BARCLAYS
and PERKINSES, the BUXTONS, the MEUXES, the
REIM, &c., &c., do not let the price of their
brewage get below the particular prices charged
when the cost of the raw material was high. So we
have corn which is cheap, and malt liquor which is

very dear.
The same way with bread, but we readily admit
not to the same extent. The time has passed by, we
trust for ever, when the quartern loaf cost tenpence
or a shilling. It now averages about bid. or 7d.
The price, however, varies in different parts of the
metropolis. In Lambetb, for instance, the quartern
is from a penny to three-halfpence cheaper than in the
more fashionable districts, where, according to the
proverb, " fools and their money are soon parted,"
and it would be considered mean and unaristocratic
to scrutinize the tradesman's charges too closely.
They may neglect paying the debt when incurred,
but they must not cavil at the exorbitant profits that
would be realized if all were as punctual as them-

selves.
The public justly complain of this want of un
formity of price. Why should there be so great a
difference, or any difference, in the price of such a
necessary of life ? The bread on the Surrey side of
the river is just as good as at the West End, and the
Surrey baker pays as much for the material to the
flour factor a 3 his more aristocratic brother. But
even at the Surrey side you will find a " dear"
within a dozen doors of a "cheap" baker. If you ask
the former why his charges
asarife sito
whaigs b,
highhelyannasweerri-s
to your approbation and
a full-priced baker." In other
rhidime,
otwouirstithoour
as so,,uat aehnaddte gberene teiistol ef,,dp
words, he belongs to a union or congregation of
bakers, who fix among themselves what the price
shall be, and allow much larger margins of profit
than the non-unionists look for. We might be con-
tented ourselves with cheap and wholesome bread,
and would eat it in silence, but that our duty as jour-
nalists compels us to raise the question pro bono
publico. The Corn-laws were not abrogated for the
sole benefit of the " full-priced baker !"
There is an obvious remedy for this palpable
grievance, which must be resorted to, unless " the
full-priced" gentry exhibit some degree of conscience.
The assize of bread must be re-established, which
would periodically regulate, according to the current
price of wheat, the price of the quartern and half-
quartern. Thus the bakers, whether full-priced
or low priced, unionists or non-unionists, should
be prevented from giving less than a full
and fair quantity of " the staff of life," but
may be permitted to give as much more as it
their liberality they may please to bestow. This mai
in some degree appear to militate against the doc-
trines of Free Trade ; but we are compelled to interfere
in many transactions, and the grievance has gone to
such a height that no one will pretend to assert tsat
such interference is uncalled for. If we regulate the
fares in public conveyances, why should we not also
regulate the price of bread, to insure to the com-
munity at large the benefits of the Free-trade legisla-
tion of late years.
A legal assize of food is no new thing—not only
bread, but all (mind that, Sir EDWARD Brxros)
fuel and other ordinary necessaries have been thus
dealt with, when it was deemed expedient to protect
the purchaser against the rapacity of the vendor.
The earliest known regulation of this kind in England
related to bread, and was made in the reign of King
Joins (A.D. 1203), when a proclamation was made
throughout the kingdom, enforcing the observance of
the legal assize of bread. The Statute 51 HENRY 111.
for the assisa panic et cerevisice (for the assize of
bread and ale) subsequently established a scale of
prices varying with the price of wheat, and was en-
forced from time to time by the Privy Council until
the reign of Queen ANNE. In cities and towns cor-
porate the local authorities frequently had the right,
by charter, of regulating the assize of bread and ale.
The Statute 8 ANNE (cap. 19) repealed that of 51
HENRY 111., and imposed a new assize of bread.
Subsequent enactments dealt with the subject,
but by the 55 GEORGE 111., cap. 99, the practice
' was expressly abolished in London and its neighbour-
hood, and has generally fallen into disuse. There are,
however, some places in which the old practice is still
retained. In Cork, there is, we believe, to this dayassize
an bype
people
phlee lsooc al
strongly,auth yo
rely, ritiess
therefore in favour of regulating the price of
bread.
There will, of course, be this objection—,, Leave
prices to general competition, and they will right
themselves." But in bread, they do not right them-
selves ; and in malt liquors, thanks to the practical
operation of the Malt-tax, they are in the hands of a
few great monopolists. Ale and bread are too dear.
The prices rest on the consciences of brewer and
baker. The law provides that the purchaser may
compel the baker to weigh the loaf ; but of what prac-
tical utility is this regulation, while it allows him to
put his own price on it ? What is wanted is a regu-
lation to fix the price of flour and bread, according to
the price of wheat, allowing the miller and the baker
fair, but not exorbitant, profits, and giving the com-
munity the advantage, whenever it may arise, of any
manage these things better in France,"
fall in the cost of wheat.
" They
said LAWRENCE STERNE a century ago, and the same
is true to this day. In Paris the price of bread is
fixed and declared once a fortnight. Those who have
eaten it will not complain of the quality of the bread
in the French metropolis —no potatoes, alum, or
moment, when the quar-
ternimprove the colour. At this
(4 white sharps," are added to increase the bulk or
to 6id. for the second, it is
first quality, and from sd.
loaf varies in London from 612 d. to Bd. for the
in Paris 31 centimes (or a fraction over
41b. loaf of first quality, and 24 centimes (a fraction
3d.) for the
under 24d.) for the 41b. loaf of second quality, and
this notwithstanding the octroi, which adds nearly
a further
one-third to the price of flour, and that
S
im-
post is levied for the benefit of the municipality.urely, then, bread should be at least as cheap in
London, where flour is untaxed, as it is in Paris,
where the flour is so very heavily charged, and where,
therefore, it must necessarily come dearer to the
bakers.

At the Manchester Meeting on the 2d, it was re-
presented as a pressing necessity that the House of
Commons should be made faithfully and promptly to
reflect the opinions of the community. The Edin-
burgh Reviewer, on the other band, notes it as
among the things to be regretted, that constituencies
formerly elected comPottnt persons as legislatom

while now the tendency is to choose them with re-
ference to their opinions,—as delegates rather than

as legislators. The Reviewer can be bat very par-
tially right. Ever since there have been parties in

the House of Commons, the electors have always

professedly voted for candidates of their own opinions.
A great deal more margin may have been generally

allowed, but assuredly every candidate has always

proposed some political creed, and solicited votes on
the ground of his fidelity to it. The real difference

is that particular measures and opinions are much
more frequently brought forward at the hustings
now than formerly, and the true reason for this is
that the numbers are increased beyond all calculation,

who are quite as competent to form political opinions
as the Members they return. The Quarterlies,
the Monthlies, the Weeklies, and the Dailies,

especially the latter, have done their work.
They have enabled the million to possess in-
telligent and well-considered opinions on every

public topic ; while political, societies and public
meetings have habituated the electors to discussions,
in the case of the Corn-laws, and other subjects too,

no way inferior to many a debate in the Houses o
Legislature. In such an altered state of the electora
intelligence, it is absurd to complain that electors
will have their opinions represented. Every man of
ability, who covets the position of a Member of Par-
liament, but whose opinions differ from those of every
constituency in the kingdom, has innumerable means
open to him of changing public opinion. The press,
the lecture, the public meeting, are all before him ;
and, with a good cause and the requisite ability, be
must ultimately succeed ; while, on the other hand,
the instances are but too numerous of the inutility of
legislation much in advance of public opinion. We
think, therefore, that, on this point, the Manchester
men are right. Representation is a farce unless it
represents public opinion. That opinion may be as
wrong as individual opinion—it must be corrected
like that of individuals, by experience ; but the same
electoral conditions which would give facility for its
blundering, would give equal facility for correcting its
blunders. Large as is the preponderance of Free-traders
in the present Parliament, there can be no doubt that
were our population polled, the preponderance would be
immensely greater. Had public opinion been pro-
portionably represented in the House of Commons in
the last Parliament, no Premier would have dared to
coquette even with Protection,* and to talk of wishing
for a verdict of the country on that question. There
would have been no need to subscribe 70,0001, again
to the resuscitated League, no need to make the im-
posing demonstration of last Tuesday.
If the people are so incompetent to form opinions,
so unworthy to have them reflected fairly in Parlia-
ment, how happens it that on this great question, as
on many others, they have been in advance both of
Parliaments and Cabinets ; as Mr. 131teGwr observed,
" Though we were right 14 years ago, and have been
right in this question ever since, and though three
Cabinets have been wrong, and one of them has not
yet pat itself right, it is to be held that we are not
statesmen, and that those men only who could not
see what was simply right on this great fundamental,
all-absorbing question are entitled to describe and
to carry oat the political policy of the nation. We
have not hereditary brains." It is perfectly certain,
indeed, that universal suffrage would have prevented
the imposition of the Corn-laws in 1815, and would
have repealed them in any subsequent year ; and,
with so strong a case before them, no wonder that
the League gentlemen feel as much confidence in
public opinion as in the representatives of landlords
and squires.
Little was done or said at the meeting indicating
any political programme for Reformers. Mr. COD.
DEN described the House of Commons as one "in
which the intellect, and the wealth, and the power of
the country are so unequally and unduly repre-
sented, that, instead of its being a fair exponent of the
opinions of the country, it was little more than a ma-
dine where ingenious jugglers, like Signor BLITZ
Kinself, can shuffle their cards and play their game,
and win the stakes in spite of the opposition of nine-
teen-twentieths of the population of this country."
ais practical advice was that they should forthwith
get Protection clean out of the way, and then that
men of thirty (as time would be required), should de-
vote themselves to gaining the extension of the Suffrage,
the Ballot, and every other just, right, and politic
measure; and "if they would but work for it, they
were sure to have it." Mr. BRIGHT eloquently re-
marked—" The patriotism of our day does not consist
in the destruction of monarchies, or the change of
dynasties. Our fathers wrested the institution of
an Annual Parliament from unwilling and despotic
monarchs. Be it ours—and I speak to those who can
do it, if we will it ;—be it ours to wrest a real House
of Commons from a haughty nobility, and to secure
the lasting greatness of this nation on the broad
foundations of a free Parliament and a free people.
(Loud and enthusiastic cheering)." Mr. KEOGH
pledged himself for the fidelity of the Liberal ma-
jority of Irish lembers, and, much as his party have
been attacked, wethink it only fair to give prominence
robleads thereeclara to
declaration " Irish members
were charged with sympathizing with tyranny and
todespotism,
o butwing
be w
declare that they
sympathized with ne tyranny abroad, and they obeyed
no tyranny at home, (Hero the whole company rose,
and the cheering end the waving of handkerchiefs
lasted some time). :slaving long experienced, under
the regime for which they were not answerable,
crushing despotism themselves, they must be as bereft
of mind as devoid of feeling, if they sympathized with
any one that tyrannised over the bodies or the con-
sciences of men. (Geat cheering)." We record
with the greatest pleasure such sentiments from the
lips of men like Mr, tEOGLI and Sergeant SHEE.
These things, then, ware plainly enough indicated
at the meeting; one that the energetic men of the
League deem a real representation of the people the
next thing
interred
be toiled fo. and fought for, when Pro-
tection is ; anotker, that the Irish Liberals
will stand as faithfully as ever by the English Liberals
in the great conflict for a leople's House of Commons.
Not a hint was given, however, of any wish to eject
the present Ministry, unles, indeed, their conduct on
the question of Protectiot deserved it. It was a
League meeting, and they alopted their old course of
keeping as clear as possible of general politics.

• Erratum.—In our notice of
this subject on Monday a
misprint occurred towards the clo
e of the article,—" for the
door of Protection is sealed for eve ;" read the "doom."

AT
ii]tOCKINGHAM PALACE.
thesß?yal Higuess Prince
princeu
yvWya
la lceseu Council
specialncidi
ARRIVAL OF THE COURT
mteeor
fo u
ts.hseulBt
te 1
1, arrived
f h t
—Her Majesty, accompanied b
Albert, their Royal Hignesses
Princess Royal, and attended by a 1
this afternoon, at half-past two
ham Palace, having travelled t o'clock, at Bucking-
the
in waiting to
opening
the Royal Speech
Re?
to Paddington, where the R. 07, a 37, from Windsor
train via the Great Western
an escort consisting of. a detachme` carriages, and
Dragoons, (Royal Irish Hussars)
convey the august par.ty to the Palace I
was held after her liilajesty's arrival, wh
Sion of the nevr Parliament, was submi4 of the first Ses-
to be delivered to-morrow, on the
approval. for her Majesty's
OPENING OF PARLIAMENT By R. ....
Orders were received, on Saturday, at th-th MAJESTY.—
irom the Lord Chamberlain, to make pre House of Lords,
reception of her Majesty nn Thursday aarations for the
that day it was the intention of her Majgmorrow), as on
Parliament in person. Since Saturday pt,ty to. open the
been proceeded with in. order. to receive hparatlons have
respect. Her Majesty will arrive at the grar2fajesty with
the House of Lords at two o'clock precisely. entrance of
HER MAJESTY AND THE CORPORATIGI
sox.—At the annual meeting of the Town Con •OP WIND' '
terda3', a resolution expressive of
.the deep sensitcd, held yes-
felt by the corporation to her Majesty and PrinYf gratitude
the spontaneous and munificent present of to Albert for
wherewith to decorate the Town-hall, was pasetr portraits,
mation. At the same time a letter conveying tibc.l by accla-
the council to Colonel the Hon. C. B. Phipps, c thanks. of
manner in which he had seconded the wishes oT the kind
the town,
was unanimously adopted.
BIRTHDAY OF THE PRINCE OF WALEE....-../ t
being the anniversary of the birthday of his Royaleas. ehrday
the. Prince of Wales, merry peals were rung from tlei bellsiss
St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, St. Margaret's Westmitster and
other churches, and flags hoisted in honour of the lay.' A
great number of persons congregated on the Parade beind
the Horse Guards, in the expectation of witnessing a review
of the Household troops, but they were disappointed, for no
review took place. On Somerset-house and other Govern-
ment offices flags were also hoisted.
. ChEmortNE.—Wre perceive by notice in our Myer-
Wing columns, that the spirited proprietor of Crekorne
Hotel and Gardens, intends to cater fur the bodily wants of
visitors to the Great National Ceremonial at Chelsea Hospi-
tal; and from the close neighbourhood of this charnling
resort, and the well-known fame of Mr. Simpson, late lost
of the Albion, as a restaurant of the highest order, we hive
no doubt that many will avail themselves of the opportunity
of paying a visit to Cremorne, which, though shorn of Sofia
of its summer beauties, still presents many attractive charmq
and will enable those previously unacquainted with its locality
tojudge of ils great beauties and capabilities in the summer
Pason.

AMERICA.

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
LIVERPOOL, WEDNESDAY NooN.

This morning at eight o'clock the United States'
mail steam-ship Baltic, Captain Comstock, was tele-
graphed off Holyhead. She will arrive in our port
about half-past two, with letters and papers from
New York and the principal cities of the United
States, to the 30th inst., on which day at noon, the
Baltic left New York with the usual semi-weekly
mails and four days later dates than we previously
received by the royal mail steamer America. Her
mails will be landed in time for transmission by this
evening's mail to London, Dublin, Glasgow, and the
Continent.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS—(THIS DAY.)
Their Lordships met shortly after 2 o'clock, when
:he swearing in of Peers was resumed, which con-
inued up to the period of the adjournment.

HOUSE OF COMMONS—(THIS DAY.)
The Speaker took the chair at 12 o'clock; but the
proceedings of the sitting were exclusively confined
to the swearing in of Members.

LA IV INTELLIGENCE-(THIS DAY.

BAIL COURT.
(Before Mr. Justice Crompton.)

CRIMINAL INFORMATION-EX PARTE GEDDIE.

Mr. Collier applied for a rule calling on Thos. Rober_
Mulcock, a churchwarden of St. Mary's, Newington, to
show cause why a criminal information should not be
filed against him for having published and circulated ex-
tensively a hand-bill, reflecting seriously upon the cha-
racter of Mr. Geddie, who had up to a recent period acted
as solicitor to the governors of the poor for that pariah.
He was appointed to that office in 1844, and continued
to hold it until June, 1851, when, in consequence of a
change in popular opinion i❑ the parish, a new set of
guardians were elected, and he ceased to act as solicitor.
Soon afterwards he was employed by two of the princi-
pal rate payers of the parish, named Ireland and Booker,
who were also the electors of the Drapers' Charity, to
take measures for placing that charity on a better footing,
there being a considerable accumulation of funds,
and the managers being anxious to know
in what way they could be equitably and legally dealt
with. The opinion of counsel having been taken, he
advised an application to Sir Alexander Cockburn, the
Attorney-General at that period, for his sanction to an
information i❑ Chancery, intimating that the electors of
the charity, and not the governors of the poor, were the
proper parties to act as relators to the suit. Sir Alex.
Cockburn, however, disallowed the information, on the
ground that the guardians ought to be the relators;
but there could be no doubt, in arriving at that con-
clusion, he had been influenced by some e'e parte state-
ments injurious to the reputation of Mr. Geddie, who,
however, stood as high as any gentleman in the pro-
fession, and against whom not a breath of suspicion had
ever been raised. Messrs. Ireland and Booker had, in
their affidavits, entirely exonerated him from any blame
whatever, stating that they had merely applied to him,
for the purpose of knowing what could be done for the
best interests of the charity. Mr. Geddie subsequently
took the opinion of the present Sir John Stuart, who
thought that he had acted rightly in making these two
parties relators. Strengthened by that opinion, in May
last he renewed his application to Sir Frederick The-
siger, who was then Attorney-General, and, after hear-
ing both sides, Sir Frederick allowed the information,
and it was now proceeding in the Court of Chancery.
Soon after this decision a hand-bill was extensively cir-
culated in the parish, in large letters, addressed to the
parishioners of St. Mary, Newington, and calling on
them to attend a certain vestry meeting, and endeavoured
to prevent the funds of the Drapers' Charity being
swallowed up by the cormorant lawyers. The publication
went on to say thate►ery means would be used to exhaust
the funds, and that the rate-payers ought to come for-
ward as one man, and resist so diabolical an attempt to
rob the poor of their just rights; adding that they must
already be quite satiated with the enormous bills of costs
which had been paid by the parish.
Mr. Justice Crompton observed that the hand-bill did
not allude personally to Mr. Geddio.

Mr. Collier said he had affidavits from several parties,
to show that the expression " cormorant lawyers," as
well as the other allusions, were meant to apply to Mr.
Geddie. Besides, Mr. Mulcock had acknowledged at a
vestry meeting that he had circulated the bill, and it
was well known that he had used strong terms of dis-
approbation in speaking of Mr. Geddie.
Rule granted.

EARTHQUAKE IN LANCASHIRE.

LIVERPOOL, TUESDAY.

The shock of an earthquake was most distinctly felt
in Liverpool and Cheshire, this morning at about halt-
past four o'clock. The motion was from west to east,
and accompanied i❑ many cases by a rumbling noise. In
some cases, individuals were awoke from a sound sleep,
and jumped on the floor, expecting an attack from some
nocturnal marauder; in other cases, children screamed
and hid their faces under the bed clothes; whilst in a
few instances, persons in bed simply felt a kind of rock-
ing motion like that of a cradle•bed. One gentleman
who resides in Claughton-park, Birkenhead, described
to our correspondent the sensation experienced by him-
self and his wife, as similar to that which would be pro-
duced by some giant shaking the bed upon which they
were lying for several seconds. Captain Greig, the
Liverpool head-constable, who lives at the George's
Dock-passage, was awakened by the loud noise. All the
earthenware in the house was shake❑ about, and rattled.
He got up, fancying that some one had broken into the
house, called up the man on duty at the station, and
examined the roof of the building to see that no person
was there.

All the police-officers on duty round the docks re-
ported that they had heard the noise. Officer Blackmore
(No. 227) was leaning at the time egaiost one of the
landing-waiters' huts, and the hut shook so much that ho
thought he and it would have fallen into the dock.
So great were the vibrations felt in Standish that, our
correspondent informs us, ono woman was thrown quite
out of bed. _ _ _ _

Mr. Stodart, who lives in Toxteth-park, near Prince's-
park, says he heard five or six distinct vibrations. At
first the rolling noise was long, and then during each
succeeding shock the noise became more faint, and gra-
dually died away. The motion of the bed was like that
of a swing cradle. The people who lived next door
jumped out of bed, and a young woman, their daughter,
crept under the bed clothes in a state of alarm.
At Woolton, Childwall, Aigburth, Bootle, and Sea-
forth, the earthquake was distinctly felt, as well as at
Orton, Claughton, and other parts of Cheshire.
The weather for the last few days has been wet and
sultry; the atmosphere, oven out of doors, being unusu-
ally warm. Last night, about ten o'clock, the sky was
very dark, with huge black streaks extending from the
west to the east.
The last shock of an earthquake experienced in Liver-
pool and its neighbourhood was about ten years ago.

MANCIIESTEII, TUESDAY.

Very great sensation was created here this morning
by the rumour that a somewhat severe shock of an
earthquake had been felt during the night. At first the
rumour gained little credence, but as the morning wore
on, and men of business came pouring in from country
places, all doubt was dispelled, for it was scarcely pos-
sible to speak to any half-dozen persons without meeting
one or more who had felt it. The time at which it
occurred seems to be generally fixed at half-past four
o'clock in the morning, though there is some uncertainty
about this, owing to the circumstance that it was in the
dead of the night, and observations as to time are not
then very accurate. Those who speak most distinctly
of the phenomenon say that windows shook and clattered
loudly, and that the beds on which they lay were lifted
up and rocked beneath them. One gentleman, who has
served in the army in Jamaica, was awoke by his wife,
and jumped hurriedly out of bed, imagining that thieves
were getting in at the window. A little girl, about seven
years old, in a fright called out to know what was the
matter with her bed, and the servants were alarmed by
a noise and shaking of the house, which they attri-
buted to the removal of furniture in the next dwelling.
The gentleman, while sitting at breakfast a few hours
after, remarked—" If we had been in Jamaica, they
would have said that what alarmed us was an earth-
quake." This was at Cceetham-hill, about a mile from
Manchester. To select another instance, a family re-
siding at the outskirts of the township of Hulme, about
two miles from the centre of Manchester, were all
awoke by the rocking of their beds ; and in another
instance, a little girl was so much alarmed, that she
crept from her own bed to that of her sister for safety.
The shock was also distinctly felt about nine miles from
Manchester, at Ashton-upon-Mersey, and at other places
in that neighbourhood, awaking persons out of their
sleep there, and creating considerable alarm; it therefore
appears to have had a large range of operation. It is
needless to repeat the accounts which are given from
various places within that range ; they aro nearly re-
petitions, all who felt anything speaking of a trembling
of their residences, an upheaving of beds, and a loud
noise of windows clattering, as if the whole of their re-
sidences were in a state of violent tremor. We have
not heard of any damage done either in town or coun-

try; indeed, in the town, the oscillation does not appear
to have been so distinctly felt. The police make no
mention of any unusual phenomena occurring to them
during the night.

ALARMING SHOCK OF AN EARTHQUAKE

AT DUBLIN.

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
DUBLIN, WEDNESDAY MORNING

This morning, between four and five o'clock, the in-
habitants of Dublin and its environs were awoke from
their slumbers, by hearing a loud noise resembling the
echoes of repeated discharges of peals of artillery,
which shook the houses to their •ery foundations,
causing, it may easily be imagined, the greatest con-
sternation. Up to the present time no intelligence has
arrived of any fatal or very serious results, beyond the
very great alarm created.

STATE OF TRADE.

(From the Manchester Guardian of this day.)

MANCHESTER, Nov. 9m.—ln this market we have
a suspension of business, such as was experienced
last week. Those who have orders in their hands are
deferring their execution, and buying only its retail
fashion for assortment, iu the expectation that prices
may be lower ; but the extensive transactions of the
last three or four weeks have placed spinners and manu-
facturers so much under contract as to prevent any very
sensible effect being observable in the current rates.
Still, the bias of the market is in favour of buyers,
who, in most of the medium and lower counts of yarns,
and also in many kinds of goods, aro able to get what
they want at a slight reduction.
RCCHDALE, Nov. B.—The demand for flannels con-
tinues very good, notwithstanding that part of the
year is fast approaching when it usually falls off. Also
in the warehouses there is a fair amount of orders
coming in from the country, quite equal to what it has
been for some weeks past. In wool the demand is
steady and prices firm.
HALIFAX, Nov. 6.—There has been a very slender
attendance of merchants in our Piece Hall to-day; and
but few worsted goods of any description, have been
disposed of. The yarn market exhibits great firm-
ness. In consequence of the advancing price of the
raw material, the spinners are compelled to ask still
higher rates, to which the merchants are unwilling to
accede; and the struggle between them will probably
lead to such a diminution of production as may insure a
rise in the quotations. Wool is again somewhat higher;
and the spinners are purchasing with more confidence.
HUDDERSFIELD, Nov. 9.—The demand for woollens
has been somewhat slacker, but considering the advanced
state of the season it has been about an average. Stocks
in the cloth hall are low, as most of the manufacturers
are making to order; still prices are very low, scarcely
remunerative; but on the whole there is a good prospect
of a fair trade through the winter, as some of the mills
that have been running short time are already working
full hours.

THE BANKING INSTITUTE,—.A. meeting of the
Banking Institute was held at the offices of the institution,
Threadneedle street, last night, John M'Gregor, Esq., M.P.
for Glasgow, in the chair. There was a pretty numerous
attendance of members. Mr. Sewell read a paper oa the
origin of bills of exchange. The points principally dwelt on
were two : First, whether bankers ought to have any regard
to the state of foreign exchanges in regulating the currency
of this country; and secondly, whether, in the present cir-
cumstances of Australia, the establishment of a mint or of an
assay office would be of most practical benefit to the colony.
On the first of these questions Mr. Bell gave no opinion him-
self. With regard to the second, he expressed himself
strongly in favour of the establishment of an assay office
to test the quality of the gold produced in the colony rather
than a mint to turn that gold into coin, which was net
wanted in the colony, the circulation there consisting, as in
Scotland, of 11. and 21. notes. The paper having been read,
the meeting adjourned.

Lem AMENDMENT SOCIETY.--A general meeting
of the Society for Promoting the Amendment of the Law
was held on Tuesday evening, at 21, Regent-street; Lord
Brougham in the chair. The attendance of members was
unusually large. The following resolutions were agreed to-
1. That the present state of the law referring to the transfer
of land is highly unsatisfactory. 2. That a cheaper, simpler,
more expeditious, and more accurate system is exceedingly
desirable. 3. That to effect this object, the transfer of land
should, as far as possible, be assimilated to the transfer of
stock. 4. That in particular, purchasers and mortgagees
should be relieved from the necessity of enquiring into equi-
table interest in land. 5. That the power to shorten the
present practice as to titles to land, should be conferred on
a competent tribunal. 6. That it is absolutely necessary to
control, tax, and moderate more effectually than at present
the expenses connected with the transfer of land. The
meeting then adjourned.

OVERCROWDED GRAVEYARDS.—Last evening, a
meeting was held in the school-room, at St. Mary, Newing-
ton, for the purpose of taking into consideration the necessity
of closing the already overcrowded graveyard of the old
church. Mr. Mulcock, senior churchwarden, presided. Mr.
Alder moved, " That the fact of the present limited grave-
yard having been in use for several centuries, and that for
some years past not fewer on an average than 477 inter-
ments have annually taken place therein, is of itself sufficient
reason for its being closed, while the injury inflicted upon
the health, comfort, and commercial interests of the inhabi-
tants, in the event of a recurrence of the cholera or any ether
epidemic, render it of paramount importance that it should
be closed forthwith, and the provisions of the new act
adopted." Mr. Cooke seconded the resolution. After much
discussion, the resolution was carried unanim. usly. A
Burial Board was nominated, for the purpose of carrying out
the provisions of the recent act of Parliament.
SAD ACCIDENT.—Captain James Sargeant, deputy-
governor of the Defence convict hulk, stationed opposite the
Royal Arsenal, 'Woolwich, while crossing on a plank on the
middle deck of that vessel, with the intention of inspecting
some meat brought on board as food for the convicts, fill
down to the lower deck and broke his thigh and sustained
other fell
other injuries so severe that he died on Saturdoaiyth
a
accident having taken place on the Wednesday
week. Captain Sargeant had served in the 13th Light
sameLighi,
Dragoons previous to his appointment to be depu
TOESer
elected
2,lllanySorareofueLlirvieolme was tY-governor
of the Defence convict hulk.
LIVERPOOL,
yes-
terday unanimously
irtpt
loeodlaliz
who
ensuing year, in place of Mr. Thomas
retires from the civic chair with the good wishes of his
townsmen,