The Sun.
London, England, 1839-11-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5 1839

alchymists, as found their present policy on the cir- '
cumstances which justified the Liberals in the end
of the seventeenth century, in making a sort of war
against Popery.
The present complaint of the Tories is that
the Ministers favour Popery. Appealing to
such prejudices, and to such traditionary feel-
ings as we have adverted to, which were jus-
tified by external circumstances, when they were
formed a century and a half ago—when a concealed
Catholic had sat on the throne, and was succeeded
by an avowed Catholic, the Tories have rummaged
up all the attacks which were made on our liber-
ties, and have re-quoted all the eloquent appea!s to
freedom by which those attacks were repelled or stig-
matised as they deserved to be. That they go back-
wards for their arguments is pretty evident from the
places where they are most successful. In corners
:emote from intelligence they succeed best. Amongst
the stationary Prebends of Canterbury, who are
bribed by their daily stipends to hate Popery, they
get vociferous applause. The retired, plod-
ding, and ignorant but honest yeomen, yield them a
ready assent ; but all the efforts of hired writers and
factious priests have failed to make any impression
in the metropolis, in the seats of science, or in
the great marts of the empire. It is not creditable
for those who claim to be the leaders of the nation
to found their power and influence on prejudices
which every day are lessening, and which belong
more to a past age than the present, and which in
future can have no existence.
While the Tories declaim against the Ministers,
and institute comparisons between them and
and JAMES 11., they forget to inform their readers
that JA MES aimed at exercising a dispensing power
while the Ministers only fairly carry into execution
a law which the Tories themselves, for the public
welfare, were compelled to pass. He forced Catho-
lics into the Universities, placed them in Churches,
and gathered them in his Court, brow-beat the Mi-
nisters of Justice, and acted in defiance of the law ;
the Ministers have only appointed one or two Ca-
tholics to offices which the law has expressly opened
to them, and from which they have no more right
to exclude them, because they are Catholics, than
because they have black hair and are not six feet
in height. They have forced no Catholics on the
Universities, which, in fact, have an abundance in
the Puseyites. They have placed no Catholic
ministers in Churches, the Anglican Priesthood
being forward enough to imitate in all evil the Ca-
tholic priests. The sum of the cffence of which
the Ministers are accused is that they have not re-
fused to carry, as Sir ROBERT PEEL has done, his
own Act into execution.

But that, it appears, does not satisfy the Tories.
He goes neither fast nor far enough for the mass of
his followers, and Messrs. BRADSHAW, ROBY,
ESCOTT, and other spouters at Tory festivals, as
well as the Tory writers, repudiate both the man
and his measure. They call on him to exercise a
suspending power like that of JAMES 11., and to
make the Emancipation Act a complete dead
letter. The factious ranters and ravers, who call
her MAJESTY the Queen of a faction, demand
nothing less in fact than that an Act of Parliament
shall be set aside by their authority. Their
abuse of Ministers is founded on the pre-
sumption that they are right and the Act of
Parliament wrong. Let them repeal the Emanci-,
pation Act, let IVIr. BRADSHAW try his hand at
a motion for leave to bring in a Bill for that pur-
pose, before the Tories condemn the Ministers for
not suspending its operation. To declare that eight
or nine millions of the people shall be excluded
from the Constitution ; to force the Catholics to
make common cause with the Chartists—to add
to the disfranchised and discontented labourers,
amounting to four-fifths of the population, the
ousted Catholics—to compel Mr. O'CONNELL to
unite with Mr. O'CONNOR—to enlist in one joint
attack on the Constitution the Catholic priesthood
and the leaders of the Chartists, would involve the
overthrow of the Monarchy and the dismember-
ment of the empire. To such a policy the cautious
Sir R. PEEL can never accede, and the late exhi-
hibitions of his followers must have convinced him,
acz they have convinced the country, that his hopes
of ever governing the State by the aid of the No
Popery cry and the profligate crusade of the par-
sons against the QUEEN, are completely visionary.
The gulf which separates him, with the bulk of
the Tories, from office, widens every day ; and un-
less Lord MELBOURNE build a bridge for him, and
assist him to cross, while he turns his back on his
present friends, and denounces the disloyal, rebel-
lious, dismembering, dissocial, destructive doctrines
of his present followers, he will grow old and perish
in opposition.

According to the reports from the City money
is again becoming tight there ; at the same time
the dreaded 4th of November seems to have passed
without any serious defalcation. Various rumours,
indeed, appear to have disturbed the equanimity of
the speculators and money-dealers, and the market
came to a close heavily, but in peace.
The pressure, which is again felt, has revived
the inclination to discuss questions connected with
the currency, and the silver standard seems to find
favour with several writers. According to the
Courrier Francais the Emperor of RUSSIA is
preparing large armaments at Odessa and its
neighbourhood, and he is said to be gathering and
hoarding money to be ready for warlike operations.
We take it for granted, on account of its possessing
great value in small bulk, that he prefers gold to
silver, and abstracts from commerce that metal only
which, unfortunately for us, is exclusively the basis
of our currency. That is a reason why we should
employ silver.
But besides his demand for gold, which is ex-

elusive of the wants of commerce, we apprehend
that our demand for corn, and the exportation of
bullion to buy it, have increased the wants of com-
merce very much. We hear complaints from various
parts of the Continent of a rise in price where no
deficient harvest warrants any such rise. The
farmers, landowners, and merchants on the Conti-
nent who have obtained money by selling us corn
do not let it lie idle. In the hands of some it be-
comes the germ of enlarged undertakings—in the
hands of others, of a mere increase of expenditure;
but in all it causes an extension of demand, an in-

crease of business, and a general rise of prices, re-
quiring more money to circulate commodities.

Money in this sense begets a want of money.
In this way our Corn-laws inflict a double
injury on the country. By compelling us to
send bullion to buy corn, instead of buying
it with our hardware and cloths, they derange our
currency and increase the business of other
countries, without causing any corresponding in-
crease of business at home. They abstract bullion
permanently from England,promote industry abroad,
and benefit the foreigner at our expense.
We see that this demand for bullion has lately
led to the exportation of considerable quantities of
silver, which, by the returns published in The Sun
of Thursday last, exceeded that of gold in the pro-
portion of fourteen to one in value. We may be
sure, however, because of the greater expense of the
exportation, that the silver is not preferred till its
value has sunk in ourmarkets and risen in the markets
of the Continent in relation to gold. Some time
back we noticed the extensive importation of silver,
and then remarked that it would be of little use
to us, because it is not employed here as money,
but or4y as change or counters. Our observation is
verified, and by refusing to use silver for money we
give the foreigner another advantage. Our stupid
law deprives silver of a part of its inherent natural
utility or value—makes it less useful or valuable
here than where it is employed as money, and thus
gives, as it were, a bounty on its exportation. Now,
making silver a concurrent standard with gold would
redress this inequality, and would keep silver in the
country. At present our gold is taken from us on
account of the convenience of transport, and to
balance our trade ; and silver is taken from us be-
cause the law deprives it of a part of its utility and
value. We add these considerations to those which
which
recommending
NHOPE,
we borrowed a few days ago from Earl
STA
standard,o.
which have deservedly m
et
withagresailtvear ttent n
V

.Ve have given, in another part of our paper, a
,ew extracts from the November Number of the
Church Magazine, to which we would call the
attention of the Wesleyan Methodists. It will be
seen that this worthy organ of a persecuting Church I

has followed up its last month's scurrilous and
malignant attack upon that sect) by a Seetlild out-
pouring of clerical rancour, fully equal to the first,
Since our last exposure of the deadly feelings of
hatred and hostility entertained by the Church
towards the Wesleyan Methodists, an attempt has
been made to undervalue the authority of the
Church Mazagine. It has been asserted by the
Standard, which cannot see the policy of offending
the Methodists, who may be made useful instru-
ments in forwarding the views of the Church on
such questions as the monopoly of education, that
it cannot be considered as an organ of the Church
of England, and that it does not speak the senti-
ments of the Church. The Editor of the Maga-
zine has taken good care in the present Number that
there shall be no mistake on this point, for he has
corroborated his own opinions, and those of his
patrons, by the high sanction of an Arch-
bishop of his Church, from whose writings
against the Methodists he has made copious quo-
tations, conceived in a spirit much akin to his---awn.
He has also published a list of some of his pa-
trons and contributors, which we have taken the
liberty to transfer to our columns. It contains the
names of upwards of forty divines of the Church of
England, among whom, we are sorry to find Mr.
KEMP, domestic Chaplain to the Duke of CAM-.
BRIDGE. There are other Chaplains in the list who
ought not to have been there; and although JOSHUA
KING, the spitfire parson of Bethnal-green, and
the Rev. C. CATOR, Chaplain to the Right Hon.
the LORD MAYOR of London, figure with great
propriety and all consistency, in this muster roll of
bigots and calumniators of their fellow Christians,
it may be a question worthy of consideration by
the Rev. R. C. DILLON, D.D., whether he is
likely to add to his popularity in Clerkenwell, what-
ever he may do at Pimlico, by figuring beside them.
There are, however, other patrons behind the
curtain, whom it does not suit to appear in public.
GATHERCOLE, the Editor of the Magazine, has
been highly patronised before now, for his useful
exertions in support of the Church. CHARLES
JAMES knows how to select his tools, and also
how to handle them without injuring himself. It
is for the Wesleyans to decide what claim a Church
thinking of them, and acting towards them as the
Church of England does, has upon their services. Of
this they may rest assured, that in co-operating with
her in her schemes, all of which tend to her exclusive
aggrandizement, they are only enabling her, if
those schemes succeed, to give greater effect to her
innate and unchangeable spirit of intolerance.

The accounts from Newport will be read with
painful interest. The communication from our Cor-
respondent, and the details taken from the Morning
Papers, all agree in the important fact, that the
Chartists, in great numbers, and to a certain ex-
tent armed, were the aggressors, and that the Ma-
gistrates had recourse to the military to repel the
attack. Though the Mayor and some of the citi-
zens were wounded, it does not appear that any of
the shots from the misguided men were fatal, and
if the numbers w•ete such as represented, we can
only come to the conclu3ion that they were ill-
armed, and commenced the assault like mad-
men, without anything like order or plan. It
is not surprising that such a melancholy
catastrophe has been the result, when the ha-.
bits of the colliers and miners in that neighbour-
hood are taken into account ; and a fearful respon-
sibility, therefore, must rest on the heads of those
who urged on those excitable and lawless persons to
their certain destruction. It would appear that
after ail idea of physical force had been given up
by the Chartists in England, recourse was had to
Wales, and the passions of the people, and particu-
larly of the rude population of the mining districts
about Newport, were worked on till they have
committed themselves in this fearful way against
the laws of their country. We have ever advised
them to work out Reform only by lawful and con-
stitutional means, and warned them that if
they attempted any other they would not only be
speedily crushed, but their fall would retard the pro-
gress of Reform and set all the higher and middle
classes in dire hostility against their Charter. These
madmen in Wales are verifying the prediction.
They are rendering the term Chartist odious to
the public ear, and they are not only casting a
stigma and bringing ruin on themselves, but they
are to a certain extent involving in their guilt
countless thousands of innocent men who profess
the same political principles but abjure all ideas of
physical force or rebellion. If Mr. FROST, the
ex-Magistrate, led them on, we can only regard him
as a madman, and a more fit subject for a lunatic
asylum than a prison.

John Thoro•ood has been confined in the common
gaol of Chelmsford since the 16th of January last,
for not paying a Church-rate of five shillings and

sixpence.

What a train of reflections does this simple fact
call up? That a Christian man:should have been
punished for so long a period with the loss of his
liberty, in the mind of an Englishman", the most
precious of blessings, because, in obedience to the
voice of GOD in his heart, he would not subject
himself to the guilt of supporting a system of
worship for which he can find no warrant in the
holy Scriptures, is surely enough to make men
ask whether they really live in a land of religious
liberty, or are the priest-ridden slaves of a domi-
nant sect.

Would any one who hears the loud boastings
which Englishmen are everywhere so fond of making
about that freedom of all sorts, but especially that
freedom of conscience which they enjoy,, believe it
possible, unless he saw it with his eyes, that the
laws of England leave a Dissenter from the State re-
ligion no alternative between a violation of his con-
scientious convictions and perpetual imprisonment,?
This, however, is the truth—the lamentable, the
humiliating, the degrading truth—and the case of
JOHN THOROGOOD proclaims it trumpet-tongued.
But what shall be said of the rulers of that
Church calling itself Christian, who can resort to
such inhuman proceedings against a fellow-
Christian—who can rake up from the dust of ages
the laws of barbarous times, and re-animate their
slumbering energies with the spirit of persecution?
Are these men ministers of the Gospel of Peace—.
of that Gospel which breathes nothing but
brotherly kindness and charity to all men, or
are they not rather the ravening wolves, who, it
was foretold, were to come in sheep's clothing and
steal into the fold ? Shame upon their proceedings I
They would disgrace heathens. No priests of
Paganism ever displayed more sacerdotal insolence,
greater intolerance, or more grovelling wordly-
mindedness, than do the ministers of the humblest,
the most long-suffering, and the most purely spiri-
tual religion that ever visited the earth I

Deep, however, as is the disgrace which the im-
prisonment of this poor and honest Dissenter, and
other acts of a similar kind, reflect upon the eccle-
siastical establishment of the country, we can-
not acquit of great blame the influential body
to which the sufferer belongs. Let it be
remembered that this undaunted champion
of the rights of conscience, has sacrificed everything
to that great principle which the Dissenters profess
to hold in the highest reverence, and which has
been their rallying cry for nearly two centuries.
Among many lukewarm he has been found zealous,
among many faithless he has been found faithful.
Rather than bow the knee to BAAL—rather than let
go his religious integrity—he has exchanged home,
with its nameless comforts and blessings, for
the gloom and solitude of a 'dungeon, embittered
not only by those hardships and privations which
priestly persecution knows so well how to inflict
upon its unhappy victims, but by that which is
still more difficult to bear—the thought that his '
family were left without those means of subsistence
which his labour alone had provided for them, and
without that sympathy from others to which they
had so just a claim.
How the Dissenters can answer to themselves
and to the world for their marked neglect of a matt

who has suffered• so much in their -cause, and by
that suffering done so much to rititantt iti *8 rite
utterly at a loss to conceive. We have a Church-
rate Abolition Society, a Religious Liberty Pro-
tecting Society, and others, we believe, with the
same or similar objects. What have they done for
this deeply injured and most meritorious man
Have they ministered to his necessities ? Have
they " visited him when in prison ?" Have they
done any thing at all for him ? We fear the an-
swer must be in the negative. They have left him
to the tender mercies of his persecutors.
Even if he had been a person of questionable
character, this indifference would have been blame-
able, if not inexcusable, for persecution would hava
entitled him to the good offices of all who wish
well to religious liberty. But JOHN THOROGOOD
has always borne an irreproachable character. We
have before us letters from persons whom we know,
and on whose authority we place the most perfect
reliance, which speak of him in very high terms.
One gentleman, a highly respected member of the
Society of Friends, living in the immediate vicinity
of Chelmsford, states that " for several years before
his imprisonment, he had carried on his business as
a shoemaker at Chelmsford, with a good character
as a tradesman, and, for his circumstances, which
are limited, has been quite an example to his richer
neighbours."
We have been told that many Disssenters have
kept back, in the expectation that some of the
Societies to which we have alluded, and which are
supported by Dissenting funds, would have taken up
the case of THOROGOOD. Finding this expecta-
tion vain, it has now, we are happy to find, been
determined to open a public subscription, with a
view, in the first place, to " encourage him"--we
use the appropriate words of one of the promoters
of the undertaking, whose name were we at liberty
to disclose it, would make the Tories stand aghast
in his present state of hopeless incarceration,
and to show the Church party that he is not with-
out friends under the severe privations, occasioned
by their persecution ;" and secondly to save his
affairs from total ruin. In our advertising columns
will be found a list of subscribers, among whom
' we see, with much pleasure, Lord PETRE and
R. B. SANDERSON, Esq., nephew and Secretary
to the late Lord ELDON.

We trust the result of the subscription will be
such as, while it secures the objects intended, will
show to the world that the Dissenting body kr,ow
how to appreciate a noble stand in the cause of re-
ligious liberty.

There is no news of any political interest in the
Paris Journals of Sunday. The National affects
to think that the presence of Don CARLOS in
France, who is daily receiving the homage of the
priesthood, may prove dangerous to the Throne of
King Louis PHILIPPE; and recommends that
passports be given him for Austria or Italy,
where he would soon be forgotten like his
quondom associate in rebellion Don MIGUEL.
Had the National the remotest idea that the pre-
sence of the Pretender in France would prove fatal
to the Orleans dynasty, it would be the first to ex-
claim against any attempt to remove him. Much
as it hates despotism, it abhors Louis PHILIPPE
and the English alliance still more. But the truth
is, that the National feels a conviction that the re-
lease of CARLOS would lead to a coolness which
might end in an open rupture, between the Cabinets
of Paris and London, and therefore it is that it
feigns, such a loyal dread of the continuance of the
Pretender at Bourges, where. he is in reality no more
dangerous to Louis PHILIPPE, than if his ashes
reposed in the vaults of the Escurial.

The National has some very just remarks on the
excessive cruelty with which political delinquents
are punished in France, particularly in the dungeons
of Doullens and Mont St. Michael. These re-
marks are followed by a statement addressed to the
editor by one of the sufferers, in which the horrible
treatment of the condemned is very feelingly de-
scribed, and its effects upon their minds strikingly
elucidated. By this iniquitous system of punish-
ments the Government contrives to invest every
paltry malcontent with the attributes of a martyr.
On the 20th ult. the young Duke of BORDEAUX
arrived at Rome where he was to remain for two
days, and then proceed to Naples to join the
Duchess of BERRY and the Spanish Infante Don
SEBASTIAN and his wife. Were CARLOS to get
loose there would be quite a gathering of Pre-
tenders and Absolutists in Italy this winter.
Bankruptcies among retail traders to the amount
of 6,000,000 of francs (240,000/. sterling) took
place in France in the course of last month. The
number of bankrupts is three hundred.

The latest accounts from Madrid are of the 28th
ult., but they are, if possible, still less interesting
than the intelligence communicated by the Paris
Journals. The only news from Catalonia will be
found among subjoined extracts from the Journals.
We have news from Morella, dated the 17th of
October. The preparations made by Cabrera for the
defence of the place are formidable. They are spoken
of with astonishment at Madrid, and on the Spanish
frontiers very few people think that Espartero will risk
a serious attack before the return of fine weather ; how-
ever, he is advancing. The last accounts from Sara-
gossa, say that the first division of his army had arrived
at Monroys, a town about four leagues from Morella.
The letters say, that the cold was already severe in
that part of Spain.

El Castallano, a Madrid Journal, publishes a letter
addressed to it from Vinaroz, dated the 13th. ,It an-
nounces that a Colonel and his officers had just arrived
at Cabrera's head-quarters. They were commissioned
to offer him from the Count d'Espagne, a reinforcement
of 12,000 men, and 1,000 horses, if he thought that he
needed them to oppose the numerous forces that are
marching against him.—Gazette de France, Nov. 3.
PAIIIS, Nov. 3.—The Senlinelle des Pyrenees of the
31st has the following letter :—" Saragossa, Oct. 28.
Cabrera, reduced to despair by the disproportion of
the forces against which he has to contend pursues his
system of vengeance and cruelty. He causes the
most absurd reports to be circulated in his army, in
order to keep up the spirits of the soldiers. He has
chosen 500 horse, who are placed under the command
of Balmaseda, with orders strictly to watch the move-
ments of the head-quarters of Espartero.
" All the Carlist battalions have received new stand-
ards. After having bad them consecrated, Cabrera
made his troops swear to defend them to the utmost.
" Notwithstanding all this there is no doubt that Ca-
brera will be vanquished, unless the snow and rain
should oblige our army to suspend its operations.
Count Toreno left Bayonne on the 30th, to proceed to 1
Madrid."—Le Commerce.

According to the Brussels correspondence of the Com-
merce, the nine Russian officers implicated in the con-
spiracy in General Geismar's corps had been arrested
at Luxemburg by the Prussian authorities, and, after
being in prison ten days, were sent under escort to Ber-
lin, but at four leagues from Nlaestricht were set free
by thu population, and they then took refuge at Sedan,
in France, but were sent by the authorities again into
Belgium, where they now arc, the
,French Legation re-
iiisiog to vise their passports for Irance, and the Bel-
gian authorities equally refusing to give them passports
for England.

LLOYD'S SHIPPING,(THIS DAY.)

DEAL, Nov. 4.—Wind W. S. W.—Put back the Giant,
Freemure, for Berbicet and Anne, Boyrs, Tobago. Ar-
rived and proceeded for the river the Prince George,
Barclay, from Bombay ;
Enterprizc, Bamford, Mauritius.
PORTSMOUTH, Nov. 4.—Wind S. W. to W., fresh
brcezes.—Arrive',l from the River the Penacoc, Stevens,
far Madras. Sailed her Majesty's ship Sapphire, for
Greenock.
her Ma
jesty ' ship
; her Majesty's ship Hercules, Eastward: and
Scout, ditto.
PL""TtI, Nov. 4.—Wind S. W.— Arrived the Ste-
phen, Bruce, from ZAnte ; and Margaret, Trieste.
PALMOUTII, Nov. 4.—Rain and thick weather.—Sailed
the Magnet packet, for the West Indies ; and Palmyra,
Gill, Mediterranean.
RIVER, Nov. s.—Arrived the Harlequin steamer, from
Rouen. The Beresford, Blunsdell, from Poole to London,
struck on Pureness Rock yesterday, sunk, and cargo dis-
charging.
LtvEnroot., Nov. 4.—Wind S. E., foggy weather_Ar.
rived the Lord Nelson, Newton, from Zaute. Sailed the
Thomas Parsons, M'Finney, for Africa.
CAPE CLEAR, Nov. 3.—Arrived the Clydesdale, Davies,
rom Calcutta.

LIVERPOOL, MONDAY, QUARTER PAST 10
A.l.—The wind continues to blow from the eastward.
There is now a heavy fail of rain, and the wind shows a
I tendency to veer round to the S.E., if not to wholly
south. The Dublin mail-boat, one of the most power-
Iful steamers on the station, has only just arrived, having
been seventeen hours on the passage. The weather in
the Channel is so thick that it is impossible to see an
object fifty yards off. The Tigris, from Canton, which
passed Holyhead on Monday, has been towed in this
morning by a steam tugboat. No tidings of the steani-
ship or the packet-ship from New York.

CHANCERY COURT-(THIS DAY,)

74isibAY e.
The Lei nil CP;r4c.Ei.i.ork: gave j:ucfg/tiorrt to-day in
this case, which cane fiefore his Lordship upon ',weal
from the decision of his lion6tfr the Vice-Chancellor.
The bill was filed by the plaintiff; tiho *as a tenant of
the defendant, Colonel Jolliffe, who, somelittie since,
represented the Borough of Petersfield in Parli arrietiti
for the purpose of dbittinitiK the decree of the Court for
the specific performance of an tigr@ectient for a lease.
On the case coming on before the Vice-Chontellor his
Honour dismissed the bill, on the ground that
there was no evidence of an agreement for a lease, and
that even if there was, the course pursued by the plain-
tiff with respect to the cultivation of the land had ren-
dered it void. His Lordship, after carefully considering
the case, was satisfied that an agreement for a lease had
been proved, and that the defence set up had wholly
failed. Such being his opinion, the decision of the
Vice-Chancellor must be reversed, a decree made for a
specific performance, or reference must take place to
the Master to settle a lease, and the defendant must
pay the costs of the suit.

VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT.
(THIS DAY.)

Unopposed petitions, of no interest except to the
parties concerned, occupied his Honour the greater
part of the morning.

QUEEN'S BENCH.-(THIS DAY.)

CRIMINAL INFORMATION.-THE QUEEN V. THE FRO-

FRIETORS OF THE MANCHESTER CHRONICLE AND

SALFORD STANDARD.

Mr. THESIGER said he had been instructed -to apply
to the Court for a rule to show cause why a criminal
information should not be filed against the printers, pub-
lishers, and proprietors of the Manchester Chronicle
and Salford Standard newspaper, and also against the
editor of that paper, for a libel upon Sir Charles Shaw,
Chief Commissioner of Police for the boroughs of Man-
chester and Salford, and a Justice of Peace for the
borough. He would read for the Court the articles of
which Sir C. Shaw complained, and then he would call
their Lordship's attention to the affidavits which ex-
plained the matters therein alluded to. The first article
appeared on the 14th September, only eleven days after
the appointment of Sir C. Shaw. The article com-
menced by stating that Sir C. Shaw, Knight of the
Tower and Sword, ex-Colonel in the service of Don
Pedro, and plaintiff, in an action for an assault, when
he had been unmercifully horsewhipped by a Mr. Haw-
kins, had inserted in the Guardian a memoir evidently
drawn up by himself, for the purpose of prepos-
sessing the inhabitants of the borough in his favour.
It then went on to state that he had never attained a
higher rank in the British service than that of Ensign
—that finding no prospect of success in the service, lie
quitted it, and became a wine merchant at Leith—that
in consequence of a squabble from a charge of foul
play at cards, he had been obliged to quit Edinburgh
and join the Isle of Dogians, where he found a more
congenial atmosphere—that he had had various disputes
and quarrels with his associates, and they had some re-
collection of his having submitted to personal indignities
—that Lord Palmerston had offered a gross insult to
his Sovereign in permitting Colonel Shaw to sport a
title which he had acquired as being the unscrupulous
advocate of anarchy and revolution—that an opinion
existed that Colonel Shaw was in some degree con-
nected with the gallant officer (Colonel Shaw Kennedy),
who had formerly held a similar situation ; but there
was no connection between them, and they would, under
other circumstances, blush to associate the lurking Pe-
droite in the same page with that gallant officer. On
the 31st September another article appeared in the
same strain, stating that he had joined the Spanish
Auxiliary Legion, but that his commander (Colonel
Evans) had contrived to get rid of him, and that he
seemed to have served in turn every job-master of free
companions in Europe—that they regarded his appoint-
ment to the office of Chief Commissioner of Police, as
a wanton and gratuitous insult to the town, and a de-
fiance of public opinion. The article concluded by stating
that Col. Shaw had compiled two bulky octavos, and had
attested his own firmness in the endurance of flagellation.
Now Sir Charles Shaw, in his affidavit, most positively
denied that he had inserted any article in the Guardian
or any other newspaper. He admitted that he had
never attained a higher rank in the British service than
lieutenant, but he was then a young man only twenty
years old, and had retired on half-pay. That he then
became engaged in a most respectable concern with a
wine merchant at Leith, bringing a large amount of
capital to the concern, and carried on the business till
1829, when he sold his share for 1,0001. Now it was
attributed to him that he had been compelled to quit
the wine trade from an unlucky game of cards, clearly
imputing to him unfair play. The explanation on the
contrary reflected the highest credit upon Sir C. Shaw.
He became unfortunately acquainted, in Edinburgh,
with a person whose name it would be unnecessary to
mention, and who induced him, for the first time in his
life, to play. He lost to this person the sum of 3001.,
and, having been subsequently informed that there was
foul play, he taxed the person with it, threatening an
exposure, and induced him, under that threat, to refund
the money, which, instead of putting it into his pocket,
he gave as a donation to the Royal Infirmary of' Edin-
burgh. Some friends of that person afterwards had
a meeting, and Sir C. Shaw attended, and satisfactorily
explained the part he had taken, and received the
thanks of the inhabitants of Edinburgh for his conduct.
The same person subsequently brought an action against
Col. Shaw, and there was a verdict for the defendant.
How was it possible, therefore, to say that there was
anything in that transaction reflecting upon the charac-
ter of Colonel Shaw. In 1831 he joined the army
which assisted Don Pedro in Portugal, where he rose
to the rank of Colonel, taking part in all the most me-
morable actions, being highly distinguished, severely
wounded, and receiving the thanks of his commanding
officer, and the Government ; and also the distinction of
the Knight of the Tower and Sword. In 1835, after
the termination of the war, Colonel Shaw was residing
at Lisbon, where he came into collision with several
of his countrymen, whom he had been obliged to dis-
charge for various instances of misconduct. There
were charges brought against him, and threats of
violence, and the result was, that on one occasion, which
Colonel Shaw now regretted, he was induced to give
one person a hostile meeting. The mode in which
Colonel Shaw acted towards those individuals, induced
his officers to oiler him one of the highest compliments
upon his courage, and lie thought it due to his character
to embody that in his affidavit. Colonel Shaw returned
to England in 1835, and found himself appointed to a
brigade in the Spanish service. While there he re-
ceived thanks, rewards, and honours, and retired when
others left the service. During the time Colonel
Shaw was in Portugal, he had been compelled to bring
a Mr. Hawkins, whose name was introduced- in the
article, to a:court-martial for cowardice. Colonel Shaw
was a witness on that occasion, and Hawkins conceiving
himself injured by his testimony, chose to commit an as-
sault upon him on the pier of Ramsgate, being assisted by
a Mr. Frazer. Colonel Shaw exhibited on that occasion
great forbearance, and had the courage, which the ar-
ticle termed cowardice, to appeal to the law for redress,
and the result was that Messrs. Hawkins and Frazer
received the sentence of the Court for that assault.
Under these circumstances Sir C. Shaw came before
their Lordships for protection, which he trusted would
be extended to him. He had also the affidavit of a
highly respectable person, that his character had been
seriously injured in the neighbourhood by the state-
ments in these articles, and that his sphere of useful-
ness was likely to be diminished if they were not re-
futed. An application had been made to the proprie-
tors of the paper, who had stated that they were re-
sponsible, and subsequently a letter had been received
from a Mr. Dyer, representing himself as the Editor,
and expressing himself ready to give any satisfaction,
information, or explanation, which was not inconsistent
with the cause of truth, or the honour of the journal
he conducted. The object of that letter was evidently
to induce Colonel Shaw to demand a hostile meeting.
Lord DENMAN—His name has been introduced in
order to make him a defendant ?
Mr. THESIGER—Yes, my Lord ; he avows himself
the author.
Lord DENMAN—Take a Rule.