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

TIER SUN, LONDON. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5., 1839

was in attendance to prefer a charge against the prisoner,
and being answered in the negative,
Mr. Brown, a coachmaker, of Long-acres said be tlactight
it necessary to come forward tb state that on the 2d day
of May, the prisoliti., who gave the name of Chas. J.
Douglas, hired a cabriolet from him, and it was by giving
an indemnity to the stable-keeper that he was enabled to
recover his property.
Mr. HALL—Your object is to signify the fact that it may
be known in the proper channel, but you have no charge
to prefer against him ?
Mr. Brown—My object is to make known that be has
gone under another name, for the purpose of imposing
upon tradesmen, who may come forward to identify him.
The prisoner was then removed from the bar.
Mr. Simpson, proprietor of the Albion Tavern in Great
Russell-street was summoned by the Inspectors of the F
division, for having kept open his house on the 27th Oct.,
being Sunday, for the sale of liquors.
Mr. Hodgson appeared for the defendant, who pleaded
Not Guilty.
Constable 14 F proved that at half-past 12 o'clock on
the day in question he saw fourteen persona come out of
th, defendant's house.

Mr. HALL inquired if there was any disturbance to war-
rant such a complaint? Witness said there was no sign
of any disturbance.
Mr. HALL asked if he had entered the house to satisfy
himself of what was going on ? Witness said he did not.
In answer to questions put by the Solicitor, the witness
said that all the gentlemen he saw come out were per-
fectly sober, and he observed no person enter the house,
nor could he tell if any liquors had been drawn for them.
Mr. HALL instantly ordered the case to be dismissed.
Mr. Hodgson said he was prepared with several wit-
nesses to prove that nothing had been sold after the hour
allowed by law, and be knew that it was the defendant's
order to every person employed in his establishment to use
every exertion in clearing the house, in order to avoid
having such complaints brought against him.
Mr. HAL/ —I am glad to find he has adopted such
a course, and he must ultimately hive the benefit that must
derive from it.

if descending to the millions of Protestants in humbler
stations, produce results which we do not like to con-
templale.

MR. WAKLEY AND THE MID-
DLESEX MAGISTRATES.

Mr. Wakley has begun a series of letters to the readers
of the Lancet, on the subject of the attack made upon
him by the Rev. Theodore Williams and Mr. Laurie, at
the meeting of Magistrates of Middlesex, in the Session-
house, Clerkenwell, on the 11th of October last. 'We
extract from it the following passages, which contain
some of the points bearing more particulary on the
question :
, ,‘. Look here exclaims a candid specimen of a jus-
tice of peace, the sum paid for Coroners' inquests
out of the county-rate, for the year 1836, was
1,1771. 13s. 6d. ; for the year 1838 it was 4,134/. 16s. 3d.
Is not this increase most alarming ?' And thus he tries
by interference to sustain the complaint of the Vicar
of Hendon, that the increase' in the sum arises
out of an augmented number of unnecessary in-
quests. Can any excuse be offered for a commen-
tator, who, seeing that a reference to facts would defeat
his object, thus dispenses with them while they arc
within his reach, and at his own command and disposal ?
Is he so ignorant, can he be so ignorant, as not to know
that 2,3841. 1 Is. 3d. out of the 4,134/. 16s. 3d., which
he quotes, has been, since 1837, a new charge upon the
county rate, arising out of the passing of the Poor-law
Amendment Act, and the consequent Act of 1 Victo-
ria, c. 68 ? A few words will explain this matter
very satisfactorily. No sooner was the new Poor-
law in operation, than the Poor-law Commis.
sioners refused to allow any payments for inquests
to be made out of the poor-rates of the res-
pective parishes. Not one of those payments was
permitted to remain in the accounts. Under the new
law all those allowances and payments were at once
discontinued. What was the consequence ? As
no provision existed for meeting ' the necessary ex-
penses of the Court, the Coroner often experienced
considerably difficulty in finding rooms wherein to pur-
sue his inquiries, and in many places dead bodies
were left exposed in out-houses, to the annoyance
of a whole neighbourhood, and the disgrace of the
country in which such scenes were witnessed. A general
outcry having been raised against these revolting occur-
rences, the attention of Government was directed to the
subject, and the present Solicitor-General, Sir M.
Rolf, introduced into the House of Commons a
Bill to provide for the payment of the expenses of
holding Coroners' inquests,' which Bill, having received
the Royal assent on the 15th of July, 1837, provided,
thenceforth, that the Justices of the Peace in every
county, and the Town Council in every borough having
a Coroner, should' make or cause to be made a schedule
of the several fees, allowances, and disbursements which,
on the holding of any inquest on any dead body within
such county or borough, might be lawfully paid and
made by the Coroner.'

" In conformity with this enactment, the Magistrates
of Middlesex, in November, 1837, prepared a schedule
of fees and allowances to be paid to witnesses and other
persons at inquests.
" In the same Act, 1 Vic., c. 68, it is provided that
the Coroner, in consequence of the advances, out of
pocket, which he was thus called upon to make, and
For the additional trouble and loss of time which that
regUlation would occasion, should receive 6s. Bd., in ad-
dition to his previous fee of 1/. on each inquisition.
" Thus, then, it appears that previously to 1837,
whilst the only payments which were made out of the
county-rate relating to inquests were those of the Coro-
ner's fee of 11., and his mileage, there now is issued
from the same source all the expenses of the inquests
which are held throughout the whole county—in fact,
all those costs and charges which, before the Poor-law
Amendment Bill was passed, were paid out of the Poor-
rate, by overseers and vestrymen, in their respective
parishes.

This plain explanation of the increase of the de-
mand on the county rate surely must have been known
to my or ponents. Why were they silent on the sub-
ject ? The omission of this explanation is not calcu-
lated to obtain respect for them or their statements on
future occasions Mr. Stirling, my
predecessor, was ninety-one years of age when he died.
He performed the duties of his office until within
six days of his decease, in January last. His private
residence was at Battersea—his office in Chancery-lane.
A gentleman named Bell acted as clerk to Mr. Stir-
ling (luring the last fifteen years of the life of the late
Coroner, and continued in that capacity up to the day
of Mr. Stirling's dissolution. During the larger
portion of that time, Mr. Bell attended the
office of Mr. Stirling, where he received from
the constables and beadles all the applications for
inquest warrants. Excepting in very peculiar eases, Mr.
Bell was enabled, from his intimate acquaintance with
the business of the Court, to grant or refuse war-
rants, without consulting Mr. Stirling. He also made
out the accounts of the Coroner, and transmitted
them, with the necessary vouchers, to the Magis-
trates at the sessions. Under these arrangements,
no complaint was heard at the great house in Clerk-
enwell ; not a murmur of dissent escaped from the
lips of the Magistrates, eith,r after the death of Mr.
Stirling, or at the discussions which took place at the
Sessions' House in February last, immediately preceding
the last election for Coroner. On that occasion, it is
true, a reference was made to an increase in the number
of inquests which the accounts had exhibited in 1838 ;
but this circumstance was not mentioned in a tone of
condemnation. It did not then elicit one word of anger
or reproach, either with reference to the living or the
dead.

"On ascertaining, immediately before I was sworn
into office, that Mr. Bell had occupied this prominent
and active position with my aged predecessor, I en-
;aged him as my clerk. On resuming his duties in
Chancery-lane, Mr. Bell was, on the very first day
that I exercised the functions of Coroner, expressly in-
structed to act for me as he had acted for Mr.
Stirling during the fifteen years of his engagement
with that gentleman. Accordingly Mr. Bell attended
at the office, and there received the applications from
constables, for me, as he had done for Mr. Stirling ;
granted or refused to supply the warrants, for me, as
he had done for Mr. Stirling ; and prepared the ac-
counts, and sent them to the Magistrates, with the ne-
cessary vouchers, for me, precisely as he had framed them
and sent them to the sessions for Mr. Stirling. While
all these things were being executed for the late Coro-
ner, nothing could be more excellent.

" After perusing the explanation which I have now
furnished to you and to the public, very many persons
may be induced to exclaim, If Mr. Bell has granted
warrants precisely for you as he did for Mr. Stirling,
how has it happened that your inquests hare so prodi-
giously outnumbered those of your predecessor ?' What
the answer to this plain and very natural question ?
What is the brief but conclusive reply to this pointed
interrogatory ? Here is the answer. The inquests
which have been taken by me since I have been elected,
down to the hour at which I am now writing, have ave-
raged, throughout, one a week less than the inquests
that were taken by Mr. Stirling in the last year of his
life, 1838."

SURGICAL OPERATION.—We understand that
the Taliacotian operation for the restoration of the nose,
was performed here lately, by one of our medical gentle-
men. The case was one requiring considerable inge-
nuity and precision, and we are glad to learn that the
operator has managed it with complete success.—Fife
Herald.

ANSWERS TO A MATRIMONIAL ADVER-
TISEMENT.—ShaII I open and peruse any more of the
mountain of epistles lying before me in beautiful chaos ?
I asked myself this question. I hesitated a moment as
.to whether or not I ought to open more of the matrimo-
nial letters. It is certain, thought I, that though I
had an infinitude of love epistles before me, I could not
by possibility have one in the vast mass, better than
that before me. And if there be one or two of the
number pretty similar in their contents, I may—how
seasonably I then deemed the discovery !—find myself
in the same predicament as the ass between the
two bundles of hay ; that is, remain undecided
until I have lost both, or all three, as the case
may be. My determination, therefore, was, after a
few moment's consideration, to read no more letters.
What then was to be done with the remaining huge
archipelago of epistles ? Thrust them ioto the fire ?
I felt reluctant to do that : their beautiful paper, lovely
seals, admirable penmanship, all rose up and eloquently
though silently, pleaded for their preservation. But
what is the use of preserving a congregation of un-
opened, unread letters ? I concluded the thing to be
very foolish ; more especially as they might fall at some
future time into some unhallowed bands, and reveal
matters, both as regarded myself and others, which
ought to be sacredly kept an everlasting secret. Into
the grate, therefore, I flung the whole lot ; and what a
bright and brilliant blaze they made 1 " There," said I
to myself, the one physical,
" There go two flames ;
the other moral ; the one caused by paper, the other
made of lady-love." And I could have wept while I
thus moralized.—;Valley and {Wanderings in the World
(If Literature, by the Author (If "The Great Metropolis."
It has been a subject of general complaint in tl.e
suburbs of London that the establishment of the metro-
politan police had driven the thieves so far a-field, that
those living out of town were now more than ever ex-
posed to their depredations. It is, therefore, with
pleasure we learn that there exists an intention of ex-
tending the metropolitan district to fifteen miles round
London.—Observer.
Two HUNDRED PIGS DROWNED AND
SMOTHERED.--AS a proof of the violence of the easterly
gales which have recently prevailed, the William Penn,
Waterford steamer, which left that port on Monday
last, did not arrive here till yesterday afternoon. She
was compelled, by stress of weather, to put into Beau-
maris, where she remained two days. Sho had on
board, when she quitted Waterford, a large cargo of i
pigs, of which upwards of two hundred were smothered
or washed overboard during the passage.—Liverpool
Albion.

A KENTUCKY SLAVE TRAGEDY.

'the following hotrible account of the murder of
63ivb in Kentucky in 1807 by tie nephews of
President oeiretOn; is from the pen of the Rev,
William Dickey, a highly respectable and exem-
plary Presbyterian Clergyman of Ohio. , It is ex-
tractel from a work just published by the' Ameri-
can Anti. Slavery Society, entitled, " American
Slavery as it is," which we cordially recommend to
the attention of the abolitionists of this country :
" In did t aunty of Livingston, Ky., near the mouth of
Cumberland River, lived Kilburn Lewis, a sister's son
of the celebrated Jefferson. Ike was the wealthy owner
of a considerable gang of negroes, whom he drove con-
stantly, fed sparingly, and lashed severely. The con-
sequence was that they would run away. Among the
rest was an ill-thrived boy of about seventeen, who
having just returned from a skulking spell, was sent
to the spring for water, and in returning let fall an ele-
gant pitcher: it was dashed to shivers upon the
rocks. This was made the occasion for reckoning
with him. It was night, end the slaves were
at all home. The master had them all called in the
most roomy negro house, and a rousing fire put on.
When the door was secured, that none might escape,
either through fear of him, or sympathy with George,
he opened to them the design of the interview, namely,
that they might be effectually advised to stay at home
and obey his orders. All things being now in train, he
called up George, who approached his master with un-
reserved submission. He bound him with cords ; and
by the assistance of Isham Lewis, his youngest brother,
laid him on a broad bench, the meat-block. He then
proceeded to hack off George at the ankles ! It was
with the broad axe ! In vain did the unhappy victim
scream and roar! for he was completely in his master's 1
power ; not a hand among so many ducat interfere :
casting the feet into the fire, he lectured them at some
length. He next chopped him off below the knees !
George roaring out, and praying his master to begin at
the other end. He admonished them again, throwing the
legs into the fire—then, above the knees, tossing the I
joints into the fire—the next stroke severed the thighs
trom the body, these were also committed to the flames
—and so it may be said of the arms, head, and trunk,
until all was in the fire ! He threatened any of them
with similar punishment who should in future disobey,
run away, or disclose the Koceedings of that evening.
Nothing now remained but to consume the flesh and
bones ; and for this purpose the fire was brightly stirred
until two hours after midnight ; when a coarr.: and
heavy back-wall, composed of rock and clay, covered
the fire and the remains of George. It was the Sabbath
—this put an end to the amusements of the evening.
The negroes were now permitted to disperse, with
charges to keep this matter among themselves, and
never to whisper it is the neighbourhood, under the pe-
nalty of a like punishment.
" When he returned home and retired, his wife ex-
claimed, ' Why, Mr. Lewis, where have you been, and
what were you doing ?' She had heard a strange
pounding and dreadful screams, and had smelled some-
thing like fresh meat burning. The answer he returned
was, that he had never enjoyed himself at a ball so
well as he had enjoyed himself that night.
" Next morning he ordered the hands to rebuild
the back wall, and he himself superintended the
work, throwing the pieces of flesh that still re-
mained, with the bones, behind, as it went up,
thus hoping to conceal the matter. But it could nos
be hid—much as the negroes seemed to hazard, they
did whisper the horrid deed. The neighbours came, and
in his presence tore down the wall ; and finding the re-
mains of the boy, they apprehended Lewis and his bro-
ther, and testified against them. They were com-
mitted to jai:, that they might answer at the coming
court for this shocking outrage ; but finding security
for their appearance at court, they were admitted to
bail !

In the interim, other articles of evidence leaked
out. That of Mrs. Lewis hearing a pounding, and
screaming, and her smelling fresh meat burning, for
not till now had this come out. He was offended
with her for disclosing these things, alleging that they
might have some weight against him at the pending trial.
" In connexion with this is another item, full of hor-
ror. Mrs. Lewis, or her girl, in making her bed one
morning after this found, under her bolster, a keen
butcher knife! The appalling discovery forced from
her the confession that she considered her life in jeo-
pardy. Messrs. Rice and Phillips, whose wives were
her sisters, went to see her and‘to bring her away if she
wished it. Mr. Lewis received them with all the ex-
pressions of Virginian hospitality. As soon as they were
seated they said, ' Well, Letitia, we supposed that you
might be unhappy here, and afraid for your life ; and
we have come to-day to take you to your father's,
if you desire it.' She said, Thank you, kind bro-
thers, lam indeed afraid for my life.' We need not
interrupt the story to tell bow much surprised he
affected to be with this strange procedure of his brothers
in-law, and with this declaration of his wife. But all
his professions of fondness for her to the contrary not.:
withstanding, they rode off with her before his eyes.
He followed and overtook, and went with them to her
father's ; but she was locked up from him, with her
own consent, and he returned home.

" Now he saw that his character was gone ; his re-
spectable friends believed that he had massacred
George ; but, worst of all, he saw that they consi-
dered the life of the harmless Letitia was in danger
from his perfidious hands. It was too much for his
chivalry to sustain. The proud Virginian sank under
the accumulated load of public odium. He proposed
to his brother Isham, who had been his accomplice
in the George affair, that they should finish the play
of life with a still deeper tragedy. The plan was, that
they should shoot one another. Having made the hot-
brained bargain, they repaired with their guns to the
grave-yard, which was on an eminence in the midst of
his plantation. It was enclosed with a railing, say
thirty feet square. One was to stand at one rail-
ing, and the other over against him at the other. They
were to make ready, take aim, and count delibe-
rately 1,2, 3, and then fire. Lilburn's will was written,
and thrown down open beside him. They cocked
their guns and raised them to their faces ; but the
peradventure occurring that one of the guns might
miss fire, Isham was sent for a rod, and when it was
brought, Lilburn cut it off at about the length of two
feet, and was showing his brother how the survivor
might do, provided one of the guns should fail (for
they were determined upon going together 0; but
forgetting, perhaps, in the perturbation of the moment
that the gun was cocked. When he touched the
trigger with the rod the gun fired, and he fell, and
died in a few minutes--and was with George in the
eternal world, where the slave is free from his master.
But poor Isham was so terrified with this unexpected
occurrence, and so confounded by the awful contor-
tions of his brother's face, that he had not nerve enough
to follow up the play, and finish the plan as was intended,
but suffered Lilburn to go alone. The negroes came
running to see what it meant that a gun should be fired
in the grave-yard. There lay their master, dead !
They ran for the neighbours. Isham still remained on
the spot. The neighbours at the first charged him with
the murder of his brother. But he, though as if he
had lost more than half his mind, told the whole
story ; and the course or range of the ball in the
dead man's body agreeing with his statement
Isham was not farther charged with Lilburn's death.
" The Court sat—lsham was judged to be guilty of
a capital crime in the affair of George. He was to be
hanged at Salem. The day was set. My good old father
visited him in the prison—two or three times talked
and prayed with him ; I visited him once myself. We
fondly hoped that he was a sincere penitent. Before the
day of execution came, by some means, I never knew
what, Isham was missing. About two years after, we
learned that he had gone down to Natchez, and had
married a lady of some refinement and piety. I saw
her letters to his sisters, who were worthy members of
the church of which I was pastor. The last letter told
of his death. He was in Jackson's army, and fell in
the famous battle of New Orleans.

LORD PANMURE—R A ILWAYS.--On Satur-
day last, a meeting of the tenantry on the Panmure es-
tates dined together in the Town-hall of Arbroath, in
celebration of the anniversrry of his Lordship's sixty.
ninth birth-day. Many of his Lordship's friends through.
out the county were present to do honour to him on the
occasion. Mr. Miln, of Woodhill, filled the chair. His
Lordship was unavoidably absent, for reasons assigned in
the following letter, addressed to the Chairman, which
was read co the meeting :—" Brechin Castle, Oct. 25.
Dear Sir—l have received an invitation to dine with
the Panmure tenants to-morrow evening, and nothing
would give the greater pleasure than to accept of it ; but
though the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak ; and I am
quite sure that the excitement would be attended with
consequences to be regretted afterwards. I entreat
that you, as Chairman, will assure the meeting that I
sincerely wish health, happiness, and prosperity to them
all, and that nothing but the present state of my health
would have prevented :me from meeting with them."
Provost Kay, in acknowledging a toast complimentary
to the success of the Dundee and Arbroath Railway,
said—" They would not be satisfied with the success
which they had already had ; they would never be satis-
fied till they reached Aberdeen, and till Aberdeen was
connected with Glasgow, so that a man might break-
fast in Aberdeen, lunch in Glasgow, and sleep in his
own bed.—(Cheers.) He could only say that, from the
spirited exertions which were now making, he was as-
sured that they would never be satisfied till this was
accomplished.—(Cheers.) He thanked them for the
compliment which they had paid to the Dundee and
Arbroath Railway ; but let them unite, let them show
that they had enterprise in Scotland to connect the east
with the west of Scotland. He wished all success to
the Arbroath and Forfar Railway ; their success de-
pended on the success of that line ; but let them unite
and have a great national line, and then commerce
would be full and free."—(Cheers.)—Dundee Chronicle.
The cotton trade being in so deplorable a state of
depression, it is in contemplation amongst the manufac-
turers here, to work only only eight hours per day dur-
ing the winter months.—Stockport Advertiser.

• DIVERSITY OF TASTES.—" There is no ac-
counting for tastes," says the proverb. Undoubtedly
there is not. One meets with a variety of singular
tastes in jostling through this wondrous world. Not
the least curious of those which have lately come under
our notice is that of a poor beggar woman, who follows
the judges barefooted in their circuit. The following
is the way in which the fact was stated in the Standard
a few evenings ago :—" The beggar woman who has
for several years walked the Oxford circuit barefooted,
following the route of the judges from place to place,
as their Lordships go to hold the assizes, is now
on that circuit as usual. What attraction huge
powdered wigs, and countenances remarkable only
for their gravity, can have in the eyes of this poor
woman, is more than we can tell. But this we know,
that to some people there is not a more unpleasant spec-
tacle in the world. The very idea of a judge conjures
up reflections in some men's minds—aye, and in some
women's too—which are the reverse of agreeable. In-
stead of following them about from place to place, as
this poor woman does, it is no uncommon thing to hear
of people not only recoiling at the bare idea of meet-
ing a judge, but suddenly fleeing across the Atlantic to
avoid the unpleasant intercourse. How wretched, in
the estimation of a certain class of people at the anti-
podes, must be the taste of this female mendicant."—
Walks and IfTanderin.7s in the World of Literature, by
the Author of " The Great Metropolis."
Sir W. Hey2ate states that he has no intention
to offer himself for the borough of Leicester when a
vacancy OCCUTS.