The Sun.
London, England, 1830-05-26 00:00:00

GENERAL ORDER.

Horse—du—ards, My 14, 1830.
In consequence of a reference made to the Generaal Command-
ing-in-Chief, by the Master-General and Board of Ordnance, re-
lative to a partial misconstruction of the principle upon which
canteens are established in barracks,. Lord Hill considers it ne-
cessary to communicate the following observations to Command-
ing Officers of Regiments, and to direct that they shall be consi.
dosed as instructians for their guidance in any case which may
occur hereafter:—

Canteens have been established in barracks for the convenience
of the troops, and for the ready supply to the soldier of such
liquors, and other provisions of various kinds, as could not easily
be procured otherwise, or for which it would not be consistent
with discipline, or the obligations of their duty, that soldiers
should at all times, and Indiscriminately, be permitted to resort to
the markets, or to shops more or less remote from their barracks.
In order to enable the lessee of the canteen to furnish these
articles to soldiers, without material prejudice to his own interest,
and to affbrd to him such remuneration as he has aright to expect
for the accommodation given to the soldier, it is indispfnsable
that he should be encouraged and protected, and it. Would be
wholly inconsistent with the view, or with the principle on which
the canteen is established, that Commanding Officers of regi.
ments should be permitted to introduce the sale of liquor or pro-
visions of any description within the barracks, by soldiers' wives,
or any other persons, either at stalls assigned to them for that
purpose, or by access to any of the barrack-rooms,
Lord Hill, therefore, deems it necessary positively to forbid the
continuance of the practice, wherever it may have existed.
In case of extortion or improper conduct, on the part of the
lessee of a canteen, Commanding Officers will make such repre-
sentation, as the circumstances may seem to require, to the Ge-
neral Commanding-in-Chief, who will thereupon communicate
with the Board of Ordnance,
The lessee is under the most particular restrictions, greatly
under the control of the Commanding Officer in barracks, and
always re ponsible to the Board of Ordnance, for any improprie-
ties which may occur; and the Board have reserved to them-
selves, in each lease of a canteen, a power to eject the lessee upon
one week's notice, in case of any well-grounded complaint made
by the Commanding Officer.
These checks appear to the General Commanding-in-Chief to
be amply sufficient, and to exclude the necessity of any practice
at variance with the principle on which the interior economy of
barracks has been established.
By command of the Right Hon. the!General-Commanding in-
Chief,

HERBERT TAYLOR, Adjutant-General

(From the Limerick Chronicle of Saturday.)
The 56th or Pompadours, commanded by Colonel Barclay, were
inspected at Newcastle on Thursday, by Major-General Sir Edw.
Blakeney. Their appearance and discipline were excellent.
Two companies of the 9th regiment, under command of Major
Watkins, left Belfast on Thursday, for Armagh. The remain-
ing companies were inspected on Tuesday in Belfast, by General
Thornton, and ate to replace the 4th in Newry.
The :nth regiment at Enniskillen, was inspected on Monday
and Tuesday by Major-General Thornton, who expressed the
highest satisfaction at the fine appearance and discipl ne of the
men. '1 he interior economy of the regiment was found in the
best condition. The 37th will not march for Dublin before the
latter end of June.

If the object of Government be to oppose
what is acceptable to the people, we have succeeded to
perfection in Canada. The unfortunate result of the at-
tempt of Messrs. Prrr and BuREE to combine in the
Parliament of that Colony, popular representation with a
semblance of Aristocracy, was debated last night by Mr.
LABOUCHERE, in a sensible speech. The Legislative Coun-
cil, the intended Aristocratical part of the Constitution,
is 'merely a drag on the Colony. Sir GEORGE MURRAY
admitted that the error was not so much in the filling up
the Legislative Assembly as in the attempt to have an
Aristocracy at all, as the materials could not be found in
a Colony. He admitted, too, that a bad spirit in matters
of religion had actuated the Government at home, and ex-
tended itself to the Colonies. The speech of Sir GEORGE
breathed, on the whole, a highly liberal spirit. The Gcs_
vermnent of a Colony becomes a comparatively easy affair,
when those at the helm think and act like Sir
Morning Chronicle.

There are a set of men in this country who
are more absurd in their Sabatical notions than even the
Puritans. One of these men is Sir THOMAS BARING,
who, if we may judge from his speech last night, would
keep all the poor people without a dinner on Sunday, or
keep them from Church in order that the joutneymen
bakers may be enabled to go to Church. The Puritans,
with whom Sabbath-breaking was the greatest of all sins,
expressly excepted bakers, just as Bishops would except
their cooks and coachmen. RICHARD BAXTER, in his
book on the Sabbath, observes....
" And yet I dare not say, if when you are to travel to Church,
you find your shoes or boots breaking something, to make you
incapable of going out, but you may get them mended privately,
where it may be done without this inconvenience. And though
cooks and bakers should not be unnecessarily used in their trade,
yet it is nut always tintauful, but sometimes very well. Because
as one sereesst In the kitchen may be used to dress meat for all
the family, so one baker or cook may serve many families, and
save ten times as many persons the labour which else they must
be at; and, perhaps, with easier and quicker despatch than
others. The trade of tho apothecary surgeon and surgeon is
ordinarily used but fox necessity."
Mr. SLANEY scouted the notions advocated by Sir
THOMAS, and instanced the oppression which this inter.
meddling class had caused in preventing shaving on Sunday
by barbers. Sir THOMAS BARING is, we have no doubt,
a well-meaning man, but such is the delusive medium
through which men see what regal ds themselves, that we
would undertake to say, notwithstanding his readiness to
deprive the poor of a hot joint on Sundays, he takes espe-
cial care not to dine himself on cold meat on Sundays,—at
Al events not in winter. Ile has no objection himself to
keep people from church to minister to his own wants ; it
is only in time case of the wants of others that be sees
necessity for interference.—Morning

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We have lying before us the voluminous papers
relating to the settlement of -Greece : we to-day
publish merely two or three extracts, which are of
great importance to a right understanding of the
question, and to a just estimate of the conduct t. f
Prince Leopold, in finally declining the high office
which he had previously accepted. We shall speak
as impartially as we are able on a topic which is
likely, we fear, to excite some passion. The cause,
or apparent cause, of dispute is this :—Greece is
dissatisfied with her boundary to the north-west,
and the Prince is afraid of accepting the sovereignty
of a nation irritated by a condition, which he would
seem to sanction, of diminished territories,—that
of territories less than her hopes. This, though tilt
authorities at present constituted in Greece may few
to avow the truth openly, is, we have no doubt, the
fact ; and Prince Leopold, somehow or other,
knows it to be the fact. The people, it is as-
serted, would not readily submit to an arrange-
ment, by which Acarnania was to be given up
to the Twits, however the Allied Sovereigns
might so award, and . the Provisional Govern-
ment externally appear to acquiesce. For our own
parts, we wish most sincerely that Greece might
have all she demands ; but when, through her pre-
sent provisional President, she talks of " the rights
she has acquired at the cost of her long misfortunes,
and of her sacrifices of blood," we ask whether she
thinks that those misfortunes and sacrifices, if con-
tinued for ten years longer, would have ended in
obtaining what the Allies, at no small trouble and
expense to themselves, and with some bloodshed
also, are here prepared to give to her? It is certain
that Lord Aberdeen and the British Government
had, till last Friday night, a right to conclude that
Prince Leopold had definitively accepted the sove-
reignty—the question of money having been pre-
viously settled to , his satisfaction—and must, there-
fore, have been surprised at the sudden rejection of
the tendered dignity upon another ground. Ilis
Royal Highness may, however, have recently re-
ceived some intelligence from the Count Capo
d'lstria of the pertinacious aversion of the Greeks
to give up Acarnania ; and the public despatch of
this gentleman, in which (it will be observed) he
refers to " the National Congress," strengthens this
supposition. It is proper to mention, that if our
Government, with the Allied Sovereigns, have
agreed to give up Acarnania to the Turks, they
have assigned Eubcea or Negropont to the Greeks,
uhich the latter could not have hoped for. It ie
said that the ancient Greek inhabitants are returning
to Acarnania. But the Turks are in quiet possession
of Eubcea, from which they are to be removed.
Might not some exchange of territory have been
negotiated? But it is too late now to attempt to
solder up the difference between the Prince of Saxe
Coburg and the Allied Governments. His High-
ness's
obvious indifference to the pr:ze renders him
an improper person to receive or obtain it. Besides,
be las most probably other objects in view, the
nature of which time will develop more fully, but
which it is not difficult to divine in the gross.—
Times.

Finding that our notice of the pamphlet by a
Flag Officer," repeatedly alluded to in previous
numbers, has drawn the attention of officers and of
military statesmen to the extreme importance of the
subject, as connected with our national defence and
prowess, we now insert the promised quotations of
passages from an admirable work by Sir Howard
Douglas, on the necessity of establishing a system of
instruction in naval gunnery to be gradually extended
over the whole of our maritime force. It is abso-
lutely ludicrous, however lamentable, that when
such elaborate and costly pains are bestowed upon
other branches of the naval service—the fighting
power—the real and vital purpose of every armament
at all times—should be left in such a state of mani-
fest and obstinate imperfection. The best built
ship in the world, the best armed, the most fully
appointed, and numerously manned, is but a dressed-
op sacrifice for the enemy, if she be in a rude state
of fighting discipline, and her enemy, of even worse
material, be more carefully and skilfully instructed
bow to use the guns in battle. Without this last
and invaluable property, we are in truth but labour-
ing for the capture of our own vessels, and for the
triumph of whatever nation may be at war with us,
--gs in the last contest with the United States,
when it became a matter of demonstration that our
inferior progress in naval gunnery was, added to the
inferior force of our ships, a main cause of the de-
feats which we suffered. As we introduce this sub-
ject with no feeling or design whatever but that or
contributing to an improvement in that noble science
on which the strength and glory of England, as a
belligerent power, so essentially depend, we are
bound to acknowledge an error in one of the allega-
tions which we copied from the " Flag Officer,"
and which has been pointed out to us by a corres- '
pendent this day. It appears that the crews of our
men of war are officially inspected by the Port Ad-
mirals every where, previous to their proceeding to
sea—whereas the " Flag Officer" had implied the
absence of all such preparation. But we need not
remark, on the other band, that if the system of dis-
cipline be crude and imperfect, the mere report of an
inspecting Admiral, that the crew of a man-uf-war
are as good as an absurd and vicious code of regu-
lations can render them, does not by any means
meet the objections which have been made to the
system itself. The superiority of French or Rus-
sian soldiers over Turks, does not consist in the
greater proficiency made by the individual soldiers
of those two nations, in the particular kind of know-
ledge to which they have access; but in the greater
excellence of the course of instruction prescribed by
the civilized, compared with that of the barbarian

states.
" Sir Howard then proceeds to recommend the forma-
tion of depots of instruction for the purpose of instructing
officers, master-gunners mates, and their crews ; and truly
observes, that no measure which provides merely for the
drill of the men can effectually improve the service prac-
tice, for the more dexterity of a few privates can do little,
unless directed by cultivated and well-exercised intelli-
geuce on the part of the officers commanding, &c. He
urges the strongest reasons for composing these depots ex-
clusively of naval officers and seamen, and goes on to pro-
pose, that in the formation of this new corps we should
first engage a certain number of seamen expressly for the
service of the gunners' crew for periods of five or seven
years; renewable at their expiration, attaching a small in-
crease of pay to each consecutive re-engagement. The ad-
vantages held out to volunteers should be, that master-
gunners, gunners'-mates, and a certain number of sea-
men gunners, will eventually be incorporated ; and that
regular advancement in that department will hereafter
take place acccrding to merit; so that seamen gunners
may, if they can read and write, consider themselves in
the certain road to gain, according to their merit, situa-
tions of gunners'-mates, and master•-gunners of ships.
Seamen gunners to receive Is. 4d. per diem, and to
share prize-money as gunners'-mates do now, or with
some other rank, superior to able seamen.
" The practicability of forming such an institution
resolves into this,—whether, upon these advantages being
made known, a sufficient number of volunteers can be
procured to commence such an establishment. The ex-
periment might be easily tried; but the proposal should
be accompanied with an explanation that the system pro-
•ides, eventually, a term of relief, or residence on shore,
for men so incorporated. If the experiment answer the
confident and authorized expectation that may be enter-
tained of its buccal% a selection of naval officers, the best
practitioners of the late war, should be named, to conduct
the depots of instruction; and I have every reason to
believe that some very distinguished officers would come
forward to commence such a system. In this way a
number of trained men would always be retained in the
service,—succesaions of commanders, and many officers
who cannot be employed afloat in a limited peace establish-
ment, would, at the trifling expense of full-pay, be im-
proved in this important branch of their military duties;
master-gunners and gunners'-mates would be trained ;
and a permanent stock of seamen gunners brought up, to
till hereafter these important offices; and should it be
extended ultimately in the manner I propose, it would
furnish besides a considerable number of very expert
captains of guns.
" ' When a sufficient number of men arc procured to
forna One depot of fasituction, a proportion of officers, pro-

perly proficient in a course of gunnery and in a general
system of exercise, should be appointed.
" One captain, three or four lieutenants, and a certain
number of midshipmen, master-gunners, and gunners'-
mates, should be nominated to a division ; tnd if the ex-
periment succeed, other divisions of instruction should
thee be established at the principal arsenals, and the whole
placed under the superintendence of a Rear-Admiral.
" ' All seamen-gunners should be• made perfectly ac
quainted with the duties of every wan, in the exercise of
all natures, of ordnance, with reduced complements as well
as with the full crew ; so as to be perfect masters of every
fresh arrangement that may be required to replace casual-
ties.

" A level space proper for a good range should LP
fixed upon, and a sufficient number of guns and carronades
mounted in b.itteries similar to ships' sides, and conse-
quently placed at various and corresponding heights above
the horizontal plane.
" Young officers, master-gunners of ships, and gun-
ners'-mates training for these important situations, should
be instructed in the following matters :—The names of the
different pat ts of a gun and carriage ; the dispart in terms
of lineal magnitude and in degrees, how taken ; what con-
stitutes point-blank, and what line-of-metal range; wind-
age,
the errors and loss of force arising from it, showing
also the importance of preserving shot from rust; the
theory of the most material effects of different charges of
powder, applied to practice with :t single shot, also with
plurality of balls, showing how these affect accuracy, pene-
tration, and splinters. Gunners of ships should also be
qualified to judge of the condition of gunpowder by inspec-
tion ; to ascertain its quality by the ordinary tests and
trials, as well as by actual proof; and these, as I shall
show hereafter, are ♦ery indispensable qualifications.
" Master•gunners should also be instructed in the
laboratory works required for the naval service—such as
making rockets for signals ; filling tubes, new-priming
them is particular; making and filling cartridges; precau-
tions in airing and drying gunpowder; care and inspec-
tion of locks, choice of flints, correct mode of fixing them,
&c. &c.

" The officers, master-gunners, and those training for
such situations, will then proceed to the practice of gun-
nery, together with the seamen gunners who may have
been previously instructed in the exercise.
" 4 The practice should be taught, with every degree of
precision, at the range on shore, in order to show the ac-
tual ranges of ordnance, when not affected by the motion
of a ship, and thus discriminate between the errors of gunnery
and those which necessarily arise from the floating mo-
tions. Elementary instruction in practical gunnery can-
not, indeed, be properly give* afloat; it is absolutely
essential that the principles of the practice be shown on
shore.

" Practice should first be taught with the different
natures of naval ordnance, single shotted, at point-blank
distances, with the service charge ; then at line-of-metal
ranges, and at some intermediate .and greater distances,
against large targets or screens, some the height of single,
others of two-decked ships, and fitted with poles to re-
present, in height and position, the masts of an enemy.
This, for reasons that will be given in Part IV., when we
come to treat of the practice, is very important. Prac-
tice should then be made at the same distances with two
shot, to show the great uncertainty of this practice at
long ranges ; and with reduced charges, to show the
corresponding ravages that may be occasioned by splinters.
" 6 Practice should then be carried on, at every hun-
dred yards from 100 to 1,000, with all natures of guns
and carronades in ordinary use, to show their comparative
merits and powers, in regard to accuracy and other effects.
Instruction should also be given in mortar practice; and
in shell practice from guns, with common shells, and also
with spherical case.

" When expert in the school-practice on shore, the
gunners should practise afloat from a hulk kept for that
purpofe at each depot. They will thus learn the compa-
rative uncertainty of naval fire, and consequently be pre-
pared to receive and observe this important maxim—that
minute accuracy and intelligent quickness are more essen-
tial in naval gunnery than in the land service ; for although
it may not be possible to attain equal precision, yet every
approximation that can be made towards it by expertness
or simple expedient, will tend in some degree either to
correct or reduce those errors which arise from the float-
ing motions.

" ' As soon as one set of seamen are returned complete
in exercise and practice, they should be tranferred to
commissioned ships, and there drill the seamen engaged
in the ordinary way, according to the general system ; so
that in this respect they would be as well trained, at least,
as by the contemplated plan ; and all the permanent ad-
-1 vantages of the proposed system would be so much gained.
" ' Fresh seamen should be engaged as gunners, and
drawn into the depot of instruction, in proportion as
trained men are turned over to the guard-ships. These
azain should, by degrees, transfer to the cruisers a certain
proportion of the trained gunners that will have been re-
ceived from the depots; which however should, together
with the guard-ships and home cruisers, always retain a
sufficient number of trained men for new commissioned
ships, in the event of sudden armament. In this manner
vast facilities and advantages would be experienced in
fitting ships, and in rendering thent more immediately effi-
cient. The plan now suggested would provide people not
only qualified to assist in fitting the ship, but also to assist
in working her; not only qualified to drill to gunnery the
fresh hands, but to examine and arrange all the ordnance
equipment, and very soon to make that ship, if properly
commanded, a good man of war.
" 'ln all departments of warlike organization depots are
allowed to be the very hearts of the system, by which im-
provement is cultivated, circulated, and established. In all
services this is recognized and observed ; no body can be
permanently good, no system uniform, without them. It
is to this general measure that the service efficiency of
every branch of our army is mainly to be attributed. It
is this which supports the uniform systematic excellence
of the whole machine, however remote some of its parts
may be. It is from a similar system, connected with the
naval profession, that the marines are what they are ; and
which has so much improved, perfected indeed, the
marine artillery. If instead of applying it to naval artillery
duties, a corps of naval gunners had been formed, corn-
posed of seamen, and officered by a succession of naval
officers, there can be no doubt that its proficiency would
be equal to, and its utility, as naval artillery, infinitely
greater than that of the marine artillery. Detachments
of this corps were embarked on board the ships of the
squadron that was sent out last summer on a cruise of
exercise and practice; and it is no uncommon thing for
naval officers fitting out ships to apply for detachments of
marine artillery to drill their seamen to the gun exercise.
If such detachments had been or could be drawn from a
permanent body composed of seamen-gunners trained by
naval officers, instead of marines, can there be any com-
parison between the influence of the two systems on the
practice of naval gunnery ? If the squadron in question
had been to sail on real service instead of a peaceable cruise,
which system would have been most efficient? ...The
marine artillery have their peculiar duties ; but to extend
them to any interference with naval gunnery would be
most injurious. For the same reason that the marines
have their divisions, the Royal Artillery their schools of
practice, and every regiment its depot, naval gunnery
should have its permanent seat of instruction, and store of
trained men. The advantages that would result from such
an establishment are beyond calculation. These depots
would become the resorts of zeal and talsnts—the nur-
series of improvements ; vast numbers of young naval
officers of all ranks would resort thither at their own
expense. Suds is precisely the opportunity which the
naval service wants in this branch of the profession. Im-
provement might then be cultivated without pursuing it
through other departments, as at present ; naval officers
would find a field open to them, which is now occupied
by others. Courses of practical instruction might be
given to any number of young officers who might choose
to attend. Naval gunnery would become, as it most cer-
tainly should, an organized department of the naval service,
under the direct:on and controul of the naval administra-
tion; and I feel most enthusiastically certain that this
simple measure would lay the foundation of a system which
would soon be cultivated to perfection, by the professional
genius and zeal which it would call into action.
" ' As to the extent to which this plan may be carried,
present expence and future circumstances must be consulted;
but the system might be commenced without incurring
charges of consideration sufficient to defeat this great natitsnal
object.
" ' The merits of this plan do not depend upon the
limited extent to which we may be obliged to confine it, at
present, on account of the difficulty of making financial
provision fur a more general operation. If it be plainly
calculated to do some good, it should not be rejected,
because, for contingent reasons, which attach not to its
merits as a system, it cannot at present yield its full benefits.
If it be capable of training people sufficient to furnish
maser-gunners, gunners'-mates, and captains of guns, for
half the number of guns (i. e., a fighting side) of ten sail
of the line and 30 frigates (about 1,000 men), it should
not be abandoned because, on account of the expence, it
cannot supply double the number. The adoption of a
good sound system is the present consideration, not its
immediate extension. If we found our measure upon a
good professional principle, the superstructure may be
raised gradually, in proportion as we may require it. The
question for consideration is, whether the plan which is
upsested does not provide a good professional system for

instructing officers, midshipmen, master-gunners, and
gunners' mates, for training a proportion of seamen as
captains of guns, as well as for drilling seamen engaged in
the ordinary way; whether such a measure would not
eminently tend to encourage the professional cultivation of
artillery knowledge, forming a good sound system, in which
extension of benefit may be made to accompany extension
of force. If it promise such advantages, it will be cheaply
purchased by any expence that may attend it. Were it
an experimental measure that could not be commenced
without first committing the country to vast preparatory
expence, we might hesitate about making the trial ;
but the srstem might be instituted at a rate that would
not amount to the expence of adding a 20-gun ship to our
establishment.

" ' If, by way of commencement, one depot were formed,
the following is an estimate of the expence :
Average half- Average full- Di ff. of ex-
pay per day. payper annum. penseper an.
s. d.

Captain l2 6 ...... ......... 552
If As the average full-pay very
nearly balances the half-pay of 6s. a
day, it is proposed to pay the Lieu-
Four Lieutenants... tenants as Ist Lieutenant of ships.

I.viz. 11/. 10s. per mensem, on accotini
of the expense of living on shore.
6s. each 138
Thirty Midshipmen, at Si. 9s. per mensem 1,345
Lodging 1 Captain, at 12s. per week 3l
4 Lieutenants, at 10s. per week lO4
150 First Gunners, at Is. 4d. per day 3,650
150 Second Gunners, at Is. 2d. per day 3,193
Provisions for 300 Gunners, rate not known
Expense of hulk for reception of I Lieutenant, 30 Midship-
men, and 300 Gunners

Total, exclusive of the two last items, £8,761
" As the marine artillery is established, some of their
best non-commissioned officers should at first be attached
to each naval depot as drill-masters ; but hereafter these
situations should be held by some intelligent seamen-gun-
ners, to be called acting-master-gunners, to receive 41. 12s.
per mensem (the pay of gunners to sloops), and to be pro-
moted, on proper occasions, to master-gunners of ships.' "
Times.

The subject of the Four and a Half per Cent.
Duties has again been agitated by the Marquis of
Lansdowne, who observed that the effect of depart-
ing from an established rule of 170 years would be
to place all the religious establishments of the West
Indies on the Four and a Half per Cent. Duties, by
taking out of the pockets of the public money not
voted by Parliament. We are unable to understand
what the Duke of Wellington means when he says,
" In 1825, by 6th Geo. IV., the Four and a Half
per Cent. Duties were made liable to certain sti-
pends of the Clergy and others. The fund was,
therefore, taken out of the hands of the Crown by
the Parliament, and therefore it could never be
abused by the Crown." It has been abused by the
Crown, because Parliament conceived that it had
taken the duties out of the hands of the Crown, by
quartering the religious establishment of the West
Indies on them; when, lo I and behold, by a leger-
demain trick, the Crown, after paying for the religi-
ous establishments, has a larger fund than ever for cor-
rupt purposes. It is merely for the convenience of
the West Indians that the duties are remitted in
produce. It is in their power at any time, we sup-
pose, to remit the Four and a Half per Cent. in
money, which would completely put an end to the
prerogative law of Sir Charles Wetherell. There
can be no objection to the West Indians taking the
easiest mode of paying the duty; but there are
many objections to a fraudulent collusion between
them and the officers of the Crown, by which part
of the duties paid on the sugar consumed by the
people of.this country are withdrawn from the Cus-
toms to be employed improperly. We say im-
properly, because it was assuredly the understand-
ing of Parliament, when the religious establish-
ment of the West Indians was charged on the Four
and a Half per Cents., that• the fund would thereby
be exhausted, whereas it turns out that the fund, for
corrupt purposes, by a hocus pocus trick, has been
made larger than ever.—Morning Chronicle.
Mr. Leonard brought a subject of some interest
to Literature before the House last night—the Li-
censing of Plays by the Lord Chamberlain. What
with monopoly on the one hand, and the operations
of the Licenser on the other, the theatre has long
dragged on a very rickety existence. The only good
argument against the motion of Mr. Lennard was,
that the Session was too far advanced for bringing
in a new Bill. Had it been a Church job, means
would have, perhaps, been found for overcoming this
difficulty. The observations of Sir Robert Peel
were grounded on a false principle, and were, as ap-
plied to the people of this country, ludicrously in-
apposite. "He confessed he had not the confidence
which the Honourable Mover had in the good
taste of the public; and was by no means satisfied
that, but for the Censorship, immoral and blasphemous
dramas would not be received with applause." Mr.
O'Connell very politely asked him how it happened,
if the public taste could not be depended on, that
novels like Toni Jones would not be tolerated in the
present day ? The truth is, that the taste of the
public has become so absurdly squeamish, that
nothing which does not approach to insipidity will
go down. The defect of our age is canting and
humbug, and the Secretary of State for the Home
Department will not surely proscribe them. We
have purified our plays and our morals from all in-
delicacy, it is true, and if the indelicacy only had
departed all would have been well ; but the rich
humour of a former age is also gone, Fielding com-
plains that the public had become, even in his tune,
so delicate, that his plays were hissed by the ap-
prentices and serving-men for being low. So much
for Sir R. Peel's skill in reading the signs of the
times. It is perhaps true, that plays would be
political without a licence. In fact,_ some of the
best of our old Plays refer to the feats of the Borough.
mongering while yet in its infancy. " The Borough
of Mrs. Centlivre," for instance, was one of the
most spirited satires ever produced. Politics would,
perhaps, in the absence of all other interest, still
draw crowds to the theatre. What a heavy cala-
mity to the nation it would be to witness once more
the representation of a production in the spirit of
the Beggars' Opera !—Morning Chronicle.

It will be seen that the Lord Chancellor brought
in a Bill in the House of Lords last night, which
was read a first time, to give effect to the recom-
mendation in the King's Message respecting the
delegation of the Royal power of signing instru-
ments requiring the sign manual. The Bill proposes
that a Commission, under the sign manual, should
be issued, authorising any one of the persons therein
named to affix the King's signature, by means of a
stamp to be prepared for- tire purpose, to each instru-
ment requiring that signature. The parties named
in the Commission are to be bound by oath that the
instrument has not been unfairly or improperly ob-
tained, and that it is by command of his Majesty
they affix the stamp to the instrument. The parties
SO named are not to have the authority of affixing
the signature until the instrument be signed by three
of his Majesty's Ministers. By way of a further
security, it is required that one of time Members of
the Privy Conned shall witness the signature, and
indorse the instrument with a statement of the nature
and object, of it. The Lord Chancellor referred to
some historical precedents--some resting Ow doubtful
authority, and others, such as that relative to the at-
tainder of the Duke of Norfolk, in the reign of Henry
VIII., being a proceeding of that disreputable nature
which it would not be desirable in any respect
to copy. He stated, however, that two Pro:
clamations of the Reign of Edward VI. are to be
seen, with a stamp affixed, instead of the Royal
signature—the one for levying troops in the nor-
thern part of the island, to put down the incursions
of the Scotch ; the other issued in consequence of
sn insurrection in the eastern part of the kingdom.
These documents are both stamped, arid counter-
signed by the Protector Somerset. As to the two
Acts, one for the securing the Protestant succession,
the other the Malt-Duty Act, which are alleged to
have been stamped in the latter end of the reign of
King William, they are no where to be found; and
the authority for the fact is not so good as to ex-
clude all doubt. The precedents on the whole did
not seem to afford satisfaction to the House, and it
suchwas thought
dangerous ig h
t,in a matter so delicate, and of
precedent, to take more deliberate
and cautious steps. O n the motion of Earl Grey,
a Committee was appointed to search for precedents
and Thursday was fixed for the second reading of
the Bill, whets its subject will be discussed. With
r

respect to the duration of the Bill, the nuke of
Wellington stated that it was intended to limit it to
within a month after the opening of the next Ses-
sion of Parliament.—Morning Herald.

We sincerely trust that the advocates for the im-
provement of our criminal code will be in their
' places in the House of Commons to-night, to sup-
port Mr. F. Buxton's motion for abolishing the
punishment of death in cases of forgery. The
smallness of the majority which Ministers were able
to command in the Committee on Sir James Mac-
intosh's motion, ought to animate the friends of
civilization with the best-founded hopes of gaining
a complete triumph for their principles over the san-
guinary spirit which disgraces our Statute-book—
impedes the course of justice, and tinges the charac-
ter of the Legislature and country with the stain of
barbarism. We publish to-day a list of all the
cities and towns in the United Kingdom from which
petitions have emanated against Sir R. Peel's dis-
creditable attempt at legislation on the subject of
forgery, which, under the pretence of amending the
law, would perpetuate the principle against which
all enlightened minds revolt, and which the vast
majority of the bankers of the United Kingdom
have declared as inefficient as it is cruel. We
should correct ourselves when we say all those
petitions were presented against Sir Robert Peel's
Bill, inasmuch as several of them were presented
against the law of forgery before the Bill of the
Right Hon. Secretary was brought under the notice
of Parliament. But it comes to the same thing,
as those petitions are substantially directed against
his measure, seeing that it proposes to re-enact the
principle of the old law, except in those cases in
which the punishment of death will never be carried
into effect. In the list will be found some places
mentioned a second time. Those are places which
petitioned for the amelioration of the law of forgery
in the first instance; and from which subsequently
to the introduction of Sir Robert Peel's Bill, peti-
tions were forwarded against it, in the nature of re-
monstrances. We cannot quit this subject without
taking notice of a gross fallacy contained is the
speech of the Right Hon. Secretary on Monday
night. He wished to show that our law, at pre-
sent, was adequate to the repression of the crime of
forgery, as the forgeries were few in comparison
with the vast amount of property liable to be forged
upon. For this purpose, he stated that, in four
houses in London, the bills and cheques paid,
during three days—the 13th, 14th, and 15th of
May, amounted, in number, to 45,800; and the
amount, in those three days, of drafts and bills
paid at the clearing house in the city, of certain of
those banking-houses, amounted to no less than
10,950,0001.; he added that he mentioned this
upon authority not to be questioned. Sir Robert in
using this information as an argument, must stand
convicted either of gross ignorance or something
like conscious deception. The fact is, as every
commercial man knows, that no part of this
10,950,0001., paid in three days through the clear-
ing house, as he stated, was liable to forgery; end
for this reason, that cheques passed through the
clearing-house are not cashed at the banker's coun-
ter; for the same reason his argument of the 500
millions absurdly stated to be paid over the banker's
counter falls to the ground. The great transactions
arise chiefly from Stock Exchange business, and
almost every one of their cheques passes through
the clearing house, thereby preventing forgery, by
removing the temptation to it. The actual pay-
ments of the country bankers over the counter, we
believe, are greater than those of the London
bankers, because of the system of the clearing-house,
which is not in the country. Is it possible that Sir
R. Peel, so long a Minister of the Crown, can be
ignorant of these facts? As to the alleged fewness
of forgeries he proceeded upon the false 111,
sumption that the few which are prosecuted are
all that are really committed. Now, a leading
objection to the present law of forgery is, that
it prevents by far the greater portion of that
species of crime from being prosecuted, so that
here the Right Hon. Secretary was guilty of the
sophism of begging the question. He said there
were nine forgeries committed in the year 1827. It
is more probable there were 90—there might have
been 900 for what he could tell, as we have no
means of ascertaining the prodigious number of for-
geries which are hushed up on account of the ex-
treme severity of the punishment, against which
both the natural instincts and conscientious scruples
of all reflecting and humane men are implacably
arrayed. In alluding to the petitions on this subject,
in the list which we publish to-day, we ought not to
omit stating that their number—namely, 200, is
equal to one-fourth of all the petitions on public
questions which have been presented to Parliament
during the same period—the whole number being
not more than 800, notwithstanding the excitement
raised respecting the East India question, and some
other subjects of public and national interest. This
affords the most convincing testimony of the preva-
lence and power of public opinion on this question,
and the general and deep interest which the country
takes in the amelioration of the sanguinary spirit of
the law of forgery.—Morning Herald.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION.HOUSE.

A Smithfield drover was brought before the
LORD MAYOR, charged with having, under suspi-
cious circumstances, possessed himself of a hand-
some spaniel, the property of a native German.
The history of the dog was rather curious.
The German, who is an amateur blower of a
bassoon, has had the dog since its puppyage, and it
was an object of great admiration amongst his
friends. As lie walked along Smithfield, however,
one day, he missed his dog, and all attempts to re-
cover him were ineffectual, until he advertised end
offered a reward for him. Back came the dog to
him in the custody of a Smithfield drover, the mo-
ment the cash was offered. The reward was cheer-
fully paid, but scarcely had the drover disappeared,
when the dog, although apparently overjoyed to see
its master, found means to get away, and did not
return until the offer of a second reward was made,
and then the dog again appeared before its master,
and wagged its tail. After the second defection of
the animal, every means were resorted to to check
its wandering propensities; but the fondness for
low company prevailed, and a third time the news-
papers complained of the loss of the dog. An
officer having received intelligence of the expensive
habits of " Prince," and of the description of per-
sons in whose company the dog had been seen, took
a turn in Smithfield, ar►d there found it with the
prisoner amongst the sheep, although not having a
drop of a shepherd's dog's blood in his body.
The LORD MAYOR thought it necessary to observe
as this was the case of a dog wandering about with-
out the controul of a master, that he had received
many letters from parties who apprehended danger
from permitting dogs to go loose about the streets
at this time of the year (a very culpable practice, in
his Lordship's opinion). These letters recommended
that the officers sheulJ receive orders to destroy any
dogs that might be found straying about the streets
without masters, as the only protection to the pub-
lic against the horrible danger attendant upon attacks
from rabid animals.

Here there was a groan of horror amongst the
crowd behind the bar, a circumstance from which it
was immediately inferred that there was no small
number of dog-stealers in the Justice-room.
The complainant said the dog was not at all
a straying dog, and how it could have taken a fancy
to Smithfield he could not at all conjecture.
The defendant said the dog had followed him,
without being at all invited, and in fact would not
keep out of his company and that ofthe sheep.
The LORD MAYOR asked how that was possible.
The dog was of a breed that could te of no possible
use to a sheep-driver or a bullock-driver. The
Defendant—Bless your Lordship, he's as good a'ter
a bullock or a pig as any dog as ever lived.—
(Laughter.)—Besides, my Lord, the hanimal fol-
lowed me, and he goes into a public-house where I
was, and he stays by me, and so the landlord says,

" Jim," says he, "is that ere dog your'n ?"—" No,"
says I, "'he a'nt none of mine, but he goes a'ter
me." " Well," says the landlord, " Jim, if you
don't have him he'll lose himself;" and so says I,
•' I'd take him, then ; but mind, its you that gives
him to me."—(Laughter.)
The LORD MAYOR then told the complainant,
that although the case was one of suspicion, there
was no proof that the dog had been stolen. He
(the complainant) had better take it home at once,
and keep it from the neighbourhood of Smithfield,
as it had shewn such an extraordinary taste.
The complainant.—My Lord, if I keep the dog
he will make a beggar of me. I cannot afford to
pay 7s. every day for advertisements and a reward
for the dog, and I know that those fellows will
have him whenever they please. He is a most va-
luable dog, and will in an instant jump from any of
the bridges at my bidding; but if I keep him, he
will put me in the workhouse.—(A laugh.)
The LORD MAYOR—Then I advise you to make
a present of him at once to some friend who can
take care of him, for it is evident that the drovers
in Smithfield have superseded you in his affections.
—(Laughter.)
The complainant then looked about the Justice-
room for a customer, and after having offered the
dog to his Lordship, who politely refused the boon,
probably in consideration of the vulgar preference
already shewn by it, he requested that Mr. Hobler
would accept of the present. Mr. Hobler, how-
ever, had as little wish as the Lord Mayor to enter
into competition with the " gentlemen of the mar-
ket," and the complainant once more entered upon
the duties of a master.