The Sun.
London, England, 1839-09-04 00:00:00

HAMBURG MAIL.

HANOVER, AuG. 26.—The King, with a numerous
suit, set out yesterday afternoon for Celle. The Duke
of Brunswick was to arrive at Celle at the same time.
It will depend on the Queen's health whether she will
be present at the races even for one day.
The Committee appointed to draw up the new pro-
posals for the Constitution had its first sitting on the
04th, not en the 20th, as was stated. The cause of the
delay was that Director Meyer, of Usnaburg, President
of the Commission, did not arrive here till the 23d.
Like ali the other Members, he learnt his appointment
from the Hanoree Gazette, and expected a special
summons to Hanover, which, however, was not sent
to him till he failed to appear on the 20th.
St. PETERSBURG, AUG. 24.—Their Imperial Ma-
jesties and family have resided for some weeks at
Zirzkojesao. The Emperor leaves us next week to
go to Moscow, and thence to Borodino. The Grand
Duke Alexander, the Duke of Lcuchtenburg and
his consort the Grand Duchess Maria Nicola-
jewna, and the foreign Princes now here will
accompanying the Emperor, but will set out some days
earlier. His 111,:jesty leaves Zarskojesslo on the 27th.
The Empress Alexandrina will not leave us
Up to the 19th of this month 843 ships had arrived
at Croustadt, and 603 had sailed. Up to the 16th
1,294 had arrived at Riga, and 1,193 sailed.
(From the Pi ussian State Gazette.)
VIENNA, AUG. 23. Prince Metternich's health has
been improving for some days. The physicians have
pronounced his disorder to be a tertian ague, which, it
may be hoped, will soon be perfectly subdued by the
remedies applied.—Hamburg Papers, Aug. 30.

1-IAMBUIZG BORDEN HALLE, AUG. 30.
Billy. Money.
Austrian 5 per Cents
Bank snares
thlo-11uan Loan lO6

llllrii,tll 5 per Cent. Ist series, Certificate -
inscription, Ist Seri as —
11th.iian 5 per Cent. Hop., af,.l ,o.11(1 and 4tli ..-
Se, i,s
Ditto iii Certificates
Dutch ictual Debt 2,,p- tent
, ...534
Ditto .... ........ a per Urn' l°l
l'oli,!; Bonds
New !icket ....
Anglo.Dmiish I-n.1'43 per Cent. 7lk, 71
Norwegian t..,:aii, 1,31, 4 per Cent...... 1014,4
EXCHANGES ON LONDON.
HMICURG, AU ti. 3;1.—:3. 13,i..—Tivo months, 13. I►!i.
PETERSITITIWiI, AUG. '2. -. Two months, 39 y,,,.
ST UCii. /I 01, Nj. Auo. "..It.Ninety days, 11, 1.4 i
“,,,,,,,,,,, Am... 27. -Three, months, G. 034,,
I.riesic, Auo. 2i;.-I'htee mo ths, G. 11.

se fa s 'la' r
covead e ,
hhas o havingf
gthaeb about
manual
imanncdhpkl
platoon
so corn law Shiel is to be the Vice-Presi-
dent
exerci.
• If the office require no fitness for its duties, let
it be abolished. If it do, appoint a proper man, a mer-
chant, or manufacturer, or banker, and not a mere imbe-
cilein commeice, ‘k ho supports Irish absentees at the
expense of the people, and clamours for the continuance of
that law by tvllteli the peasantry of Erin are robbed of
enormous rents, and converted into miserable white slaves,
simply to plese the county gentlemen. That milk-and-
water juste utilicu economist, Baring, is to occupy the
position vacated by Spring Rice, and Lord Howick, the
repealer, retires from the cabinet which has a bread taxer
for its head. We believe the other Cabinet arrangements
are in favour of our views ; but with the Chancellor of tie
Exchequer in favour of a fixed dnty, and the Vice-Presi-
dent of the Board of Trade against us, we must learn more
and more to rely on ourselves and the country, endless
upon the government. —Anti. Corn Law Circular.
VIOLENT ASSAULT.—An inquest was held_all,
last evening, before Mr. Payne, at the Vestry Hall,
whoseH
Ilcrselydown, on the body of John Leary, 25,treatment of
death was accelerated by the
violent treatment
were Irishmen,
Hay and Patrick Hart. All the parties
_u_y
J 1 the two latter
eel on the night of the 20tdh
by
I
abusinm his father. He
picked a quarrel with decease,
f;.nockedbhim down, and at
resented it, end they
,repeatedlyhilt the' other beat him in the most
intervals one held hir_u_ive-
i___
11 treatment continued for nearly
co artily manner. TI
that time no policeman could be found
to prevent it.
an b cur, and during
`Three
c days after the deceased took to his
I ter et. d ,e day last. , Verdict `That bed and died on N at de-
'
ceased died of ii.fiammatlon of the lungs, probably acce-
-1 rated by the brutal conduct of Hay-and Hart."
ri
GIsBORNE V. H A ItT.--:....1e verdict in this
case tried la.t Friday at Livel pool, was reported in se-
veral wrs, as given for the plaintiff instead of for the
, defendant.

EVENING EDITION.

OLD NEWGATE.

' Though by no means so extensive or commodious as
the modern prison, old Newgate was a large and
strongly built pile. The body of the edifice stood on
the south side of Newgate-street, and projected at the
western extremity far into the area opposite St. Sepul-
chre's Church. One small wing lay at the north of the
gate, where the Compters now stand ; and the press-
yard, which was detached from the main building, was
situated at the back of Phoenix-court. The south, or
principal front, looking down the Old Bailey, and not
upon it, as is the case with the present structure, with
its massive walls of roughened free-stone,—in some
places darkened by the smoke, in others blanched by
exposure to the weather,--its heavy projecting cornice,
its unglazed doubly-grated windows, its gloomy porch
decorated with fetters, and defended by an enormous
iron door, had a stern and striking effect. Over the
lodge, upon a dial, was inscribed the appropriate motto,
" Tenio Inca fur." 'Me gate, which crossed New-
gateestrset, had a wide arch for carriages, and a postern
on the north side for foot passengers, Its architecture
was richly ornamental, and resembled the style of a
triumphal entrance to a capital, rather than a dungeon,
having battlements and hexagonal towers, and being
adorned,on the western side with atriple range of pilasters
of the Tuscan order, amid the intercolumniations of
*hioh were niches embellished with statues. The chief
of these was a figure of Liberty, with a cat at her feet,
in allusion to the supposed origin of the fortunes of its
former faunder, Sir Richard Whittington. On the right
of the postern against the wall was affixed a small grat-
ing, sustaining the debtor's box ; and any pleasure
which the passer-by might have derived from contem-
plating the splendid structure above described was
damped at beholding the pale faces and squalid figures
of the captives across the bars of its strongly-grated
windows. Some years after the date of this history, an
immense ventilator was placed at the top of the gate,
I with the view of purifying the prison, which, owing to
its insufficient space and constantly crowded state, was
never free from that dreadful and contagious disorder,
uaw happily unknown, the gaol-fever. So frightful, io-
I deed, were the ravages of this malady, to which debtors
and felons were alike exposed, shat its miserable victims
were frequently carried out by cart-loads, and thrown
into a pit in the burial-ground of Christ Church without
ceremony.
Old Newgate was divided into three separate prisons
—the Master's Side, the Common Side, and the Press-
yard. The first of these, situated at the south of the
building, with the exception of one ward over the gate-
way, was allotted to the better class of debtors, whose
funds enabled them to defray their chamber rent, fees,
and garnish. The second, comprising the bulk of the
gaol, and by many degrees wore in point of accommo-
)
idation, having several dismal and noisome wards under-
groubd, was common both to debtors and malefactors—
an association little favourable to the morals or comforts
of the former, who, if they were brought there with any
notions of honesty, seldom left with untainted principles.
The last—in:all respects the best and airiest of the three,
standing, as has been before observed, in Phoenix-court,
at the rear of the main fabric—was reserved for State
offenders, and such persons as chose to submit
to the extortionate demands of the keeper : from
twenty to five hundred pounds premium, accord-
ing to the rank alnd means of the applicant,
in addition to a high weekly rent, being required
for accommodation in this quarter. Some excuse for
this rapacity may perhaps be found in the fact that five
thousand pounds was paid for the purchase of the
Press-yard by Mr. Pitt, the then Governor of Newgate.
Tuis gentleman, who was tried for high treason, in 1716,
on suspicion of aiding Mr. Foster, the rebel general's
escape, but acquitted, reaped a golden harvest during
the occupation of his premises by the Preston rebels,
when a larger sum was obtained for a single chamber
than (in the words of a sufferer on the occasion) “ would
hive paid the rent of the best house in Saint James%
scoare or Piccadilly for several years."
Nor was this all. Other, and more serious imposi-
tions, inasmuch as they affected a poorer class of per-
sons, were practised by the underlings of the gaol. On
hii first entrance, a prisoner, if unable or unwilling to
comply with the exactions of the turnkeys, was thrust
i-.to the condemned hold with the worst description of
c;,minals, and terrified by threats into submission. By
the old regulations, the free t3e of strong liquors not
bting interdicted, a tap-house was kept in the lodge, and
also in a cellar on the common side—under the super-
intendence of Mrs. Spurting, formerly, it may be re-
in -!inbered, the hostess of the Dark House at Queen-
bitile—wlieuee wine, ale, and brandy of inferior qua-
lity were dispensed, in false measures, and at high
prices, throughout the prison, which in noise and de-
bauchery rivalled, if it did not surpass, tile lowest
tavern.

1 The chief scene of these disgusting orgies—the
1 cellar, just referred to—was a large low-roofed vault,
I about four feet hclow the level of the street, perfectly
i dark, unless when illumined by a roaring fire, and
1 candies stuck in pyramidal lumps of clay—with a range
i at butts and barrels at one end, and benches and tables
at the other, where the prisoners—debtors and male-
! factors, male and female—assembled so long as their
motley lasted, and consumed the time in drinking,
i) smoking, and gaming with cards and dice. Above was
a spacious hail, connected with it by a flight of stone
I' steps, at the further end of which stood an immense
grated door, called in the slang of the place, " The
Jigger," through the bars of which the felons in the
upper wards were allowed to converse with their friends,
' o-, if they wished to enter the room, or join the revellers
below, they were at liberty to do so, on payment of a
small fine. Thus, the same system of plunder was
everywhere carried on, The gaolers robbed the pri-
) soners ; the prisoners robbed one another.
Two large wards were situated in the gate ; one of
which, Stotie-ward, appropriated to the master debtors,
' looked towards Holborn ; the other, called the Stone-
hall, from a huge stone standing in the middle of it,
I upon which the irons of criminals under sentence of death
Iwere knocked off previously to their being taken to the
place of execution, faced Newgate-street.
iln an angle of the stone hall was the Iron Hold ; a
chamber containing a vast assortment of fetters and
handcuffs of all weights and sizes. Four prisoners,
• termed " The Partners," had charge of this hold. Their
1 duties were to see who came in, or went out ; to lock
up, and open the different wards ; to fetter such pri-
sorsers as were ordered to be placed in irons ; to distri-
bute the allowances of provisions ; and to maintain
, some show of decorum ; for which latter purpose they
were allowed to carry whips and truncheons. When
' any violent outrage was committed—and such matters
were of daily, sometimes hourly, occurrence—a bell,
•' the rope of which descended into the hall, brought the
whole of the turnkeys to their assistance. A nar-
-1
row passage at the north of the Stone-hall lead to the
Bluebeard's room of this enchanted castle, a place shun-
ned even by the reckless crew who were compelled to
Ipass it. It was a sort of kitchen, with an immense
fireplace flanked by a couple of caldrons ; and
was called Jack Ketch's kitchen, because the guar-
ters of persons executed for treason were there
boiled by the hangman in oil, pitch, and tar,
before they were affixed on the city gates, or on
London-bridge. Above this revolting spot was the fe-
male debtor's ward ; below it a gloomy cell called Tan-
gier ; and, lower still, the Stone-hold, a most terrible
and noisome dungeon, situated under ground, and un-
visited by a single ray of daylight. Built and paved with
stone, without beds, or any other sort of protection from
the cold, this dreadful hole, accounted the most dark
and dismal in the prison, was made the receptacle of
such miserable wretches as could not pay the customary
fees. Adjoining it was the Lower-ward—" Though, in
what degree of latitude it was situated," observes Ned
Ward, " I cannot positively demonstrate, unless it lay
ninety degrees beyond the North Pole ; for, instead of
being dark there but half a year, it is dark all the year
round." It was only a shade better than the Stone-
hold. Here were imprisoned the fines ; and, " per-
haps," adds the before cited authority, " if he behaved
himself, an outlawed person might creep in among
them." Ascending the gate once more on the way back,
we find over the Stone-hall another large room, called
Debtor's-hall, facing Newgate street, with " very good
air and light." A little too much of the former, per-
l'aP!, as the windows being unglazed, the prisoners were
subjected to severe annoyance from the weather and
easterly winds.
li Of the women felons' rooms nothing has yet been
I said. 'nacre
I Hall, a horriblePlre thwii.nd.j One called Waterman's-
gate, whence, thrsacue
solie ited alms from tit
chamber, denominated
in the highest part of the Y-a
rIY s-
mity. Neither of these wagrdos'haadt
tunate inmates were obliged to take
oaken door. The condition of the ro
oining the postern under the
a small barred aperture, they
PAssezgers. :the other, a large
Hold, was situated
beds,nrn extre-
,nd the unfor-
thseiwrarseisntdoensert
ihbe,
iably filthy and disgusting ; nor were the habits of the
occupants much more cleanly.
There were two condemned Holds-one
i for each
sex. That for the men lay near the Lodge, with
•
it was connected by a dark passage. It waw:thawhich
'room, about twenty feet long and fifteen broad, large
had an arched stone roof. In fact, it had been and
ciently, ciently, the right hand postern under the gate leading
towards the city. The floor was planked with oak,
and covered with iron staples, hooks, and ring-bolts, with
heavy chains attached to them. There was only one
small grated window in this hole, which admitted but
little light.
Over the gateway towards Holborn were two strong
wards, called the Castle and the Red Room. They
will claim particalar attention hereafter.
Mealy other wards—especially on the Master Debtor's
side—have been necessarily omitted in the foregoing
hasty enumeration. But there were two places of pu-
nishment which merit some notice, from their peculia-
rity. The first of these, the Press-roem, a dark, close
&flambe:
_near Waterman's Hall, obtained its name from
an ini niZlCAlharka •"-
prisoogries

Bilbowes—also a dismal place—refractory prisoners
were thrust, and placed in a kind of stocks, whence the
name.—Mr. Ainsworth's" Jack Sheppard?'

A ,6 TRUE BELIEVER'S" OPINION

OF WINE.

(From the " Confessions of a Thug.")
"Now for the wine, Meer Sahib ; the pilao is dry
without it, and my throat lacks moisture."
" Here it is," said I, pouring it out into a cup ; see
how it sparkles, like the fire of a ruby."
" Ay," said the Khan, after he had drained it to the
bottom, " this is wine for the Hooris ; how one enjoys
it ! Think, Meer Sahib, how we true believers will i
quaff in Paradise (if what we get there will be as good),
surrounded by twenty Hooris, and each vying with the
other to please us! But drink, man,—l would not take
the whole."
.. Nay, that bottle is your own share, Khan, and
there is, besides another for you ; Peer Khan and I
will divide this one between us. 'Tis a pity there is not
more, or that the bottles were not larger."
Ay, it is to be regretted certainly, Meer Sahib, but
what there is, we must make the most of ;" and he
took another draught. " Only think," continued he,
" of those infidels the Feringhees drinking such stuff,
as this every day. I now scarcely marvel at their
doing great deeds when they are drunk. And is it
not the case, Meer Sahib, that they all sit round a
table, and drink, and roar out songs, till they fall down
intoxicated ?"

" So I have been credibly informed, Khan. By Alla
they are jolly dogs."
" I wish I was in their service," said Ghuffoor Khan,
after a short silence. "Do you think they would give
one wine to drink when one wanted it ?"

" I have not a doubt of it," I replied.
" Then I will take employ with them, Meer Sahib ;
this stuff would tempt many a better Moosulman than
lam to serve an infidel. But they say Sikundar Jab
drinks it also."

" So I heard when I was at Hyderabad," said I,
" indeed it was there I first tasted this liquor ; and I
knew the bottles again when I saw them in the Fering-
hees' houses at Guntoor."

" It is fit drink for a prince," sighed the Khan, when
he had finished the bottle, and looking at it with a most
rueful countenance. " That is finished, Meer Sahib ;
thou saidst thou had another ?"

" Ay, Khan ! but only this one," I replied, handing
him the other.

" I feel happy now, Meer Sahib. By Alla! I could
sing—l could dance I think, though it would be a
scandal to do so. The Prophet, however, has not for-
bidden a Moslem to sing. May his name be honoured!
Have any of you a sitar? People say that I have a
good hand."
" Go and fetch Motee-ram's," said I to Peer Khan ;
" it is a good one. Shall the owner of it come also,
Khan ?"

" Nay, I care not, Meer Sahib ; though the devi
came I would pluck him by the beard : let him come,
Can he sing ?"

" Like a bulbul, Kban ; I have rarely heard a better
voice from a man."

" Oh, for some women !" sighed the Khan ; " one
misses the glances of their antelope-eyes, and the tinkle
of their anklets, in moments like these. Ah, Meer
Sahib, we were happy dogs when we were encamped in
the Krishna."

FROM LAST NIGHT'S GAZETTE

CROWN-OFFICE, SEPT. 2, 1839.
MEMBER RETURNED TO SERVE IN THIS PRESENT
PARLIAMENT.
BOROUGH OF PORTSMOUTH.—Trie Right Hon. Francis
Thornhill Baring, Chancellor of her Majesty's Exchequer.

WHITEHALL, Aun. 23.
The Queen has been pleased to appoint :
The Most Hon. the Marquis of Breadalbane, K. T.
The Right Hon. the Earl of Dalhousie.
The Right Hon. the Earl of Rosehery.
The Right Hon. Viscount Melville, K. T.
The Right Hon. Lord Belhaven.
The Hon. Fox Maule.
The Right Hon. Sir William Rae, Bart.
Thomas Maitland, Esq., Advocate.
John Shaw Stewart, Esq., Advocate.
Alexander Earle Monteith, Esq., Advocate.
Adam Anderson, Esq., Advocate.
Graham Spiers, Esq., Advocate.
Frederick Hill, Esq., and
John Witham, jun., Esq.
In addition to certain e.c officio Directors appointed by the
Act, passed in the la,t Session of Parliament, intituleti " An
Act to improve Prisons and Prison Discipline in Scotland," to
form the General Board of Directors of Prisons in Scotland.

WHITEHALL, AUG. 24.
The Queen has been pleased to appoint Andrew Murray,
jun., Eig., Advocate, to be Secretary to the General Board 431
Directors of Prisons in Scotland.

WHITEHALL, AUG. 29.
The Lord Chancellor has appointed Edward Edmund Peach
Kelsey, of Salisbury, in the county of Wilts, Gent., to be a
Master Extraordinary in the High Court of Chancery.

DOWNING-STREET, AUGUST 29.
The Queen has been pleased to appoint the Right Hon.
Charles Poulett Thomson to be Governor-General, Vice-Ad-
miral, and Captain-General of all her Majesty's Provinces
ssithin and adjacent to the Continent of North America.