The Sun.
London, England, 1837-03-17 00:00:00

CORONER'S INQUEST.

SINGULARLY DETERYANED AND AFFLICTING SUICIDE OF A 1,
RESPECTABLE FEMALF.—Yesterday afternoon an inquest was,
held at the White Hall, Earl's-court, Kensington, before ?‘;',.r.
Stirling and a respeztable jury, on view of the body of ititrs.
Ann Potts, aged 67, who committed suicide by cuttiar,; her
throat with a pe&.knife.
Mr. John dupe Johnstone, a gentleman residing-, at Hamp-
ton Wick. and related to the deceascd, stated t,t,at she (de-
ceased) lei bad the charge of an insane laes of high con-
nections and considerable property for nine v,ears. The lady
diccs last year, since which she (deceased.) had applied to
Lady -Middleton, the administratrix of fne lady's property,
for a small annuity during life, which land been refused. A
second application to Sir William M'llleton also met with a
refusal. Witness considered thattliis preyed upon her mind,
as the old lady had a dread that her future resources would
be inadequate for her support.
The Jury observed it was a very distressing case. Verdict
—" Insanity."

LORD JOHN SCOTT'S RESIGNATION.—This
part of our local politics is not, the least amusing of late occur-
rences. It was currently rumoured previous to the Hon.
Francis Scott appearing in the county, that Lord John Scott
intended to resign. Wit lout any assigned reason, the Hon.
Francis Scott put forth an address to the electors, and com-
menced a hole-and-comer canvass. Not a word about disturb-
ing the county, until Admiral Elliot made his appearance 'in
the field, and becaase, forsooth, the Liberal party, in self.
defence, chose to 'hold public meetings, and in the broad face
of day, avow their determination to oppose Mr. Scott to the
uttermost, we are thus taunted with being the " authors and
abettors" of thevery disturbance and unsettlement of the public
mind, of which Mr. Scott himself was the original and immediate
cause. This is too bad on the part of Lord John and the Hon.
'Francis Scott. They concert this plan, and after unssct-
tling the county, Lord John comes forward, seizes hold of a
Hayrick placard, and tells us that he never meant to resign, but
adds that "he adheres to his former resolution, made at the
time of last election, of not offering himself as a candidate for
the county of Roxburgh, in the event of a dissolut'on."
do not say that Lord John will not make this resolution in his
own breast. We heard it rumoured, and currently stated,
that he was a radical of the first water ; but we look back to
his public declaration in vain, and with these alone have the
public to do. Were the truth known, we believe it would
turn out that the Hon. Francis Scott does not find it such plain
sailing as he expected, and that be has fallen in with some
squalls, which the Gallant Admiral has succeeded in weather-
ing better than himself. A more insolent attempt to hood-
wink a county, and to endeavour to establish it as one of the
pocket burghs of his Grace of Buceleuch, we have rarely seen
perpetrated. Some Cabinet secrets of Dalkeith Palace will
peep out, ere long, if we mistake not. —Kelso Chronicle.
A MODERN MUMMY.—The following story was in
circulation whilst I was in Egypt, which, though I will not
vouch for its " whole" truth, is not sufficiently improbable
(considering the eccentric habits of my countrymen) to be al-
' together regarded as fiction. An English traveller had a
great desire to be mummified after the manner of the ancient
Egyptians ; and having paid in advance to the operators,
bound them by a solemn oath to do his bidding, prepared his
sarcophagus, and, having written a long notice of his life and
opinions, swallowed a dose of arsenic. He was, of course,
"gathered to his fathers ;" his body underwent the embalm-
ing process, and, the papyrus having been placed on his am-
bitious breast, was enclosed in the red granite case, and de-
posited in a tomb that had been prepared for its reception.
Not many years afterwards some roguish Arabs sold the pre-
cious relic to a Learned Frenchman, who carried it to Paris,
vain beyond belief of having acquired such a treasure, which,
judging from the splendour of the case, he thought must be
a Pharaoh at least. A party of brother savans were ins ited
to assist at the ceremony of enrolment, when, after some
hundred yards of fine linen had been removed, the papyrus
was discovered, which, in plain English, declared the great
defunct to have been Mr. Peter Simpkins, of Fenchureli-
street and Camberwell. grove, sosp-boiier and salt-refiner to
the llayal Family, and many years an inmate of St. Luke's.
—Scott's Egypt, 4-c.

In consequence of the head, and then the body, of
a male child having bee:. found in emptying a cesspool at
Ely, the greatest agitation has pervaded the whole community.
On Thursday an inquest was held on the body at the Shire
Flail, at which the miserable mother of the inra:tt made the
following confession name is Elizabeth Scii2, and she
is sixteen years of age. She requested to go into a private
room, where she sail that the child was born alive, and was a
boy—that she took a knife and cut off its heal. She then
fetched an old piece of linen, which she wrapped round the
body, and thr.•w it into the place where it was found—she also
thrk w the knife there. The jury returned a verdictof " Wil-
ful murder" against her, and she was committed, on the Co-
oncr's warrant, to Cambridge gaol.—Cantbridy? Independent
Pregs.

13ALLooNING.—Wc understand that Mr. Green
doubts The possibility of stecrinn, the balloon. That it is be-
yond cur Pf,Wer at present, is admitted. But what steers a
bird? What enables th .t floundering voyager, a crow, to
steer perfectly at his will from fiLltr to forest, and make
turnings among the branches, that would raise the envy
of the Joelcey Club ? What steers and carries the wild
swan, as heavy as an infant, a thousand miles ahead through
the tempest and again 1 the tempest ? The united action
of the w ings and the tail. The buoyancy of the balloon
would render the wings unnecessary, except for addition to
the steerage power. Tire true and only difficulty to be
mastered is, that of enabling the balloon to go faster or
skpret than the wind ; for it it only in such cases that the
rudder can have anything to act upon. The steerage of a
bird and of a fish exhibit the power of direction in a surround-
ing element. The means are complete in both, but varied,
from the circumstances of the animal. The bird derives its
buoyancy from the wing; the tail, whose chief or only purpose
is steerage, scarcely aiding that buoyancy, and being scarcely
moveable but in the lateral direction required for the steerage.
The fish is generally buoyant by its nature. The tail supplies
at once its progress and direction, and it is therefore a power-
ful and peculiarly active instrument. Either would answer the
purpose of the balloon. But its buoyancy brings it nearer to
the fish than the bird. Its requisite would be a rudder of such
length and force as at once to accelerate (or retard) and guide.
This rudder might he a long frame, with a wheel or vane kept
in rapid motion at its cnd. For this, some modification of the
steam-engine would be required ; but we have overcome so
many of the difficulties of the steam-engine, that we are not
entitled to doubt much of ultimate success even here.—
Blackwood.

TARDY JUST IC E. —ln the month of February,
1830, the Chamberlain de Qualm), Resident Minister from
the Court of Denmark to the Grand Duke of Mecklcnburgh
Schwerin, was murdered in his garden, within a few yards of
the house which he was inhabiting at Eutin. The affair was
shrouded in mystery ; but, after a variety of inquiries had been
made, suspicion became fixed upon two of the servants, Koch,
a coachman, and Wister, a valet, both of whom were charged
with the crime, and thrown into prison, where they have since
remained. The case was brought regularly before the tri-
bunals, and the evidence and explanations taken in writing,
as they are in all German Courts ; but so prone is this mode
of proceeding to circumlocution, and so efficacious in the pro-
traction of a result, that at the end of six years no real
progress had been made in the discovery of the truth, whilst
the writings were found to fill twenty-five volumes of folio.
On the 19th of April, 18.36, the Court of Gottingen, despair-
ing of receiving any light upon the charge, proceeded to
judgment, and acquitted the two unfortunate prisoners of
the charge, and expressed an opinion that they ought to be
indemnified for their long detention. This decision was,
however, appealed from by the public accuser to the High
Court of Appeal at Oldenburgh. Here the judgment was
affirmed as respecting Koch, who was declared guiltless, and
entitled to an indemnity ; but as against Wister it was held,
that though not guilty, he had not made out a case to entitle
himself to an indemnity, or an exemption from the costs.
The cases of these men excited great commiseration.—Ger-
man Paper.

A young girl desirous of procuring a sweetheart;
consulted a gipsy lately ; and acting on her sage advice pro-
cured a sovereign, which she took to the gipsy, who proceeded
to enclose it in the girl's stays, assuring her that the charm
could not fail in procuring her a young man to her wishes.
The girl, however, had the curiosity to inspect her stays, and
found that the gold had; by the sorceress's art, been trans-
muted into silver, the sovereign having become a shilling. Not
quite satisfied with this speciea of alchemy, she had the wise
woman and her gang brought before the magistrates last week
in Congleton, when they were committed to take their trial at
the sessions.—Macclesfield Courier.

•A woman, named Tarrene, the wife of a proprietor
formerly residing at Prade, in France, and her two brothers,
Aubert, have just been condemned to death by the Court of
Assizes, at Perpignan, for the murder of the woman's husband.
The body of the unfortunate man was found at the foot of a
precipice by the road side, leading from Prade to Clara. From
the examinations it appeared that the deceased had made his
will, by which a considerable property would devolve to the
wife after his death. From a feeling of impatience to inherit
it, she proposed to her brothers to commit the deed. At first
they refused ; but, a day or two before the murder took place,
she offered one of them the sum of 2,500 f., and the other
1,040. This bribe unfortunately induced them to accede to
her horrid proposition, which they accomplished by attacking
their victim on the night of the 20th November last. A severe
struggle took place, but the murderers succeeded in knocking
their victim down by a blow on the head with a stone, after
which they threw him over the precipice, where the body was
afterwards discovered. No emotion was evinced by the pri-
soners on sentence of death being pronounced against them.

A gentleman of fortune in Halifax being found in
a state of intoxication in company with a lady of the pave,
noted for her thieving propensities, an active officer of the
town took him home. On the journey the gentleman knocked
the officer down, who good-humouredly took no notice of the
circumstance. On coming to himself on the following morn-
ing, he started from his bed with dismay, and exan.ined his
pockets, in which he had some hundreds of pounds the day
before, which to his joy he found to be a'.l safe. In the excess
of his gratitude to the police-officer he sent for him, and treated
him to a glass of ale !—Halifax Express.

IMP:CRIAL PARLIAMENT.

31erioneth.

IRISH LABOURERS.

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 1837

HOZTSE OF LORDS, M.IRCH 16.
The Lo C EIARCELLOR took his seat on the Woolsack at
Five o'Clc•ck.

Lord STIOLFFO RD presented petitions in favour of the abo-
lition of Chur eh-rates from parishes in Cambridge and Wilts,
Cram the Dissenters' congregation of Fenny Stratford in
Bucks ; and from Dissenters' congregations in Somerset and
Bedfordshi,...

The P.ishop of LONDON presented petitions against
e-.. abolition of Church-rates, from parishes in Suffolk, War-
wicksVae, and Gloucestershire ; from the inhabitants of
Wansend, in Northumberland ; of Farnham, in Suffolk ; of
the parish of Holy Trinity, in Gloucester; and from Bonham,
in Suffolk, and other places.
The Duke of CLEVELAND presented petitions, all of
which contained the same prayer, although in different words.
They requested their Lordships would pass a measure for the
total abolition of Church-rates. The petitions were from the
Dissenters of Christ-Church, Hants ; of Hammersmith ; of
Frome, in Somersetshire ; of Weston, in Hants ; of Union Cha-
pel, Horsleydown ; of Northampton; of Newport Pagnel ; of
King's Sutton, Northamptonshire ; of Charnbrook ; and
several other places. The Noble Duke then said that
he had several days ago presented a petition from the
county of Durham, praying for the abolition of Church-rates ;
and he had now another petition to present from the same
place, and ho could answer, from his private knowledge
of the place, that they were both most respectably signed ; that
which he had now to present, however, did not pray for the aboli-
tion of Church-rates, but stated that the petitioners having heard
that a Bill was likely to be introduced into their Lordships'
House for the abolition of Church-rates, prayed that their
Lordships would take care that the Church was properly main-
tained.
The Duke of NORFOLK presented a petition from Shef-
field, praying for the total abolition of Church-rates. From
the Noble Duke's connection with Sheffield, he knew that the
petition was most respectably signed, and the number of the
petitioners amounted to upwards of 4,000. He entirely con-
curred in the prayer of the petition.
Lord DINORBEN presented a petition from Holyhead
to the same effect.
The Bishop of BATH and WELLS presented petitions
from Bridport, Trent, Harrington, Monk Silver, and seve-
ral other places, against the abolition of Church-rates. The
prayer of these petitions was, that their Lordships would not
agree to any measure having for its object the abolition of
Church-rates, because such a measure could not fail to be de•
structive of the Church.
The Bishop of BANGOR presented a petition from Ban-
gor, to the same effect.
A flight Reverend PRELATE, whose name we could not
learn, presented a petition from a parish in the county of
Merioneth to the same effect ; and gave notice, that on

Monday ncxt he should present a petition from Anglesea,
relating to the appropriation of tithes which belong to the
Bishop of Bangor, in the event of the union of that see and

The Bishop of WINCHESTER presented petitions from
Winchester, and several other places, against the abolition of
Church-rates.

A Message from the House of Commons brought up the
Small Debts' ( Scotland) Bill, and two others.
Lord PORTMAN presented petitions from various pa-
rishes in the counties of York and Essex, praying for the abo-
lition of Church-rates.

The Bishop of CIIICIIESTF,R presented petitions
from Burwood and several other places, against the abolition
(.f Church-rates.

The Duke of RICHMOND presented a petition from
the inhabitants of Cork, praying for some Jegislative enact-
ment for the relief of the unemployed Irish labourers. Also a
petition from John Caldwell, of Cork, to the same effect ; and a
petition from the innkeepers of the borough of Brighton. pray-
ing. to be relieved front the responsibility attending property
lost in their houses.

CHURCH RATES.
The NOBLE DukE then presented a petition from the Dis-
senters of Ebenezer Chapel, Chichester, pray ing for the abo-
lition of Church-rates. Although he could not agree in the
plan proposed by his Majesty's Government, he felt it his
duty to present the petition.
Lord DE GR EY presented petitions from Stavely, Ripon,
and other places, against the abolition of Church-rates.
Petitions to the same effect were presented by the Duke of
Wellington, Marquis of Downshire, Earl Minto ; and by Vis-
count Melbourne, prayino: fur the Abolition of Church-rates.
Lord RE DE SDA LE presented a petition against the abo-
lition of Church-rates from South Lambeth, and one to a si-
rnihr effect from Arlington, in Northamptonshire, which in ad-
dition thanked their Lordships for their conduct last year,
and prayed that they would pursue the same course in the
present Session —( A laligh.)
Lord BROUGHAM
,presented a large number of pe-
titions against Church-rates, amongst which were petitions
from the Dissenters of Sherburne, in Dorsetsiiire ; from the
Baptist Congregation of Huddersfield; from the Indepen-
dent congregation of Stafford ; from the Baptist congrega-
tion in Seagate-chapel, Dundee ; from the Dissenters of
Shade:ell ; from the Baptists of Huston, near Hackney ; from
the congregation of Bristol-street, Edinburgh ; from the Bap-
tists of iiichmond, Bedfordshire ; and of Southam, in the same
county; from the congregation of the Old Mecting,Bcdford; the
prayer of which was that their Lordships would sanction the abo-
lition of Church-ratcs without the transfer of them to any ether
fu d, and also that their Lordships would not sanction any grant
of money to any congregation of Dissenters or Roman Catho-
lics.—( Hear.)
Lord WIiNFORD presented a petition from Staton in
Cumberland, praying that the Poor-law might not be ex-
tended to the northern counties.
The Bishop of EXETER presented petitions in favour of
Church-rates from several places in Cornwall and Devonshire;
also from the Deaneries of Plympton and Tavistock, and from.
the city of Durham to the same effect.

The Duke of BEAITFORT presented a petition from a
pariah in the county of Gloucester against the abolition of
Church-rates.

Earl SHAFTESB URY presented petitions from the
county of Dorset to the same effect.
Lord ELI, ENBORO UG EI presented a petition from the
county of Worcester, the county of Gloucester, and the
county of Northumberland, to the same effect.
Lord CANTERBURY presented a petition from various
parishes in the county of Somerset, to the same effect.
The Marquis of BUTE presented petitions from various
places in the county of Forfar to the same effect.
The Bishop of L L ANDA FE hoped the House would for-
give him for occupying its attention for a few minutes, but
he could not help expressing his surprise at a remark from
a Noble and Learned Lord yesterday, that the number of
petitions presented in favour of the abolition of Church rates
was greater than the number which had been presented against
this ma .sure ; and that, even if that were not allowed, the
number of signatures attached to the former would far exceed
the number attached to the latter.
Lord BROUGHAM said that he might set the Right
Rev. Prelate at ease on that point at once, by informing him
that he was labouring under an entire mistake, because what
ho had stated was just the reverse of that which was now
imputed to him.—( Hear, hear.) He had said that
the number of petitions against the abolition of Church-
rates no doubt greatly exceeded the number in favour of the
abolition, but that the number of signatures attached to the
petitions in favour of the abolition very much exceeded the
number of those attached to the petitions against it.
The Bishop of LLAND AFE felt obliged to the Noble and
Learned Lord for setting him right in that respect.
Lord BROUGHAM—Nor was it yesterday I said so, but
sometime before; so that you are wrong there, also.
The Bishop of LL AND AFF was prepared to contend that
the signatures of persons who did not pay Church-rates
did not merit much regard.—( Hear, hear.) The griev-
ance did not fall upon them, but upon those who paid
the Church-rates, therefore it was but fair to throw
out of the consideration of the petitioners all the
non-rate payers. Undoubtedly the House could not ana-
lyse the petitioners in that way, but he wished for
the sake of the general impression that might be made on
the public that that should be observed.—(lleac, hear.)
With regard to the petitioners against the abolition of
Church-rates, that observation was not applicable, be
cause there the non-rate payola were most entitled to be
heard, inasmuch as they would be most interested if the
Church-rates were abolished. The non-rate payers, therefore,
who became petitioners against the abolition of Church-
rates, and especially the poor, merited the attention of
their Lordships.--( Hear, hear, hear.) As to the others,
they might be divided into two classes, and those alone upon
whom the grievance fell were entitled to attention. It
might be said that a person had a right to come to their
Lordships' House, not to complain of an injury or a personal
grievance, but to complain of a national grievance. If that
were so, they could only come to their Lordships in the cha-
racter of advisers, and so far they might 'be entitled to be heard.
As a matter of grievance, he was sure the distinction made
in favour of justice, the Noble and Learned Lord would rea-
dily admit. There were petitions of that character presented
by a Right Rev. Friend of his from labourers in Devonshire,
praying that they might not be deprived of the privileges they
now enjoyed. It was said by his Right Rev. Friend, that that
petition was attempted to be counteracted by a wealthy indivi-
dual. In his opinion, those who complained of being deprived of
that which they considered more valuable than money, were
entitled to far more consideration and attention than those who
did.--(Loud cries of " Hear.") The number of signatures
to petitions was but an indifferent test of the extent of the
grievance of which the petitioners complain. In conclusion, he
would say, that under the disapprobation which had been
expressed by the petitioners against the Church-rates,
there was this further and more important principle—the pe-
titioners objected to Christianity being recognised or sup-
ported by the State. However that might be coloured
over, it was at the bottom ; and it was for their Lordships
to consider whether they would give countenance to a proposi-
tion of that nature, or whether they would not openly avow,
that their determination was not to consent to any ,wasure that
had for its object the prevention of Christianity being pro-
tected by the State. He was sure that their Lordships
would sooner surrender their birth-rights than give
tip that union which had so long existed. The Right Rev.
Prelate then presented several petitions from different
parts of Wales, against the abolition of Church-rates.
Viscount MELBOURNE said lie could not but say that
he could not agree with the distinction drawn by the
Right Reverend Prelate between the classes of
.petitioners, for
in the well-being and the welfare of Christianity all had an
equal interest, and an equal interest also in the set-
tlement of this question on the principles which would promote
the peace and welfare of the country. (Hear.) He, there-
fore, could by no means acquiesce in the distinction drawn by
the Right Rev. Prelate between the classes of petitioners.