The Sun.
London, England, 1830-03-18 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

QUEEN-SQUARE.
On Tuesday night, just before this office was closed,
Mr. John Dryden, of No. 15, Salamanca-terrace, who, it
will be recollected, was lately committed from this office to
Tuthill-fields prison, for want of sureties, for accosting and
annoying the Duke of Wellington when going to the House
of Lords, came before W. A. WHITE, Esq., the sitting
Magistrate, to apprise him of the course he had been ad-
vised to take for redress by his solicitor.
Dryden advanced to the bar, and was immediately recog-
nised by the magistrate, who asked him what was the
nature of his application ? Dryden reminded Mr. White
that he bad been committed by him to Tothill-fields prison
a few days ago for merely accosting the Duke of Wellington
iu Parliament-street, and that, after being ordered to find
sureties, he was liberated, to his great astonishment, with-
out putting in the required bail. He knew not why he
was sent to prison, or why he was discharged. He now
came to demand compensation for his loss of time and the
imprisonment he had undergone, which, he considered,
was illegal. He had already commenced an action against
Howlett, the police constable who took him into custody,
and had been advised by his solicitor to come to the office
before the magistrate who had committed him, and inform
him of the proceedings he intended to take.
Mr. WHITE-Then, I suppose, Dryden, you intend to
proceed by way of action for damages? Dryden—Host
certainly I do, Sir. I have written to the Duke of Wel-
lington on the subject, who immediately answered my letter,
and directed me to call on Sir IL Birnie, who told me,
that in his opinion an action might be brought for false
imprisonment. I wrote to tile Duke of Wellington on the
3d inst., and received an answer on the following day. He
distinctly denies that he ever thought of giving me in
charge, as I only spoke to him, and I declare I never meant
to annoy him it) any way. I had merely asked him about
the mail-coaches with respect to the alteration of the post
as intended by Mr. Peel. His Grace replied lie knew
nothing about it. I then asked him my nearest way to
Lambeth, when Howlett, the police-constaltle, came up and
took me into custody. Ilis Grace himself never charged
me ; yet I was handcuffed when taken down to Tuthill-fields
prison.
Mr. WRITE--I take it for granted, Mr. Dryden, you

have forgotten you were intoxicated when brought before
me, and that you did not know what you said or did. You
will, however, do just as you please.
Dryden strongly denied being intoxicated, and intimated
that he should take the necessary proceedings for redress.
He then left the office in company with a friend.

BENEVOLENT SOCIETY of ST. PATRICK.

Yesterday the Anniversary Dinner of this Society
was held at the Freemasons' Tavern, under pecu-
liarly happy auspices, the Right Hon. Robert Peel
being in the Chair, supported on his right by the
Duke of Wellington, and on his left by Lord F. L.
Gower. Amongst the company assembled, to the
amount of upwards of 200, we also observed Lord
Arthur Hill, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the
Earl of Darnley, Mr. Brownlow, Mr. Calcraft, Mr.
O'Connell, Mr. Maxwell, Lord Downes, Sir G.
Hill, Lord Clanwilliam, Mr. Shee, P.R.A., &c.
The cloth having been removed, Non nobis, Do-
mine, was sung by Messrs. Hawse, Taylor, Goulden,
King, Broadhurst, Hobbs, Fitzwilliam, Blewitt, J.
0. Atkins, and T. Cooke, who, in the course of the
evening, contributed their powers of harmony to the
gratification of the company.
The customary loyal toasts were then proposed,
and received with due honours.

On giving the " Health of the King,"
Mr. PEEL observed, that he was charged with his
Majesty's annual donation to the charity, which now
made the amount of his subscription to it upwards
of four thousand pounds.—(Cheers.)
The Right Honourable CHAIRMAN—The toast
he had now to propose was connected with the pur-
pose for which they had that day met. The toast
was, " Prosperity to the Benevolent Society of St.
Patrick. It was unnecessary for him to dilate on
the objects of that Charity, because, if there ever
was a Charity useful in its purpose, and free from
all those objections which might he urged against
somewhat similar institutions, this was the one.—
(Applause.) Its object was to afford relief to the
distressed inhabitants of Ireland, who were resident
in London, to whom the country was greatly in-
debted for their industry, and he would add for
their general conduct, speaking of them as a class.—
(Applause.) These unfortunate persons had no
claim on the regular funds provided by this country
for the poor; and, under these circumstances, the
public were bound to exert themselves for those
who had no other resource. But this institution also
combined with it the principles of education; for
there were at present no less than 440 male and
female children receiving education, without re-
ference to any religious distinctions.—(Applause.)
It was also his duty to state, that if the funds of the
Charity were adequate, there were now 130 candi-
dates for admission, who might be admitted to the
same advantages. There was another ground of
satisfaction connected with this subject. He was
glad that there was one great day of rest thus set
apart, when both Irishmen and Englishmen were
able to meet, and lay aside the cares and embarrass-
ments of public business, and forgetting all such
causes of dissension, to unite in promoting the
great object of charity.—(Cheers.) He well
knew, that by the long-established custom of
this assembly, the contentious field of politics
was forbidden ; but it would be folly and affecta-
tion altogether to omit that peculiar subject which
was predominant in the feelings of all—that this was
the first meeting on St. Patrick's day following that
great measure which had abolished all civil disabili-
ties—(Continued cheering)—under which their
Roman Catholic fellow-countrymen and brethren had
laboured on account of difference in religion. He
could not in the presence of his Noble Friend who
sat on his right hand (the Duke of Wellington),
omit altogether referring to that subject.—(Loud
cheers.)— With the political consequences and
effects of that measure they had nothing to do ; but
he might speak of it with reference to its bearings
on that society and the relations which it produced
within these walls.—(Applause.)—lt was impossible
but that they should feel that on account of that
measure they had met under different circumstances.
If he might say so—they breathed a purer atmos-
phere, and he rejoiced that an opportunity had thus
been given of laying aside all those feelings of ani-
mosity and contention which had, perhaps, been in-
separable from the distinctions which the law had
created. Whatever had previously been the im-
pression on the subject, he believed that all present
would rejoice in the opportunity afforded them of
meeting their Roman Catholic brethren in that place
on the footing of equality.—(Applause.)—He was
sure that they met them with feelings apart from all
political differences—with feelings of kindness and
good will : and if in any part of the empire those
feelings which existed before still survive,:he believed
that they were gradually abating, and that the great
example set in the metropolis that day would tend
greatly to its further decline. He would not trouble
them further, but he trusted that they would all join
with him in embodying in the present toast their
heartfelt good wishes for the prosperity of the So-
ciety of St. Patrick.—(Applause.)
The Right Hon. CHAIRMAN in proposing the
health of "The Duke of Northumberland," said, that
he was well persuaded that that Nobleman's accept-
ance of office in Ireland was entirely from a desire to
confer benefit on the empire, of which he was so
distinguished an ornament.
This toast having been drunk with applause,
Lord F. L. GOWER returned thanks for the Noble
Duke. He was able to state, that from the first
day of that Noble Duke's appointment down to the
period of his giving up so considerable a portion of
the emoluments of the office he held, he had been
actuated by the sincerest desire of benefitting the
country.—(Applause.)
The Right Hon. CHAlRMAN—Gentlemen, the
next toast I have to propose to you (somewhat out
of the order in which it has been set down) is the
health of one who is present, and whose name I
already believe you anticipate—l mean the Duke of
Wellington.—(Continued cheers.)—Gentlemen, I
know the Duke of Wellington too well to attempt
to do justice to his meritt even in his absence: but
his noble simplicity and his noble modesty of nature
preclude me from dwelling on the subject a moment
in his presence. Gentlemen, we live too near the
time in which he has lived to be able justly to esti-
mate the splendour of the career which he has run ;
but, if I mistake not, the time will come when a
grateful posterity will think that the mild lustre of
his latter years has been equal to his dawning glory in
the East, and to the meridian splendour of mid-day
fame on the Continent.—(Applause.)—Gentlemen,
I hope that you will avail yourselves of this occasion
for marking the respect in which you hold that name,
by receiving the toast with that enthusiasm which
it deserves.—(Applause.)—Gentlemen, let U 3 join
in drinking " Health and happiness to the Duke of
Wellington."—(Cheers.)
The Duke of WELLINGTON—Gratified as I was
in receiving intimation that you had done me the
honour of inscribing my name heretofore in the list
of the standing toasts of the society, and gratified
as I have frequently been in returning my thanks
for these honours conferred on me, from time to
time, when I have been able to attend these meet-
ings, I never felt so much gratification for the
honour conferred on me as on this occasion.—
(Cheers.)—Gentlemen, I know how much 1 owe
to the partiality of my Right Hon. Friend who fills
the chair—l know, likewise, how much I owe to
the particular circumstances under which we are as-
sembled this day, and to which my Right Hon.
Friend has so handsomely referred ; and I likewise
recollect that 1 owe to your partiality—to your feels
iDgs, my fellow-countrymen—and I must add, to
your patriotism, the honour I have experienced in
being inscribed on the list of your standing toasts.
Gentlemen, I am convinced that I owe this honour
to your feeling, that from my zeal in the service of
his Majesty 1 have deserved some portion of your
approbation; and I am convinced that in conferring
[ on me that approbation, and in notifying it to me in
the manner in which you have done, you wish to
lexcite others to an emulation of that example which
you approve in me.—(Cheers.)—l beg leave again

to return you my best thanks for the honour you
have done me on different occasions, as well as on
the present.—(Cheers.)
After some complimentary toasts had been drunk,
The Duke of WELLINGTON rose to propose a
toast. He was convinced that when he named the
gentleman whose health he was about to propose,
they would all join with him in drinking it with that
enthusiasm and respect which were due to his cha-
racter—he meant their Right Hon. Chairman.—
(Loud cheers.)—As a friend and benefactor to that
Society he was inferior to none ; but it was not on
that account only that he recommended him to their
attention. He has long served his Majesty in those
high departments of the State which were parti-
cularly connected with the Government of their own
common country; and in all the situations which he
had the honour of filling, he had invariably distin-
guished himself by his zeal for the happiness and
welfare of the country, and by the ability which he
had manifested in conducting its affairs.—(Ap-
plause.)—He might say thus much, he believed,
without infringing on their salutary rule of not
touching on politics. In his Right Hon. Friend's
character there was one trait to which he begged
to call their particular attention, and that was the
devotion and sacrifice which he had made in the con-
duct of that great affair to which allusion had been
made in the beginning of the evening—(Cheers)---
a devotion and sacrifice, which he must have made
from a sense of the benefits the country would de-
rive from it—benefits of which they had already had
experience—(Cheers)—and of which, I trust, the
country will continue to enjoy the advantages till
the latest hour.—(Applause.)
Mr. PEEL—(continued cheering)—Gentlemen,
I feel quite overwhelmed by this double compliment
that has been paid to me—first, the honour pro-
posed by my Noble Friend; and, secondly, the gra-
tifying manner in which you have confirmed that
election. Although I am an Englishman, I have
had more frequent and intimate relations with Ire-
land than most Englishmen have had. I had the
honour of filling the situation of Chief Secretary to
the Lord-Lieutenant for a longer period than any
one for the last 200 years. For six years I looked
on Ireland as my home, and I formed in that country
friendships much too intimate ever to be abated by
separation or lapse of time. My Noble Friend has
referred to the sacrifices which I was called upon to
make, in the performance of an imperative public
duty, in proposing the measure in the course of the
last Session, to which allusion has been made this
evening. Gentlemen, I will not disguise from you
that I foresaw the extent of those sacrifices; but I
must say that for all of them I have been amply
repaid.—(Cheers.)----I have been repaid by the gra-
tification of having been united with my Noble
Friend in the conduct of one of the most important
measures that ever received the sanction of Par-
liament. To be associated with him in such
a measure is in itself an honour for which any
sacrifice might be made. I have also been re-
paid, and was supported throughout, by the consola-
tory reflection that no alternative offered itself to me
consistent either with honour or the performance of
my public duty. But still more have I been repaid
by the effects consequent on the passing of that
measure ; effects, some of which I have witnessed
on this occasion, consisting of the manifestation of
the kind feelings which it has generated, and the
oblivion of animosities which once existed.—
(Cheers.)—Gentlemen, we all feel on this evening
the advantages of that measure.—(Applause.)---
The Roman Catholics who are present may rejoice
in having been relieved from the disabilities which
formerly affected them, and that portion of the
assembly which is Protestant will join with me in
rejoicing that we are relieved from the fetters of an
unnatural and statutable superiority.—(Loud cheers.)
Gentlemen, I shall attempt to express my gratitude
for the compliment which I have received, by deeds
and not by words; and I, therefore, beg to offer to
you, as President for the next Anniversary, my
Noble Friend on my left hand (Lord F. L.
Gower), who now fills one of the chief situations
in the government of Ireland, and who has on many
occasions manifested his zeal for its welfare.

The Right Hon. CHAIRMAN then proposed the
" Health of the Earl of Darnley."
The Earl of DARNLEY briefly returned thanks,
and concluded by proposing " Mr. O'Connell, and
the Irish Bar."
Mr. O'CONNELL returned thanks.

The Right Honourablee-CHAIRMAN proposed the
" Health of Mr. Shee, the President of the Royal
Academy." His valued Friend, the late President,
had filled that office with great distinction ; but he
did not doubt that Mr. Shee, by his various talents,
would do honour to the situation.
Mr. SIIEE ieturned thanks.

Several other toasts were subsequently drunk,
and the Chairman did not quit the room till eleven
o'clock. The subscriptions announced by the Se-
cretary amounted to 13181. 18s. 6d.