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

1 POST-OFFICE ABSURDITIES.

IThe iniloev;::g are extracts from a good article on
" Linirorin Penny Postage" in the last Number of the
i :Brilish and F(Jreig,n Review.
If !ou post a newspaper within the London Two-
penny-post circle, to be delivered within that circle,
1 there is a penny postage to pay ; to be delivered with-
out that circle it goes free ; e. g., a newspaper posted
et St. ntrtin's-le-Grand, to go to Newgate-street. ad-
k)king, elsts a penny ; to go to and from Aberdeen,
hove LOO miles, perpetually,
.i,Lcosts nothing.
A four-ounce letter from Kingston to Kensington,
about vine miles apart, would be charged ss. 4d. as a
i. General-post rate, whilst the same from Glasgow to
Banron, twenty-one miles, would cost only a penny.
A petition from the inhabitants of Renfrew states

,y posted a three-ounce letter to go to Loch-
winLoA, fourteen miles distant, it would cost one
penny, but if the same letter were posted to Pollock-
shaas, half the distance, or seven miles, it would be

that it t

:ttcrs have been circulated generally to Members
:egi,ilature to illustrate another Post-office priuci-
.tharge : one four inches by two and a-half, and its
of similar size, weighs seven grains, or under the
th part of an ounce weight, and is charged double
eue shihing. A second piece of paper would
de the postage treble, while its fellow letter, a
!,:,et of" (1,7,uh1e demy" being twice the size of
vo sheet of sixteen pages, was charged six-

i wo
the

je o
I

;oats
[:;VC
B'nglC

imittea on postage have established that
letter from London to Edinburgh amounts
possible to the sum estimated by Mr. Hill,
rty-s;xtit part of a penny, and the petition of the
-ksellers states that eighty letters can be
p• by steam from London to Edinburgh for
.ie Post-of :ice wsuld ba Is. lid. for one, or
r eid 11. 1O

)4t of

ar nearly
'' • -
1

Dar

cost o

diptributin4 General-post letters

1 . .-. M. it.t.L.:l
poateg:., (
per (teat

k,ss than the th;rtecnth part of the average
arged on such letters, making the tax 1,200

Mr. Hill sheers that in the twenty years from 1815
both the gross and net revenue of the Post-
re ; and aho that, had the revenue
pith the population, it ought to exhibit an
half a million sterling. Had the net annual
cf the Pest-otilee kept pace with the stage
a duty which affords a very just index of
cf t!-.e people to communicate with one
...Id now exhibit an increase of 2,000,0001.
ution of u five-fold incre.vc of letters at a
c.ithe a diminution of the present net
utiug to 300,0001. ; a six-fold increase
^ulna-ten at all ; and a seven-fold in-
the Post-office profits about

to IS

Nce
O

;•,:ver

7t on

er (

.Igrne

avci'

iS3, according- to the estimates o
gave evidence before the Commit.

"ti c° r.,nlber of letters sent through the London
pos'.. in R!io I was 9,2'21,280, but when till penny
is I used to twopence, the number of letters in the
lotsing year sunk to 6,587,160. In the course of
ir years alter the postage on ship letters was reduced,
them to the Post-office had increased

the; p:Oi

egul

~~ ti,a~

lAy of

teccus and

r told Mr. Pitt to start the mails

Lour, and travel eight miles in place o
guard, the Post-otlice furlctionaries o
d Palmer's scheme, as Colonel Ma.

iouuru

ptorounces Rowland Hill'a, " prepos-
urd," Lut William Pitt listened to corn-

The k-14A convirx::g portion of the whole evidence
`"'`''re t.le Celnmittee is the testimony of every witness
"I,!onnceted with the Pest-office, that the increase of
I"tt.,rs iiltaly to follow the adoption of a penny rate,
v ou:d N;y guarantee the revenue from any loss as
2ri as di° change was in full operation. The confi-
‘l,-nc7e whi,:h the highest mercantile authorities have in
this 1-,sult is so great, that serious preparations are
makitig to form a company, which will offer to farm the
Post-office revenue as in olden time, and at the same
) iltnt.‘ tA) reduce all the rites to one penny.

1 MELA7.CCITOLY CIRCUMSTANCE.—On TneS-
ly night last an event occurred at Stavely Woodthorpe,
'a melancholy character. The wife of a labouring man,
awe name we have not heard, had a few days previously,
en ecliaered of a child ; and on the night in question,
'ier husband was asleep in a room down stairs, she,
tc.of delirium, left the house in her night dress,
he infant in her arms. It is needless to picture
i the state of the husband's mind, on awaking and missing
?
1 his wife and child. Suffice it to say, he proceeded in search
ic; them, and after a diligent scrutiny discovered them in
I a Likw-field, near Norbrigg, nearly starved to death !
1 'I he prior infant was is dreadful agonies, but to the time of
our going to press we have not heard whether it be alive
or dead. —North Derby Chronicle.
ORDINATION.-- Bishop Philpotts will hold a '
"aol,mn ordination," on Sunday next, at the Cathedral.
. There are many aspirants for clerical initiation, and as this
is an age of inquiry, we sit down and ask ourselves what
this ordination is? Ordination is the direct process by
whieh a young man is initiated into the important office of
, the rninis.try of the Established Churcb, and set apart for
l tae ditehargo of its duties. There are certain preliminary
.Forma to ha gone through, and one of these forms is a uni-
versity education, with theological studies, but whether the
e of education may have been well or ill spent_
ether the student may have passed his hours in study,
'-'-ess• and riot —his not generally been the
us inquiry. It matters little what was

vhil3t

In a ate

t6kin,

j,-C,

t of a

Lis previous life, or the inducements which may have drawn
! him into the Church—he may come reeking from the
stew=, a drunkutd, and a libertine, and yet the hand of the
; Bishop •may ho laid upon his head, and the fiat shall go
i forth, that. he bath received the Holy Glic.st, and hath
powsm to remit sins. Now we do not mean to say that any
i of the candidates on the forthcoming occasion, are men
of imunmal conduct—for we will do Bishop Philpotts
the justi,.2e to say, that as, far as our observation goes, he
i 1
requires from the candidate for ordination the semblance of
piety in his outward walk and conversation. But that is
a part of his system ; the Church is to be used as an in-
strument for governing the laity ; and it is necessary to
that end, that the life of the priest shall not he a standing
battery opposed to its assumptions.— Western Times.
A HINT TO BARRISTERS.—There ar,7 some
',srristers who Seefri to take delight in putting to the witnesses

ig questions, apparently with no other ob-
wa than to show that they have the power t) be imperti-
lent with impunity, cr with the still less amiable motive
of gratifying themselves by exercising the art of ingeni-
,

most insul

rani), tormenting. Occasionally, the obvious intention is
to leave on the minds of the jurors an unfavourable impree-
sinn resccct;i:g• the eharacttr of the person under examina.

tion. This, we muit cun,ess, is more frequently the fault
of the attorney than the advocate. How many times hare
we stet an honest and ingenuous individual subjected to
nof torture ! On Saturday, Mr. Watson,

is des(

who, it will be remembered, was door-keeper on the famous
occasion when Mr. Barkky was so strangely insulted, gave
a gratuitous specimen of the insulting mode of cross-
examination. In the case of Gregory v. Green, Mr.
Philip Henry Bishop, a most respectable manufacturer,
and son to a highly esteemed clergyman, was called into
the witness box. He gave his testimony in a very proper
manner. M. Watson commenced the cross-examination
by asking the witness if he knew where York Castle was ;
to which the witness replied " Yes." The cross-examina-
tion then proceeded as follows :—Mr. Watson (loudly)—
You have been recently in York Castle, I believe. Wit-
n:tss—No ; I have not. Mr. Watson—What ? What gaol
base you been in? Witness—No gaol. Mr. Watson—
No I Have you not been bankrupt? Witness—No. 31r.
1 Watson—Then have you not been insolvent? Witness_
No. Mr. Watson_ Have you not compounded with your
creditors ? Witness (energetically)._ No, Sir. Mr.
Watson—Upon your oath have you not offered to com-
pound with your creditors? Witness—No, Sir. Mr,
Watson—And you have never been in any gaol? Wit-
neis—No, Sir. Mr. Baron Parke—Have you done, Mr.
Watson ? You had better go through the whole catalogue
et crime while you ar.-1 about it. Pray, Sir (to the wit-
ness); have you ever committed murder? Have you ever
committed 'robbery ? You ought not, Air. Watson, to ask
such questions without some ground. Thus rebuked, Mr.
Watson sat down, and Mr. Bishop escaped further annoy-
-Liverpool Albion.

ance.

EARTHQUAKE IN THE ITIGHLANDS.--The
following account of the recent earthquake that took place
in the Highlands of Scotland is copied from the Inverness
Courier :—" Early in the morning of the ?oth March, the
siock 'of an earthquake was distinctly felt in the moun-
tD!nons tract of country extending from Fort Augustus to
Kingtissie and Laggan in Badenueli. Between two and
theeeJ'elock, A.M. the fimily of Captain Spalding, bar.
rack-master, Fort Augustus, was roused from sleep by a
twilling noise, as if a carriage was driving rapidly into the
garrison.
At Ardochy, the residence of Mr. Gillespie,
the same noise was heard, accompanied with a tremulous
d the whole household got up in alarm, and fled
re. At Ruthvcn, in Badcnoch, Mr. Macpher.
90,1 sttites, that having some sheep in the square, he was
startled by a loud noise, as if a dog had got among the
she.ep and the flock was running in a body ; he arose
['ram bed, hut could:idiscover nothing. At Laggan,
4enie families were awakened believing the house to be on
ire In other houses the hells were set a ringing. M r.
':lse;.':yrson, postmaster, Kingussic, was awakened by a
71.1ml:ding sound like thunder, which was heard over the
vhola village. The shock seems to have lasted about a
atte, and was felt at the same time throughout the dis-
- itave mentioned. It did not extend so far west
In Loch Oich, and at Invergarry, it was
ctly : the steam dredging machine of the Cabe-
Canal was lying in the lake, and the men on board
; but they were all aroused by the shack, and rushed
sit. In the house of Mr. Scott, and in Mr. Mackay's
51, at lavergarry, similar sensations were experienced
' !Le does not seem to have extended farther
.t Augustus. It is many years since a phe_
this alarming nature occurred in the High.
but fortunately the present was of short duration,
been accompanied with the less of life or

(stior

IL of do,

a
ct

l~pltJ:l

inr3 no

We had a lArgc fall of snow yesterday, com-
rwmciagalittlebefore seven in the morning, and continu-
ing-with scarcely any intermission through the day. The
w. ather;as as cold as a day of January, the wind keeping
the dircetionwhich it has maintained for more than a week
P4t—erst north-east.—Northampton Mercury.
Tt.w linen tract! in Barnsley remains steady. The
E-. incipl,l dull season is nearly over, but the lack of that is j
nFenat(d for by an increased demand for plain goods
cousuratioa, so that there are very few weavers
74,inplooneastr Gazette.